Libyan rebels bear down on Gadhafi's hometown

By RYAN LUCAS Associated Press

Mar 28, 2011, 2:48 PM EDT

BIN JAWWAD, Libya (AP) --

 Libyan revolution fighters (referred to as Rebel forces by AP editors) bore down Monday on Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, a key government stronghold where a brigade headed by one of the Libyan leader's sons was digging in to defend the city and setting the stage for a bloody and possibly decisive battle.

The opposition made new headway in its rapid advance through oil towns and along stretches of empty desert highway toward the capital, Tripoli. Their run would have been impossible without international airstrikes that have battered the regime's armor and troops, even as NATO insisted it was only seeking to protect civilians and not to give air cover to an opposition march.

That line looked set to become even more blurred. The airstrikes reversed a government offensive a week ago on the grounds that it was threatening civilians and now is clearly enabling rebels keen to overthrow Gadhafi to push toward the final line of defense on the road to the capital.

The rebels took control of the eastern half of the country early on in the uprising that began a month and a half ago, setting up their capital in the country's second-largest city of Benghazi. Much of the fighting between government supporters and opponents has been along a coastal road that heads out of Benghazi and west through a couple major oil ports, toward Sirte and beyond that, Tripoli.

On Monday, the fighters moved about 70 miles (110 kilometers) west from the coastal oil terminal and town of Ras Lanouf to just beyond the small town of Bin Jawwad, where their push was halted by government fire along the exposed desert highway and the heavily mined entrance to Sirte.

Meanwhile, there was growing criticism from countries like Russia that the international air campaign is overstepping the bounds of the U.N. resolution that authorized it. The complaints came at a critical transition in the campaign from a U.S. to a NATO command. That threatens to hamper the operation, as some of the 28 NATO member nations plan to strictly limit their participation to air patrols, rather than attacks on ground targets.

The Obama administration, facing skeptics at home, is energetically trying to explain the necessity of a U.S. role in another war in a Muslim nation while drawing a line on its involvement in the surge of other uprisings stretching all the way to the Persian Gulf and now stinging Syria's repressive regime in the heart of the Arab world. Some have said the Libya operation sets a precedent.

"Obviously there are certain aspirations that are being voiced by each of these movements, but there's no question that each of them is unique," said Deputy national security adviser Denis McDonough. "We don't get very hung up on this question of precedent."

He said there are no plans for the U.S. to intervene militarily in Syria, where security forces are waging a deadly crackdown.

For Libya's ill-equipped and poorly trained rebel forces fighting their way toward Sirte from their eastern stronghold, the nine-day-old international air operation has dramatically reversed their fortunes. Gadhafi forces, which had been on the brink of taking their de-facto headquarters in the city of Benghazi, had to flee, allowing the rebels to regroup and take back two key oil towns over the weekend.

Now, they are just 60 miles (100 kilometers) out from Sirte, the bastion of Gadhafi's power in the center of the country.

Take control of that, and there's only the largely rebel-held city of Misrata - and then empty desert - in the way of the capital. That ensures Sirte could see some of the fiercest fighting of the rebellion, which began on Feb. 15.

"Gadhafi is not going to give up Sirte easily because straightaway after Sirte is Misrata, and after that it's straight to Gadhafi's house," said Gamal Mughrabi, a 46-year-old rebel fighter. "So Sirte is the last line of defense."

He said there are both anti- and pro-Gadhafi forces inside Sirte.

Some residents were fleeing Sirte, as soldiers from a brigade commanded by Gadhafi's son al-Saadi and allied militiamen streamed to positions on the city's outskirts to defend it, witnesses said. Sirte - where a significant air and military base is located - was hit by airstrikes Sunday night and Monday morning, witnesses said, but they did not know what was targeted.

The city of 100,000 is crucial both for its strategic position and its symbolic value. Over the years, Gadhafi has made it effectively Libya's second capital, building up what had been a quiet agricultural community with lavish conference halls where Arab and African summits were held. The city is dominated by members of the Libyan leader's Gadhadhfa tribe, but many in another large Sirte tribe - the Firjan - are believed to resent his rule, and rebels are hoping to encourage them and other tribes there to rise up to help in their capture of the city.

A rebel commander among the fighters advancing on Sirte acknowledged that their offensive would not have been possible without the strikes, which he said had evened the two sides' firepower.

"Now because of NATO strikes on (the government's) heavy weapons, we're almost fighting with the same weapons, only we have Grad rockets now and they don't," said Gen. Hamdi Hassi at the small town of Bin Jawwad, just 18 miles (30 kilometers) from the front.

Hassi said there was fighting now just outside the small hamlet of Nawfaliyah, 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Sirte and scouting parties had found the road ahead to be heavily mined.

