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#Libya Liveblog: Qaddafi forces launch shells from #Sirte, rockets from #BaniWalid bit.ly/p7wvBQ #p2 #tcot #MENA
1409 GMT: Despite the fact that the National Transitional Council has given the Qaddafi loyalists in Sirte until Saturday to surrender, it seems the loyalists themselves are pushing that deadline forward. The Guardian reports that Qaddafi forces in Sirte are shelling freedom fighter positions east of the city (it's being described as a "modest shelling") and Al Jazeera reports that Qaddafi loyalists are firing rockets out of Bani Walid at opposition positions:
Muammar Gaddafi's loyalists have fired at least 10 rockets from inside one of his last strongholds, hours after a TV station aired an audio message reportedly from the ousted Libyan leader urging his fighters on.At least 10 loud explosions could be heard on Thursday along the desert front line at Bani Walid, a dusty town of 100,000 some 140km southeast of Tripoli, following early morning skirmishes in the same area.Smoke billowed from the projectiles - said to be Grad rockets - after they landed in Wadi Dinar, about 20km outside the town.
1404 GMT: James Miller returns, and he's got a lot of news to catch up on.
Staying with the theme, we'll start with Syria. There are reports of clashes between defected soldiers and the Syrian military. A contact for the Guardian has this report:
Violent clashes have broken out between defected and loyal soldiers in the province of Deraa this morning, according to the Local Co-ordination Committees, which monitor protests in the country. They say the violence broke out after a raid on Busr al-Harir village was planned.Information on the level of defections from the military is sketchy and hard to confirm but activists say an increasing number of soldiers are escaping from the army. "The regime has never fully trusted the army; it has always sent security agents and the shabiha [ghosts - pro-Assad militia] to watch over them," said one Damascus-based activist speaking on condition of anonymity.Some defecting soldiers are protecting groups of demonstrators, leading to some fighting back against government forces. But despite the founding of a Free Officers' Movement, activists say networks between groups are limited, meaning that many unhappy soldiers can only desert rather than defect. The upper echelons of the army, populated by loyalists to the ruling Assad family, also remains tight knit.
1115 GMT: A note from Scott Lucas --- I have just landed in the UK after an overnight flight from California, so updates will be limited for a few more hours. Thanks to EA readers for their patience and for keeping us going, via the Comments sections, with latest news and ideas.
0417 GMT: Yesterday we reported that 17 people were killed in Homs. Al Jazeera is now saying that 21 were killed on Wednesday in Homs alone. But the city is not backing down. Protesters seem to be finding the areas of the city that don't have tanks, or snipers, and that is where they make their stand.
Now, the reports of defections are increasing. Syrian State TV, SANA, is reporting that soldiers were killed yesterday:
Eight soldiers and five "insurgents" were killed Homs, the official Sana news agency reported, adding that "dozens" of soldiers were wounded by "armed terrorists who attacked civilians and security forces" across the city."Security forces succeeded in eliminating them and five of the armed criminals were killed," Sana said, adding that several arrests had been made.It said there was an "anti-tank missile strike against the hospital in Homs," and another near Homs where an "armed group ambushed and attacked a military truck".
SANA made similar claims when the military attacked Jisr al Shughour, but activists said that the soldiers were killed at point-blank range when they refused to fire on protesters. As per our conversation with NPR's Andy Carvin and Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell yesterday, none of us have seen a single piece of video that would back up the Syrian government's claims.
The activists, however, have plenty of video evidence for their claims. This video reportedly shows a large and defiant crowd chanting Wednesday night in the center of Homs, despite the violence (or, more accurately, because of it):
