|
|
|
|
Al Qathafi’s regime puts on tough face in western mountains despite Libyan rebel advances
(Washington Post) - Muammar Al Qathafi’s regime sought Sunday to show it remains in control of parts of the country’s western mountains and will defend the territory against further rebel advances there.
The Nafusa mountains southwest of Tripoli have become a key battleground in the rebels’ fight to oust the longtime Libyan leader, with small bands of fighters inching closer to the capital by seizing villages along major roads snaking across the rugged highland terrain.
Forces loyal to Al Qathafi are also battling rebels on two major front lines to the east of the capital, but neither side has been able to mount a major push.
Journalists based in Al Qathafi’s stronghold of Tripoli were taken by government officials Sunday to the mountain gateway town of Gharyan and the nearby town of al-Assabaa, where they were shown armed civilians and government troops who vowed to defend their land.
“All the people here, like other Libyans, they are armed,” said Hamooda Mokhtar al-Salem, a top government official in al-Assabaa.
A portrait of Al Qathafi was perched on the table in front of him, and a Kalashnikov rifle rested against the wall. “We are ready to fight to protect our land, our leader ... our children. NATO cannot scare us,” he told reporters.
A crowd outside the government building where he spoke chanted pro-Al Qathafi slogans and shot bursts of automatic fire into the air.
The towns lie down a mountain road not far from a village rebels said they seized last week. Gharyan is the bigger of the two and is the last mountain town along a highway that leads straight to the capital Tripoli, just 50 miles (80 kilometres) to the north.
In Gharyan, a small group of women practiced firing automatic rifles and unloading grenade launchers. They were far outnumbered by visiting journalists.
Tripoli-based foreign journalists are routinely accompanied by government minders whose presence makes it difficult for people to speak freely. Government-arranged trips tend to be carefully orchestrated.
Still, there were signs of resistance in Gharyan. In numerous spots, graffiti appeared to be hastily painted over - apparently covering anti-government slogans. Fragments remained though. The words “Libya free” were visibly scrawled in Arabic and English in at least two locations.
Portraits of Al Qathafi - ubiquitous in Tripoli and other regime strongholds - were only seen on the government building where the women trained with weapons.
Several residents who agreed to talk with journalists appeared nervous because of the presence of government officials, their hands shaking as they spoke with reporters.
Some acknowledged there was support for the rebels in the town, though none said they knew sympathizers personally.
“You’ll find these people inside Gharyan, but they can’t do anything,” said vegetable seller Bahloun Ibrahim Ashouh, 55. “It’s hard to find them.”
NATO appears to be ramping up its strikes in the western mountains. It said Sunday it hit a rocket launcher and a tank in Gharyan the previous day, along with other targets in the region.
On Wednesday, rebels claimed to have taken the mountain village of Qawalish, which sits about 10 miles (16 kilometres) by winding mountain road from al-Assabaa. Gharyan is about 12 miles (20 kilometres) further away.
Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, last week accused NATO of intensifying its bombing campaign, including in the western mountains, to lay the groundwork for a rebel advance toward the capital. He said the alliance targeted police checkpoints in the mountains before the rebel advance on Qawalish.
NATO denies that it is using its air power to intentionally aid rebel advances.
NATO began airstrikes against Libya in March. The coalition and its Arab allies are operating under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians.
Some countries in the coalition have interpreted that mandate broadly, with France acknowledging it has provided weapons to rebels operating in the mountains and other countries providing non-lethal aid to rebel-held areas.
'We win or we die'
(Aljazeera.net) - Libyan rebels continue their struggle against Muammar Al Qathafi loyalists; for the rebels it is a matter of life or death.
"You rats, you sons of rats, we are coming to get you." The voice of the regime loyalist crackled on the rebel radio.
Under the pine trees behind a sand barrier defence on Misurata's western front line, the boys of the Martyr brigade laughed, and returned a torrent of insults. The group's anti-aircraft gun was pointed outwards to the open expanse of fields where the loyalist troops roam.
The bonds between the young men were forged in the urban battles that raged for months on Misurata's Tripoli Street. Now they are to learning adapt to the front line of open war.
For more than a month, the fighters have been stationed at the end of a dirt track that delineates the western front line at Dafniya. Long range shelling; pounding mortars, BM21 'Grad' missiles, and katyusha rockets define their new war.
"Before we were street fighters, you slept on one road, whilst the enemy slept next door. Kalashnikovs were useful. Here we are fighting in open fields, we need bigger weapons and new tactics," said fighter Hazem Abu Zeid, 29.