He added that the current rebel strategy was to combine military assault with an attempt to win over some of the local tribes loyal to Gadhafi over to their side.

"There's Gadhafi and then there's circles around him of supporters, each circle is slowly peeling off and disappearing," Hassi said. "If they rise up it would make our job easier."

Fighting in such a densely populated area is likely to complicate the rebels' advance and add to the ambiguity of the NATO-led campaign, authorized by a Security Council resolution to take all necessary measures to protect civilians.

In Russia, which abstained from the U.N. vote, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said strikes on Gadhafi's forces would amount to taking sides in what he called Libya's civil war, and thus would breach the mandate that was initially envisaged as establishing a no-fly zone only to protect civilians.

But the inclusion of language allowing "all necessary means" opened the door to airstrikes and ship-fired cruise missile attacks on Gadhafi's forces to stop attacks on cities and cut supply lines.

And Pentagon officials are looking at plans to expand the firepower and airborne surveillance systems, including using the Air Force's AC-130 gunship armed with cannons that shoot from the side doors, as well as helicopters and drones. That weaponry might allow for more precision in urban fighting, while drawing forces closer to the combat.

NATO's commander for the operation, Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard of Canada, insisted his mission was clear, saying every decision was designed to prevent attacks on civilians. "Our goal is to protect and help the civilians and population centers under the threat of attack," he said.

But in Brussels, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu noted that the allied operation was launched in response to "the systematic attacks by Col. Gadhafi against his own people."

"That is how this all started, we have to remember that," she said.

Britain and France, which has been the most vocal supporter of the rebellion and is the only Western nation to officially recognize its political leaders, added their voices to those appeals.

In a joint statement, British Prime Minister David Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said Gadhafi loyalists should abandon the dictator and side with those seeking his ouster.

"We call on all his followers to leave him before it is too late," the two leaders said. "We call on all Libyans who believe that Gadhafi is leading Libya into a disaster to take the initiative now to organize a transition process."

The rebel approach to Sirte sent hundreds of residents, mainly women and children, fleeing the city - some heading to the town of Bani Walid about 150 miles (250 kilometers) west, said Hassan al-Drouie, a Libyan in exile in France in contact with family members in Sirte who were among those who fled. Some members of Gadhafi's tribe in Sirte fled to another of his strongholds, the city of Sebha, deep in Libya's southwestern deserts, said another Libyan in exile, Abdel-Rahman Barkuli, who cited his relatives in Sebha.

Some men had remained in Sirte and had taken up weapons to protect their homes - but not to fight alongside Gadhafi's troops against the rebels, said al-Drouie. He said the al-Saadi Brigades headed by Gadhafi's son have taken up positions on the city's southern and eastern entrances.

Gadhafi is not on the defensive everywhere. His forces continued to besiege Misrata, the main rebel holdout in the west and Libya's third-largest city. Residents reported fighting between rebels and loyalists who fired from tanks on residential areas.

Rida al-Montasser, of the media committee of Misrata, said that nine young men were killed and 23 others wounded when Gadhafi brigades shelled their position in the northwestern part of the city on Sunday night. He also said that the port was bombed.

Libyan officials took foreign journalists on a tour of the city's outskirts but not into the center, indicating government-control did not extend far. Explosions and gunfire echoed through empty streets lined by burned-out tanks and bullet-scarred buildings, many of which had their windows blown out.

A clinic in a residential area was destroyed. Anti-aircraft guns were hidden among the trees.

In one area, 200 Gadhafi supporters held a rally.

Turkey's Anatolia new agency said a Turkish civilian ferry carrying 15 medics, three ambulances and medical equipment was heading for Misrata to help treat some 1,300 people injured in attacks there.

The U.S. launched six Tomahawk missiles Sunday and early Monday from Navy positions in the Mediterranean Sea, two defense officials said Monday on condition of anonymity because they were not yet authorized to release the information.

That brought to 199 the number of the long-range cruise missiles fired by international forces in the campaign, one official said.

International air forces flew 110 missions late Sunday and early Monday - 75 of them strike missions. Targets included Gadhafi ammunition stores, air defenses and ground forces, including vehicles and tanks, a third official said.

French Mirage fighter jets struck a Libyan military command center more than 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Tripoli, said military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard.

International airstrikes also hit Sebha, 400 miles (650 kilometers) south of Tripoli. The area remains strongly loyal to Gadhafi and is a major transit point for ethnic Tuareg fighters from Mali and Niger fighting for the government. The state news agency JANA said the strikes destroyed a number of houses. Britain's Defense Ministry announced Monday that its Tornado aircraft had attacked ammunition bunkers around Sebha.

