Gaddafi prepares the offensive against Benghazi
15/03/2011 10:07 - Updated: 22:30The rebels are preparing to attack loyalist forces on Benghazi. [Tara Todres-Whitehill - Keystone]
Pro-government forces have regained the lead Gaddafi in Libya Tuesday, pounding the rebel city of Ajdabiya (east) and announcing an impending operation in Benghazi, the stronghold of the rebels. Meanwhile, the G8 failed to agree Tuesday on a military intervention.
For insurgents, there are only "two choices: surrender or flee," he assured the Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in an interview with Italian daily Il Giornale. He ruled out any negotiations with the rebels but has promised not to kill those who surrendered.
Imminent attack on Benghazi
Government forces launched air force and heavy artillery against Ajdabiya, strategic communication node and final lock held by the rebels before Benghazi, 160 km further south, cutting the road between the two cities. Hundreds of civilians and insurgents fled Ajdabiya to Benghazi, according to AFP.
According to the official Libyan television, "the city of Ajdabiya is totally controlled (by loyalist forces, ie) and it is being purged of armed gangs." Insurgents have assured that they still controlled the city.
In the evening, the military announced the imminent launch an operation against Benghazi, where sit the bodies of the opposition. This, she says, a "humanitarian mission" designed to "restore peace and normalcy" in the second largest city.
International community hesitant
The Libyan regime is also poised to overtake an international community hesitant. Meeting in Paris, the foreign ministers of the G8 have dismissed for lack of consensus option of military intervention to slow the forces of Muammar Gaddafi - an option rejected in particular by Germany and Russia.
They limited themselves to support the review "emergency" by the Security Council of the UN to "a wide range of measures to protect the Libyan people", but the leap of military intervention . A group of powers including the United States, the United Kingdom and France hoped to present to the UN on Tuesday a draft resolution tightening sanctions against Libya.
The NATO countries for their part considered for the first time on Tuesday the military options available to them if the Atlantic Alliance decided to intervene in Libya, although the probability of a UN resolution authorizing them decreases , said a diplomatic source.
The defeatist France
"They want so much to explore the whole issue that Gaddafi has time to enter Benghazi about fifteen times," said one diplomat. "We're playing a race against time to build a political operation between legitimate and act in the coming days."
"Gaddafi score points," he regretted his part the head of French diplomacy Alain Juppe. "We have perhaps missed a chance to restore the balance," he added, saying the international community could not prevent the government forces to resume Benghazi.
It also found that the idea of establishing a no-fly zone in Libya was now "outdated". A view shared by his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini, who "no-fly zone would not guarantee by itself the end of fighting."
ats / bkel
