Saturday, September 17, 2011

Moussa Ibrahim, claimed that NATO had carried out extensive air strikes on Sirte, killing 354 people overnight, 2,000 in 17 days


LIVE Libyan Unrest: September 17, 2011


3:00pm: Turkey is parachuting in 22 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the Libyan city of Bani Walid, one of the last holdouts of Gaddafi’s supporters, the prime minister’s office said. Two military cargo planes left Ankara on Saturday to bring food to around 10,000 people in Bani Walid in need of urgent help, the office said in a statement on its website. As there is no airport in the city, the aid packages would be dropped down by parachute, it added
2:00pm: Moussa Ibrahim, Gaddafi’s spokesman, claimed that NATO had carried out extensive air strikes on Sirte, killing 354 people overnight. He said Gaddafi was personally leading “all aspects of the struggle”. In a call to the Reuters news agency on Saturday, Ibrahim said: “In the last 17 days, more than 2,000 residents of the city of Sirte were killed in NATO air strikes.” The claims could not be verified independently.
12:53pm: Forces against ousted Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi entered his hometown of Sirte by convoys on Saturday, a day after they pulled back following fierce resistance.
11:13am: India on Satruday decided to extend support to former Libyan rebels Transitional National Council (TNC) led by Mustafa Abdel Jalil.
India has been in contact with the TNC in Benghazi and Cairo but was skeptical about the situation in Libya. With the Qadhafi regime withering away and most countries with economic interests in Libya preferring to cast their lot with the new masters in Tripoli, India also declared its willingness to extend assistance to Libya in its political transition, rebuilding and reconstruction.
10:16am: NATO Key Hits for September 16, 2011
In the vicinity of Sirte: 5 Command and Controle Nodes, 3 Radar Systems, 4 Armed Vehicles, 8 Air Missile Systems.
In the vicinity of Hun: 4 Anti Aircraft Guns.
Read full document here.
10:03am: Libyan revolutionary fighters are struggling to regroup outside the loyalist stronghold of Bani Walid after being driven back by fierce resistance from followers of Moammar Gadhafi.
There were no signs Saturday of anti-Gadhafi forces mobilizing for another assault on the mountain enclave, about 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli. The fighters withdrew Friday after facing sniper fire and shelling from loyalists units holding strategic positions above the valley entrance to the town.
Meanwhile, more families fled Bani Walid.
The fighting coincided with another revolutionary offensive into Gadhafi’s hometown Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, where there were stiff counterattacks by backers of the old regime.
9:50am: Forces loyal to Libya’s new ruling National Transitional Council prepared on Saturday for an assault against diehard loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi in Sirte.
Fighters gathered 5 kilometers away from Sirte prayed and packed their pick-up trucks with weapons ahead of another day of fighting in Gaddafi’s home town.
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One Response to LIVE Libyan Unrest: September 17, 2011

  1. ankh says:
    September 17, 2011 at 10:45 AM
    SIRTE, Libya– Revolutionary fighters struggled to expand the offensive into Muammar Qaddafi’s hometown Saturday with street-by-street battles and commanders seeking to break open a new front against loyalist forces fiercely defending the most symbolic stronghold remaining from the shattered regime.
    The fresh assaults into the seaside city of Sirte contrasted with a stalemate in the mountain enclave of Bani Walid where demoralized anti-Qaddafi forces tried to regroup after being beaten back by Qaddafi snipers and gunners holding strategic high ground.
    Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/09/17/libyan-fighters-claw-for-gains-in-qaddafi-hometown/#ixzz1YDivJ078
    If you’re in it to win it, don’t sweat it. They were given two weeks to dig in in both towns. Their will be misdirections as the overseers of Nato try to disrupt tghe effectivesness of Nato for political reasons. As the media condemns the unwillingness to make a San Juan hill charge uphill as some form of cowardice, their will be calls for more useless talks to varnish over a tarnished NTC image. It does not matter, stay the course, In Bani Walid keep the pressuere constant. Move it around laterally , if not foward. And do not let them rest. How does the effectiveness of a sleep deprived sniper diminish…..In Sirte, Assume high ground and good effective cover as was done in Zlitan…..Nato can’t help but deliver the more obvious targets…..When one falls, so does the other in rapid succession. It would have seemed the obvious choice not to attack them simultaneously, but then the council obviously serves two , or even three masters.. It does not matter, because there can be no doubt that the people rule Libya……
    Reply
Posted by Robby Ball at 8:45 AM