U.S. and French officials say that their efforts to monitor the Libyan desert have been slowed by the Libyan government's resistance to allowing outside access to the area.

WSJ: Militants, Chased From Mali, Pose New Threats

The joint operation followed a meeting between then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gadhafi in the Libyan desert in 2004, in which a deal was struck on intelligence cooperation, according to Leigh Day and legal action charity Reprieve.

CNN: UK pays large sum to Libyan family over rendition case

When late in 1935 he went missing while trying to break the speed record for Paris to Saigon, France held its breath until news came that Bedouin had found him after a three-day trek across the Libyan desert.

ECONOMIST: Hunting for Saint-Exup��ry

In December 2012, the Libyan Congress declared the southwest desert border region a closed military zone.

WSJ: Militants, Chased From Mali, Pose New Threats

The former intelligence chief said the Libyan army had little capability in this vast area of desert and there was a fear of confronting the extremists.

CNN: Algeria attack may have link to Libya camps

Some of the tribes there have a history of hostility to the colonel, while the rugged Tuareg people who populate a swathe of the Sahara desert from Libya to Mali, and were long favoured by the Libyan leader with jobs and guns, seem to be abandoning him.

ECONOMIST: Libya

While Libyan forces have some presence in the country's main population centers, large desert areas are controlled by a patchwork of tribes.

WSJ: Militants, Chased From Mali, Pose New Threats

Ahmed Qadhaf al-Dam and Said Rashwan, two leading figures in the regime, have already visited Egypt and attempted to recruit tribes - with Libyan connections - to attack the Gaddafi-free East from Egypt's western desert.

BBC: Libya revolution: Future scenarios and the West's role