You said it yourself, he was well on his way to crushing the rebellion. Libya's Arab Spring might have ended like Bahrain's [1], in which case the country might still have one of the highest levels of development in Africa.[2]

[1] https://www.npr.org/2012/01/05/144637499/bahrain-the-revolut...

[2] https://www.countercurrents.org/cramer040511.htm