Intensive contacts were conducted by U.S. officials to persuade Riyadh to provide the Libyan rebels with sophisticated weapons in order to enable them to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. This will be in exchange for Washington's silence towards any actions taken by Saudi reformists and opponents of the ruling family.
It is reported that the US administration approached Saudi Arabia in order to avoid military intervention in Libya try to find contact channels towards the Libyan opposition. However, despite the fact that the Saudi monarch King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, does not have good relations with Gaddafi and his need for U.S. support in the face of attempts by the Shiite community and reformists to stage protest rallies in the kingdom, Riyadh did not respond so far to the request by the US administration. Washington. Washington's request comes in the context of close military cooperation with Riyadh, after the kingdom had previously funded the Afghan mujahideen during the war against the former Soviet Union during the 1980s.