Life and death
They lack heavy munitions, with Grad rocket launchers being few and far between. The weapons they do have are captured by running incursions into enemy ground. "This is the good weapon!" said Salah Mabrouk, spying a rusty antiquated anti-aircraft gun on a green leopard print painted Toyota pickup that they took in battle.
Every Friday forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Al Qathafi have launched massive offensives on their position.
Friday in mid-June, a day that still sends shivers down their spines, was second bloodiest day for the rebel fighters since the battled moved to the city; over 30 of their comrades were killed, and 150 injured.
A crater of splattered shrapnel marks in the road beside the fighters'. Mattresses marks where one of the rockets exploded. A fighter plucked a piece of shrapnel beside a pillow. "This is the piece of rocket killed our friend Ali Seck. We feel such sorrow for our friends, a lot of them have died beside me, just shot in the head," said Zeid.
Every Thursday, Misurata braces herself for attack. Rebels clean and load their Kalashnikovs, medical staff organise emergency room teams and prepare surgical instrument sets.
The elderly and their children scurry to buy provisions so that they won't have to go outdoors on Friday. Housewives cook meals for the rebels on the front lines.
Rebels gathered on the beach, running, and diving into the crashing waves. As the sun sank on the horizon silence fell on the group as they contemplated what tomorrow would bring.
"Maybe tomorrow I will be dead," said a young fighter nicknamed 'Ronaldo' for his love of football.
But as members of the Misurata council declared that their fighters could not again suffer such an attack, on the front line rebel youths stand determined to fight.
War stories
I went forward with the young brigade to within 400m of the Al Qathafi forces. The brigade provided a barrage of cover fire for their diggers that advanced to push defences further into enemy territory. Bullets flew fast from the thickets where regime soldiers hit.
Back at the 'base' - a sheet hung in the trees for shade - they told war stories. Sitting on pillows, a shisha pipe bubbling in the corner, with mortars whistling overhead, 'Hefta' - named after Libya's famed rebel commander Khalifa Hefta and wearing a t-shirt displaying the words 'Never Walk Alone' - spoke: "And we went forward until we were within twenty metres of the Al Qathafi men. We said "drop your weapons and come here."
They replied "you are going to die," and opened their guns on us. But we killed so many. They left dragging their dead behind them." The boys cheered.
All the young men were students in English, and engineering, or businessmen before the war changed their lives.
Their youthful passions come through in the slow times of the war. A young man grabbed the spout of the tanker filled with water supplies and unleashed a giant arc of water on the men.
They ran and jumped in the spray. Another fighter cycled on a child's bike, his FN rifle clanking by his side.
Zeid's passion, he explained, is metallica music. "I mix war with music. Death metal gives the real part of humanity; most music talks about love, beaches, cars, but this talks about real things, brutality, poverty, the soul." His Iron Maiden T-shirt denoting the slogan 'matters of life and death' made for the perfect war gear.
"I have to stay on the front line, I can't go back to my home and wait for Al Qathafi to come and kill my family. We win or we die," added Zaid his face turning somber. France says time for political solution in Libya
(Reuters) - France appeared on Sunday to shift its position on the Libyan uprising, suggesting that there could be no military solution and that Muammar Al Qathafi loyalists and Libyan rebels should begin direct negotiations.
However, Paris also said its objective was still that Libyan leader Al Qathafi must eventually leave power - a condition virtually certain to be rejected by a hitherto defiant Al Qathafi. The rebel leadership, for its part, has insisted that Al Qathafi must leave power before talks can even begin.
French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet told local television on Sunday that it was time for both sides to sit round a table to reach a political compromise.
France has spearheaded the NATO-led air campaign in Libya with Britain under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians, and was the first to launch air strikes against troops loyal to Al Qathafi in March.
But after more than three months of bombing, international leaders are puzzling over how to end the war, where rebels hold large parts of eastern Libya and have loosened a siege of the city of Misurata, but are unable to make decisive inroads toward the capital Tripoli despite NATO strikes on Al Qathafi's forces.
Al Qathafi has resisted calls to give up power in the face of a rebel offensive aimed at ending his 41-year rule.
"We have stopped the hand that struck out and have asked them to speak to each other," Longuet said on BFM TV.
"The position of the TNC (rebel Transitional National Council) is very far from other positions. Now, there will be a need to sit around a table," he said.
The rebels have repeatedly demanded that the Libyan leader step down before any negotiations can begin for a political transition, something his entourage has repeatedly dismissed.
