Qaddafi forces retake western rebel outpost as fighting spills over into Tunisian territory
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Mourners react next to the coffin of rebel Ahmed al-Barasi, whom they say was killed in Misrata by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. (File Photo)
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi regained control over a western rebel outpost on the Tunisian border on Thursday, with fighting spilling onto Tunisian territory, witnesses said.
Colonel Qaddafi’s forces also seized the southeastern city of al-Kufrah on Thursday.
“Sixty 4WD cars loaded with about 250 fighters of Qaddafi forces arrived to Al-Kufrah,” a rebel fighter told Agence-France Presse.
Colonel Qaddafi’s forces also seized the southeastern city of al-Kufrah on Thursday.
“Sixty 4WD cars loaded with about 250 fighters of Qaddafi forces arrived to Al-Kufrah,” a rebel fighter told Agence-France Presse.
He said there were “no casualties” as rebels withdrew after “putting up a light resistance,” adding that the Qaddafi forces were “now in control of three quarters of the city.”
“They attacked the court and raised a green flag” in support of Colonel Qaddafi, another rebel said.
The attacks appeared to be part of a broader government move to root out rebel outposts beyond the confines of their eastern heartland. Rebels said the western mountain town of Zintan came under fire from multiple-launch GRAD rockets seen as especially hazardous to civilian areas because of their inaccuracy.
Meanwhile, the Libyan interim council has said that three Israeli boats have left the port of Ashdod toward Malta to transfer a cargo of arms to a ship belonging to Colonel Qaddafi. If true, this would mark the first time that the Israelis have openly engaged with parties in any of the five countries currently in crisis in the Arab world: Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain.
The foreign section of the council added that the ship, which left Tripoli to allegedly bring food products from Malta, would unload the Israeli arms in Algeria before transferring them to Libya across the border.
The council said 20 T92 tanks would be transferred from Algeria within 24 hours.
Libyan protesters, meanwhile, fought to take Misrata’s airport on Thursday after pushing back Colonel Qaddafi’s forces from the city’s lifeline seaport as the oil-rich country’s tribes urged the veteran leader to quit.
Seven opposition fighters in Misrata were killed overnight when Colonel Qaddafi’s forces hit their checkpoint with artillery fire and rockets, a local doctor said.
“Fifteen of our protesters at a checkpoint near the front line have been attacked by Colonel Qaddafi’s troops with heavy artillery and then with rockets. We received seven dead and four injured,” the doctor told Reuters.
The special UN envoy for Libya, Abdul Ilah al-Khatib, meanwhile, held talks in Turkey on Thursday ahead of a trip to the Libyan revolt stronghold of Benghazi, officials said.
Mr. Khatib and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey discussed “the gravity of the situation” in the conflict-torn North African country of 5.5 million people, a Turkish diplomat told AFP.
“They focused especially on humanitarian aid and the envoy expressed appreciation for Turkey's efforts in this realm,” he added.
Earlier this week, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations said the 192-member world organization still hoped to secure a ceasefire in Libya.
As a UN panel arrived in Libya to investigate violence and human rights abuses, protesters in Misrata said they were confident victory was “very close” for them in the strategic port city.
“Our freedom fighters have managed to defeat the soldiers of Colonel Qaddafi” by forcing them out of Misrata, Khalid Azwawi, head of the local transition committee, told a news conference late Wednesday.
“They managed to force them to leave, but not very far. That’s why he is trying to bomb the port,” he said.
Opposition fighters backed by NATO air strikes said Wednesday they drove the troops of the 68-year-old Mr. Qaddafi out of missile range of the port of Misrata, an aid conduit for the city of 550,000 people under siege for more than seven weeks.
The fighting continued around Misrata’s airport on Thursday morning, according to the protesters.
Meanwhile, the United States opened another lifeline by authorizing Americans to buy oil, gas and petroleum products from the protesters’ Transitional National Council.
“The people of Libya are brave and defiant but we need access to oil revenues so that we can feed, protect and defend our families,” the council said in welcoming the move by the US Treasury Department.
Chiefs or representatives of 61 tribes from across the North African country of 5.5 million people called for an end to Mr. Qaddafi’s four-decade rule, in a joint statement released Wednesday by French writer Bernard-Henri Levy.
The International Organization for Migration said in a statement late Wednesday that it managed to evacuate 935 refugees to the eastern revolt stronghold of Benghazi despite heavy shelling, according to AFP.
