A commander with the new regime said Tuesday, Seif al-Islam, the best-known son of fallen Libyan dictator Gadhafi, is leading the final stand of loyalists in Bani Walid against NTC forces. The town some 170 kilometres southeast of Tripoli and Gadhafi’s coastal hometown of Sirte on the coast to the northeast are the two final strongholds resisting assault by National Transitional Council forces.
“We captured a general from the pro-Gadhafi brigades, and he said Seif al-Islam is in Bani Walid and directing military operations there,” an NTC commander, Adel Benyur, told journalists. The country’s new rulers have been trying for weeks to take Sirte and Bani Walid, where NTC fighters have been unable to progress further than the outskirts.
Civilians pouring out of Gadhafi’s hometown Sirte on Tuesday said the horror of the battle for the city finally forced them to conquer their fear of the besieging new regime forces and leave.
Sean Penn in Libya
Streams of vehicles crammed with families and piled high with their possessions queued at the succession of checkpoints on the coastal highway out of Sirte to have their belongings searched and their identities checked by suspicious National Transitional Council troops. Commanders of forces loyal to the ruling National Transitional Council, or NTC, are now talking of a “final” huge push to take the town as, backed by NATO warplanes, they continue their bombardment of pro-Gadhafi positions inside.
Hollywood star Sean Penn on Tuesday meanwhile flew in to Benghazi to assess at first hand the humanitarian needs of the people of Libya. “This is my first visit to inspirational Libya. I am inspired by the Arab Spring and am here to be able to get a sense of what humanitarian aid can be delivered” to the people, Penn said.