Frustration is growing in Paris at the duration of the mission and the government will face detailed questioning on Tuesday ahead of a parliament vote on whether to extend operations.
"We (NATO) will stop the bombardment as soon as Libyans speak to each other and the military from both sides go back to their barracks," Longuet said.
"They can now speak to each other because we are showing them that there is no solution with force."
Credible cease-fire, African Union plan
Discussions between both sides have been going on behind the scenes for weeks, but Al Qathafi's future has been a major stumbling block. A diplomatic source said there was no indication Al Qathafi was willing to stand aside.
The issue was complicated on June 28 when the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Al Qathafi as well as one of his sons and the head of the intelligence services.
The TNC in Benghazi said this month it could not continue with talks now that Al Qathafi was wanted internationally, but Longuet appeared to leave the door open for Al Qathafi to remain in Libya.
When asked whether it was possible to hold talks if Al Qathafi had not stepped down he said: "He will be in another room in his palace, with another title."
A source at the Defence Ministry told Reuters the ultimate objective was not necessarily for Al Qathafi to leave Libya, but for him to let go of his powers.
Speaking on France Info radio, French foreign minister Alain Juppe said no talks could really begin until there was a credible ceasefire under U.N. control.
"Then we need a negotiation process with the TNC, other Libyan players and those that have understood in Tripoli that Al Qathafi has no future, and then the road map for a democratic peace," he said.
"The difficulty today is knowing how to get Al Qathafi to relinquish all his political and military responsibilities."
Although at an African Union meeting last week leaders did not openly call for Al Qathafi's departure, Juppe said they had now moved in that direction, which made an AU peace proposal more realistic.
He said the focus of a Libya Contact Group meeting of interested powers in Istanbul on Friday would be in part to discuss this initiative, and that he had also suggested the group meet in Addis Ababa.
"We have every interest in working with the African Union, which can play a very positive role," he said.
U.S. Sticks to Guns on Ousting Libya's Al Qathafi
(N.Y. Times) - The United States remains firm that Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi must give up his 41-year rule, the State Department said on Sunday, after France's defence minister advocated a compromise with Libyan rebels.
"The Libyan people will be the ones to decide how this transition takes place, but we stand firm in our belief that Al Qathafi cannot remain in power," the department said in a written reply to a query.
French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said in Paris earlier on Sunday it was time for Al Qathafi loyalists and Libyan rebels to sit around a table to reach a political compromise because, he said, there was "no solution with force."
The rebels have demanded that Al Qathafi step down before any negotiations can begin for a political transition, a notion his entourage has dismissed.
The United States will continue efforts as part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) coalition to enforce a U.N. Security Council-authorised no-fly zone in Libya designed to protect civilians under threat of attack, the State Department said.
"Our efforts in Libya will take time, but let there be no mistake that the political, military, and economic pressure on Al Qathafi continues to grow," it said.
The allies will continue to increase pressure "until the Libyan people are safe, their humanitarian needs met, and a transition of power is fully under way," the department added.
NATO warplanes have been bombing Libyan government positions since March under the U.N. mandate to protect civilians. Al Qathafi has rejected any suggestion that he give up power and denounced the NATO campaign as an act of colonial aggression aimed at stealing Libya's oil.
The NATO efforts are helping to boost the pressure on Al Qathafi and allowing the Libyan opposition Transitional National Council to "better operate on behalf of the Libyan people," the State Department said.
Al Qathafi forces counterattack southwest of Tripoli (Daily Star, Beirut) - Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi launched a counterattack on Sunday against rebel advance positions 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Tripoli, an AFP correspondent reported.
Loyalist forces fired half a dozen Grad rockets into the hamlet of Al Qawalish
The rebels replied with anti-tank fire as they sought to maintain their grip on Al Qawalish, a key gateway on the road to the capital Tripoli that they seized on Wednesday.
Just hours before the government attack, NATO warplanes bombed positions in the area, the correspondent said. A colonel in the rebel forces said the raid struck near al-Assabaa, 17 kilometres from Al Qawalish.
In its daily update, the Western military alliance said its planes carried out 48 strike sorties on Saturday, with the focus on Misurata.
Meanwhile, rebel troops advancing into the loyalist stronghold of Zliten said Sunday they lost one fighter and had 32 wounded by landmines laid by Al Qathafi's retreating troops.
Insurgents pressing out westward from the long-besieged city of Misurata said the ordnance was laid by Al Qathafi loyalists falling back from their positions around Zliten.
