Losing Al-Qawalish?
Set-back to rebel plans for a march on Tripoli
Gaddafi on Wednesday tried to re-take a village south of the capital seized by rebels a week ago, delivering a set-back to rebel plans for a march on Tripoli. The fighting in the village of Al-Qawalish, about 100 km (60 miles) from the capital, underlined the faltering pattern of the rebel advances that has led some of the rebels' Western backers to push for a political solution to the conflict instead.
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A Reuters team in the village heard small arms fire and shelling and could hear explosions from shells landing inside Al-Qawalish on its eastern edge. Several truckloads of rebel fighters sped west out of the village, away from the attacking government forces, with one shouting: "Go, go, it is not safe here!"
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One rebel fighter said the fighting started after a rebel unit tried to advance east from Al-Qawalish in the direction of the town of Garyan, which controls access to the main highway leading north into the capital Tripoli. Another fighter, on the western edge of Al-Qawalish, said: "We ran out of bullets and we had to pull out."
