@SyrianPresidentBashar al-Assad
BANI WALID, Libya — Libyan fighters poured into a desert town held by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi on Friday as explosions and gunfire echoed around the town's hills and valleys, a Reuters reporter said.
Bani Walid, 110 miles south of Tripoli, has been under siege for two weeks, with hundreds of die-hard Gadhafi loyalists concentrated at its center.
Earlier Friday, truckloads of anti-Gadhafi troops shouting "Let's go! Bani Walid!" and columns of pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns were seen speeding toward the town, kicking up clouds of dust in the desert.
"We are going in. We finally have the orders. God is greatest. God willing, Bani Walid will be free today," fighter Mohamed Ahmed said, his rifle sticking out of his car window.
Anti-Gadhafi forces also stormed the ousted ruler's birthplace, Sirte, late on Thursday, coming under heavy fire from loyalists in the northern coastal city.
Al-Jazeera reported that Libyan forces were engaged in fierce fighting with Gadhafi's troops Friday. The television network also said that Libyan fighters had captured the airport in Sirte, which is six miles south of the city itself.
In a live blog on its website, al-Jazeera quoted Makhlouf al-Firjan, who it described as "a man identifying himself as a spokesman for the opposition fighters inside Sirte," as saying that the western, northern and southern parts of Sirte are already under its control. There was no immediate confirmation of the report.
