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Rebels push back toward Brega
[Arab News]  Libyan rebels headed out of the eastern town of Brega on Wednesday, trying to regain territory lost in a retreat to Qadaffy's forces.Qadaffy's forces pushed the rebels at least 40 kms east of the oil port of Brega on Tuesday as an inconclusive see-saw conflict continued along the Mediterranean coastal road. Pick-up trucks loaded with machineguns and rocket launchers headed west from Ajdabiyah while several families fleeing the fighting in cars loaded with their belongings passed them in the opposite direction. Hossam Ahmed, a defector from Qadaffy's army, said the frontline was 40-60 km west of Adjabiyah, saying Tuesday's retreat "wasn't a full withdrawal, it's back and forth. Ajdabiyah, gateway to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, is about 80 km east of Brega. Like other rebels at Ajdabiyah's western gate, Ahmed expressed frustration at the lack of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... action. "There have been no air strikes. We hear the sound but they don't bomb anything," he said. Another rebel, Khaled Al-Obeidi said: "What has NATO done, what has NATO bombed?" Journalists were banned on Wednesday from heading west from Ajdabiyah, making it difficult to assess the fighting. "Can you go with Qadaffy's militias and do interviews with them and photograph the tanks? Well now you can't with us either," said Al-Obeidi. Posted by: Fred 2011-04-07 |
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