@ShababLibyaLibyanYouthMovement
@ShababLibyaLibyanYouthMovement
Rockets push back rebels south of Libyan capital
July 1, 2011 Posted in June 2011, News, Week Commencing: June 27, 2011 | 02:12
* Gaddafi warns NATO of “catastrophe” if air war goes on * Tens of thousands of Gaddafi supporters in Green Square * Gaddafi’s daughter says prepared to cut deal with rebels
* Libya “could be a new Somalia”: World Bank official (Adds AU not to cooperate with ICC arrest warrant for Gaddafi) BIR-AYYAD, Libya, July 1 (Reuters) – Libyan rebels who had advanced to within 80 km (50 miles) of Muammar Gaddafi’s stronghold in the capital were forced to retreat on Friday after coming under a barrage of rocket fire from government forces. The rebels advanced five days ago to the outskirts of the small town of Bir al-Ghanam, raising the possibility of a breakthrough in a four-month old conflict that has become the bloodiest of the “Arab Spring” uprisings. Rebel fighters who had been massing on a ridge near Bir al-Ghanam and preparing for an attack were pulled back under fire from Russian-made Grad rockets, said a Reuters photographer in Bir-Ayyad, 30 km to the south.
The rebels returned to the same positions on the edges of Bir al-Ghanam on Friday afternoon, Reuters reporters there said. The rocket barrage reached as far back as Bir-Ayyad, a road junction in the foothills of the Western Mountains range south-west of Tripoli from where the rebels had launched their advance last week.