Libya's opposition also got a diplomatic boost Monday from the Gulf nation of Qatar, which recognized Libya's rebels as the legitimate representatives of the country - the first Arab state to do so. Qatar is also one of only two Arab states - the other is the United Arab Emirates - that is contributing fighter planes to the air mission.

Associated Press writers Hadeel al-Shalchi in Misrata, Libya; Christopher Torchia in Istanbul; and Paula Jelinek and Tom Raum in Washington contributed to this report.

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Gaddafi stronghold targeted ahead of rebel advance

By News Wires (text)  

AFP - March 28, 2011

FRANCE 24 Philip Crowther reports from Libya as the rebels push westward.

Coalition air strikes targeted forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Sirte and Tripoli late Sunday as Libyan rebels pushed west toward what is likely to be a major battle in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte after earlier capturing key eastern towns.

Libyan rebels' push westwards to Tripoli gathered momentum on Sunday and their progress towards Sirte was given a boost as Moamer Kadhafi's hometown was hit by a coalition air raid.
              
The capital Tripoli also came under attack by what state television called "the colonial aggressor".

The rebels' pursuit of Moamer Kadhafi's forces saw them wrest back control of key oil town Ras Lanuf and press on as far as Nofilia with Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte firmly in their sights 100 kilometres (60 miles) further along the road where the next major battle was expected.
              
Two loud explosions were heard around 1800 GMT in Sirte as planes flew overhead, an AFP correspondent reported, while in the capital Tripoli explosions and anti-aircraft fire were reported.
              
Shortly after the explosions in Sirte, Libyan television confirmed the city had been the target of air raids by "the colonial aggressor", as had Tripoli.
              
Witnesses in the capital said the strikes targeted the road to the international airport, 10 kilometres (six miles) outside the city, as well as the Ain Zara neighbourhood on its eastern oustkirts.
              

Battleground Libya
It appeared that anti-aircraft guns were not brought into action in Sirte, which is the next target of the rebel forces as they continue their push on the road westwards to the capital Tripoli.
              
Earlier, AFP correspondents witnessed families fleeing west from the town following coalition air raids the previous night.
              
A dozen cars were seen heading towards Tripoli, 360 kilometres (225 miles) to the west, filled with women and children fearing coalition air strikes and the advancing rebel fighters, who have been pushing Kadhafi's forces back along the main coastal road.
              
According to a Sirte resident reached by telephone, the town was hit by air strikes throughout Saturday night and Sunday morning. "The city became a fireball." Most people, terrified, fled into the desert.
              
The rebels also promised the uprising would not further hamper oil production in the areas under their control.
              

The oil fields in rebel-held territory are producing between 100,000 and 130,000 barrels a day, and the opposition plans to begin exporting oil "in less than a week", a rebel representative said.
              
"We are producing about 100,000 to 130,000 barrels a day, we can easily up that to about 300,000 a day," Ali Tarhoni, the rebel representative responsible for economy, finance and oil, told a news conference.
              
NATO finally took full command of military operations in Libya from a US-led coalition, enabling the alliance to strike at forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi should they threaten civilians.
              
Pressed by Western powers, notably the United States and Italy, to take the helm as swiftly as possible, ambassadors from the 28-nation alliance approved the transfer after overcoming French and Turkish concerns.
              
"Our goal is to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack from the Kadhafi regime," said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
              

EXCLUSIVE REPORT Libya, the battle of the East (part 1)
"NATO will implement all aspects of the UN Resolution. Nothing more, nothing less," he said.
              
The rebels, on the verge of losing their eastern stronghold city of Benghazi before the air strikes began on March 19, on Saturday seized back Ajdabiya and Brega, 160 and 240 kilometres (100 and 150 miles) to the west.
              
Spurred on by the air war, the ragtag rebel band thrust another 100 kilometres past Brega to win back Ras Lanuf, routing Kadhafi loyalists.
              
Jubilant rebels stuck up a poster of Kadhafi after they had taken the hamlet of Bin Jawad and took potshots at it with automatic rifles as a green Libyan regime flag burned and a group of about 100 chanted: "Moamer, you're a dog".
              
"Kadhafi's forces are now scared rats," Mohammed Ali el-Atwish, a bearded 42-year-old fighter, told AFP.
              
"They are dropping their weapons and uniforms and dressing as civilians. We are no longer concerned about Kadhafi's forces at all."
              
The rebel fighters marked the takeover of Ras Lanuf with celebratory gunfire and fired a rocket-propelled grenade in a sign of victory.
              
One of them, Attia Hamad, 34, said insurgents were in full control of the town.
              
"All of it is in our hands," Hamad said of Ras Lanuf, which Kadhafi's forces had overrun on March 12. Loyalists were "retreating so quickly, they are leaving some fighters behind," he added.
              