Overnight, the United Nations said a three-member international panel arrived in Libya on Wednesday to begin an UN-ordered inquiry into the violence and abuses since Mr. Qaddafi’s forces began a crackdown against protesters in mid-February.
The inquiry was “ordered after reports emerged of serious human rights abuses against civilians in Libya, where initially peaceful protests have transformed into open conflict between opposition groups and Colonel Qaddafi regime,” it said.
(Mustapha Ajbaili of Al Arabiya can be reached via email at: Mustapha.ajbaili@mbc.net. Abeer Tayel, also of Al Arabiya, can be reached via email at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
“They attacked the court and raised a green flag” in support of Colonel Qaddafi, another rebel said.
The attacks appeared to be part of a broader government move to root out rebel outposts beyond the confines of their eastern heartland. Rebels said the western mountain town of Zintan came under fire from multiple-launch GRAD rockets seen as especially hazardous to civilian areas because of their inaccuracy.
Meanwhile, the Libyan interim council has said that three Israeli boats have left the port of Ashdod toward Malta to transfer a cargo of arms to a ship belonging to Colonel Qaddafi. If true, this would mark the first time that the Israelis have openly engaged with parties in any of the five countries currently in crisis in the Arab world: Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain.
The foreign section of the council added that the ship, which left Tripoli to allegedly bring food products from Malta, would unload the Israeli arms in Algeria before transferring them to Libya across the border.
The council said 20 T92 tanks would be transferred from Algeria within 24 hours.
Libyan protesters, meanwhile, fought to take Misrata’s airport on Thursday after pushing back Colonel Qaddafi’s forces from the city’s lifeline seaport as the oil-rich country’s tribes urged the veteran leader to quit.
Seven opposition fighters in Misrata were killed overnight when Colonel Qaddafi’s forces hit their checkpoint with artillery fire and rockets, a local doctor said.
“Fifteen of our protesters at a checkpoint near the front line have been attacked by Colonel Qaddafi’s troops with heavy artillery and then with rockets. We received seven dead and four injured,” the doctor told Reuters.
The special UN envoy for Libya, Abdul Ilah al-Khatib, meanwhile, held talks in Turkey on Thursday ahead of a trip to the Libyan revolt stronghold of Benghazi, officials said.
Mr. Khatib and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey discussed “the gravity of the situation” in the conflict-torn North African country of 5.5 million people, a Turkish diplomat told AFP.
“They focused especially on humanitarian aid and the envoy expressed appreciation for Turkey's efforts in this realm,” he added.
Earlier this week, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations said the 192-member world organization still hoped to secure a ceasefire in Libya.
As a UN panel arrived in Libya to investigate violence and human rights abuses, protesters in Misrata said they were confident victory was “very close” for them in the strategic port city.
“Our freedom fighters have managed to defeat the soldiers of Colonel Qaddafi” by forcing them out of Misrata, Khalid Azwawi, head of the local transition committee, told a news conference late Wednesday.
“They managed to force them to leave, but not very far. That’s why he is trying to bomb the port,” he said.
Opposition fighters backed by NATO air strikes said Wednesday they drove the troops of the 68-year-old Mr. Qaddafi out of missile range of the port of Misrata, an aid conduit for the city of 550,000 people under siege for more than seven weeks.
The fighting continued around Misrata’s airport on Thursday morning, according to the protesters.
Meanwhile, the United States opened another lifeline by authorizing Americans to buy oil, gas and petroleum products from the protesters’ Transitional National Council.
“The people of Libya are brave and defiant but we need access to oil revenues so that we can feed, protect and defend our families,” the council said in welcoming the move by the US Treasury Department.
Chiefs or representatives of 61 tribes from across the North African country of 5.5 million people called for an end to Mr. Qaddafi’s four-decade rule, in a joint statement released Wednesday by French writer Bernard-Henri Levy.
The International Organization for Migration said in a statement late Wednesday that it managed to evacuate 935 refugees to the eastern revolt stronghold of Benghazi despite heavy shelling, according to AFP.
Overnight, the United Nations said a three-member international panel arrived in Libya on Wednesday to begin an UN-ordered inquiry into the violence and abuses since Mr. Qaddafi’s forces began a crackdown against protesters in mid-February.
The inquiry was “ordered after reports emerged of serious human rights abuses against civilians in Libya, where initially peaceful protests have transformed into open conflict between opposition groups and Colonel Qaddafi regime,” it said.
(Mustapha Ajbaili of Al Arabiya can be reached via email at: Mustapha.ajbaili@mbc.net. Abeer Tayel, also of Al Arabiya, can be reached via email at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
