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Gaddafi launches counter-offensive on Libya rebels
[Ennahar] Libyan troops loyal to Muammar Qadaffy launched counter-offensives on three rebel-held towns on Sunday as the popular uprising escalated into open warfare.The resilience of Qadaffy's forces in the face of the widespread insurrection and their ability to counter-attack will increase fears that Libya is heading for a protracted civil war rather than the swift revolutions seen in Tunisia and Egypt. Qadaffy's troops, backed by tanks, artillery, fighter jets and helicopters attacked the towns of Zawiyah and Misrata, to the immediate west and east of Tripoli, and the oil port city of Ras Lanuf, 660 km (410 miles) east of the capital. Government spokesmen said Qadaffy's forces won a series of swift victories, but many of the towns remained in rebel hands, Rooters news hounds at the scene and witnesses said. Qadaffy loyalists were nevertheless jubilant over the reports and automatic gunfire reverberated around the capital. "These are celebrations because government forces have taken control of all areas to Benghazi and are in the process of taking control of Benghazi," front man Mussa Ibrahim said, referring to Libya's rebel-controlled second largest city situated in the far east. While Benghazi remained firmly in rebel hands, government troops pushed rebels out of the town of Bin Jawad which they had captured on Saturday, back to Ras Lanuf. One fighter returning maimed to Ras Lanuf from the frontline was asked what he had seen. He replied: "Death." Rebels surrounded by Qadaffy troops near the center of Zawiyah, 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, faced another onslaught on Sunday after repelling two major assaults by tanks and infantry the day before. "This morning, there was a new attack, bigger than yesterday. There were one and a half hours of fighting ... Two people were killed from our side and many more injured," front man Youssef Shagan said by telephone. "We are still in full control of the square. Now it is quiet," he added. FIGHT BACK Elite forces under Qadaffy's son Khamis also launched an assault on Misrata, 200 km (125 miles) east of the capital. "Very, very heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting... is taking place now at the western entrance of the town. The fighting started about an hour ago after an attack by brigades belonging to Khamis," said the resident, called Mohamed. "They are destroying everything they find. They are using artillery and tanks. Revolutionaries are doing their best to prevent them from reaching the center of the town," he said Doctors at Ras Lanuf hospital said two dead and 22 maimed had arrived from the fighting. A French journalist was shot in the leg, a doctor said, and four rebels were seriously maimed and unlikely to survive. But the rebels said they had shot down a helicopter. Three rebel fighters speaking at Ras Lanuf said they had seen the helicopter fall into the sea. A Rooters correspondent was shown the wreckage of a warplane on Saturday that rebels said they had shot down. Several witnesses in Bin Jawad said there were many dead and maimed that could not be reached. One man said he had seen a civilian building hit by a bomb. "The maimed people shouted at us to get their children out. We left the dead," said Khaled Abdul Karim, a rebel fighter. Posted by: Fred 2011-03-07 |
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