Foreign ministers from more than 35 countries have so far confirmed they will attend a London conference on Tuesday to discuss coalition military action against Libya, Britain said.
              
Many Libyan diplomats and military leaders are defecting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on the eighth day of the coalition operation.
              
"We have a lot of diplomats and military leaders in Libya who are flipping, changing sides, defecting," Clinton told CBS television.
              
Defence Secretary Robert Gates said intervention in Libya was not vital to US interests, but explained: "You had a potentially significantly destabilising event taking place in Libya that put at risk potentially the revolutions in both Tunisia and Egypt."
              
He added: "Egypt is central to the future of the Middle East."
              
Elsewhere, Gates reiterated that regime change was not part of the military mission in Libya.
              
"As we've seen in the past, regime change is a very complicated business, sometimes it takes a long time, sometimes it can happen very fast. But it was never part of the military mission (in Libya)," he told ABC television.
              
In Tripoli, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said overnight that the Western-led air strikes were killing soldiers and civilians between the strategic town of Ajdabiya and Sirte.
              
"Tonight the air strikes against our nation continue with full power," he said.
              
"We are losing many lives, military and civilians," Ibrahim added, while renewing a call for a ceasefire and an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, which approved military action to stop the Libyan regime's attacks on civilians.

LIBYA Libyan rebels oust Gaddafi forces from key towns

LIBYA Blasts rock military site in Tripoli

SPECIAL REPORT Libyan rebels face pro-Gaddafi troops

NATO takes over Libya mission, Gaddafi forces still fight

TRIPOLI, March 28, 2011 (Xinhua) --

As NATO has begun to take over the task of enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, Western coalition warplanes continued to pound Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's bastion and hometown.

NATO was in the process of taking over command from the U.S.-led coalition after all 28 NATO allies agreed on the transfer on Sunday, Lt.Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of NATO's military operations in Libya, said at the Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy.

The transition would take a couple of days, said Bouchard.

He told reporters based in Brussels through video links that the transition "will be a seamless handover with no gap" in efforts to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas in Libya.

Also on Monday, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said military action alone would not settle the crisis in Libya.

"Everybody is hoping this operation will be as short as possible. It is clear to everyone there is no purely military solution for the crisis in Libya...there will be a peaceful solution," she told reporters.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is scheduled to attend an international conference on Libya in London Tuesday, which will "provide broad political lines to ensure that there is momentum for a peaceful process on the ground in Libya for a peaceful solution," she said.

Early Monday morning, Western warplanes reportedly bombed Sebha south of Tripoli and a bastion of Gaddafi's tribe, at around 4:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT).

State-run JANA news agency said the forces bombed residential districts of Sebha, causing casualties, damaging homes and leaving many more to seek refuge elsewhere.

Also, several blasts hit Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte on Monday morning, which was already struck by two explosions by the coalition forces Sunday night. But witnesses said the city remained in order, with Gaddafi's troops roaming the streets.

Rebels reportedly recaptured the major oil exporting terminal of Ras Lanuf and the town of Bin Jawad, 525 km east of Tripoli on Sunday. But they suffered a blow on Monday by government forces as they advanced toward Sirte.

Meanwhile, government forces continued their bombardment on rebel-held Misrata on Monday, with snipers on rooftops, despite a cease-fire announced earlier in the city by the Foreign Ministry.

A rebel spokesman told al Arabiya television that eight people were killed and more than 24 others injured in the clashes between the government forces and the rebels in the city.

On Monday, Qatar recognized Libya's rebel Interim Transitional National Council, becoming the second country after France to accept it as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

"This recognition comes from a conviction that the council has become, practically, a representative of Libya and its brotherly people," the state-run QNA news agency reported, quoting a Qatari Foreign Ministry official.

The move was immediately condemned by the Libyan state television, which argued that Qatar has no right to interfere in Libya's internal affairs.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

Western intervention into Libya not sanctioned by UN: Russian Foreign Minister

MOSCOW, March 28, 2011 (Xinhua) --

The Western coalition interference in Libya is not sanctioned by the UN Security Council resolution, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

"We believe that coalition's interference into the internal, civil war has not been sanctioned by the UN resolution. Protection of the civilian population remains our priority," the Russian chief diplomat was quoted by the state-run Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

Lavrov said that NATO's decision to take over the responsibility for military operation in Libya was in line with the UN resolution 1973. But at the same time, he stressed that the powers recorded in the resolution should be used for the unique purpose - to protect civilians.

Lavrov said it is necessary to make a decision on the immediate cease-fire in Libya and Russia has supported mediation offered by several African countries last week.

The UN resolution 1973 set a task to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the civilian population.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

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