Libya’s rebels: then and now (PHOTOS)
Mohammed Al Derbale, 19, fires an FN rifle at Gaddafi troops from the window of an abandoned farmhouse in Dafnia.
A year ago, thousands of Libyans left their lives and families, took up arms, and joined a ragtag rebel army to help fight Muammar Gaddafi, one of the world's most powerful dictators. Most of them civilians with little knowledge of war or weapons, the rebels were thrown into a violent and chaotic conflict that dragged on for eight months. Now, with Gaddafi dead and a new Libya struggling to gain its footing, the former rebels are attempting to get back the lives they left.
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