Rajab Zawiyeh, a Libyan businessman, drove to this coastal rebel stronghold two days after he heard about an outbreak of fighting in the nearby oil city of Port Brega.

Zawiyeh's 25-year-old son, Imad, was fighting at the front, and he feared for the young man's safety. Monday morning, he got a cellphone call: His son had been wounded.

 

Zawiyeh, 57, sped to the main Ajdabiya hospital, where he found his son's bloodied face swathed in gauze. A stained bandage was wrapped around his leg.