Zliten, once considered a bastion of Al Qathafi forces, is a key link on the road from rebel-held Misurata to Tripoli.
Libyan rebels said they were preparing on Saturday to push forward in their drive on Tripoli from both the south and west in a bid to isolate Al Qathafi in his ever-closer capital.
But the embattled leader remained defiant, telling supporters on Friday that "the regime in Libya will not fall."
After heavy fighting, rebel fighters captured the desert hamlet of Al Qawalish on Wednesday, taking them closer to the strategic garrison town Gharyan and the last major objective standing between them and Tripoli to the north.
For now, they have set their sights on al-Assabaa, on the road to Gharyan, 80 kilometres from Tripoli.
A second target in a three-pronged strategy is the coastal city of Zawiyah, one of the last major loyalist strongholds west of Tripoli.
And from a base in Misurata, 215 kilometres east of the capital, the rebels reported on Friday battling to within 2 kilometres of the centre of Zliten town with the loss of five dead and 17 wounded.
"When we take Zliten, enforced with Misurata, it gives us a clear path" to Tripoli, rebel spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said. Military operation in Libya costs France 160 million euros: budget minister (Xinhua) - French Budget Minister Valerie Pecresse estimated on Sunday a bill for the country's military operation in Libya at 160 million euros (about 228 million U.S. dollars).
"The cost of our intervention in Libya at this stage valued 160 million euros," the minister told the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche.
"Comparing that figure to the one of the defence ministry budget, which is 40 billion euros (57 billion dollars), we can absorb it," she added.
The National Assembly and the French Senate are due to examine next Tuesday the commitment of French troops in Libya.
The transatlantic military alliance NATO which oversees the full command of military operation in Libya has extended it's mission until Sept. 27.
The first country to recognize the rebels' National Transition Council, France proposed a no-fly zone with Britain and took the initiative in launching air strikes against the forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi.
Chaos erupted in February in the leading African oil exporter after protesters took to the streets of Libyan city of Benghazi urging the end of Al Qathafi's 42-year rule.
RAF destroys Libyan weapons stash (BBC) - UK forces destroyed a former grain farm in Libya which was being used to hide rocket launchers, as the NATO campaign against Col Al Qathafi continues.
The Ministry of Defence they had been "very active," particularly focussing on the wider area around Misurata.
NATO said its warplanes conducted 112 air missions on Saturday, with 5,485 in total since the action began in March.
The RAF is involved in enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya under UN Security Council Resolution 1973.
Its aim is to protect civilians using "all necessary measures" short of a ground invasion.
Maj Gen Nick Pope, the Chief of the Defence Staff's communications officer, said: "British forces were once again very active over Libya on Saturday."
RAF Typhoon and Tornado aircraft attacked the former farm, which was a base for multiple rocket launchers.
He said RAF reconnaissance patrols located and destroyed a battery of four howitzer artilleries which were threatening Misurata. A field gun was located and destroyed near Mizda.
HMS Liverpool fired at Col Al Qathafi's forces on the coast at Zlitan, he added.
Meanwhile, Libyan rebels are continuing to make progress as they battle west from Misurata towards the key town of Zlitan, on the road to Tripoli.
After more than six weeks of stalemate, the rebels have in recent days pushed back the forces of Col Al Qathafi, despite rocket and mortar fire.
The UK's role in military operations against Col Al Qathafi's regime is expected to cost £260m.
The government will not provide a full breakdown, but splits the figure into £120m operational costs and £140m to replace the munitions fired over six months, if the NATO-led mission lasts that long.
Morgan Strong, - Contributing Editor, New York |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More
Featured Articles |
|
|
|
|
|
HRW Calls on NATO to Investigate all Potentially Unlawful Attacks in Libya
HRW says NATO has failed to acknowledge dozens of civilian casualties from air strikes during its 2011 Libya campaign and added that NATO should also address civilian casualties from its air strikes in Libya at the NATO heads of state summit, taking place in Chicago on May 20 and 21. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
El-Keeb Brands As Outlaws Gunmen Who Attacked His Office
Libya's interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keeb has branded gunmen who attacked his office in the country's capital, Tripoli, in Tuesday, as "outlaws". |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reports Libyan Interim Government HQ Attacked Over Unpaid Stipends
The headquarters of the interim government in Tripoli has reportedly been attacked by former Libyan fighters who took part in the ousting of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi killing between two and four guards and wounding several others. Other reports quoting the interior ministry indicate that the casualty toll is three. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tags |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|