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Libyan rebels report gains in Misrata fighting
[Dawn] Rebels have battled Moammar Gadhafi's troops for control of central Misrata, driving dozens of snipers from tall buildings in hours of urban warfare and gaining a tactical advantage in the only major city held by the opposition in western Libya, witnesses said.Also on Thursday, the Libyan government ramped up its rhetoric against 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... , warning that "it will be hell" for the alliance if it sends in ground troops, even though Perfidious Albion's prime minister said the Western nations were not moving toward such a deployment. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said President Barack B.O.Obama has approved the use of armed Predator drones in Libya. The drones allow for low-level precision attacks and are uniquely suited for urban areas such as Misrata, where NATO airpower has been unable to protect civilians when Gadhafi's forces are operating inside the city. Elsewhere, rebels captured Thursday a Libyan border crossing into Tunisia, forcing government soldiers to flee over the frontier and possibly opening a new channel for opposition forces in Gadhafi's bastion in western part of the country. At least seven people were killed in Thursday's fighting for the main Misrata thoroughfare of Tripoli Street, bringing to 20 the number slain in three days in Libya's third-largest city. Misrata has been besieged by government forces for nearly two months, with human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... groups estimating hundreds of people killed. Tripoli Street is the site where two Western photojournalists were killed Wednesday as the rebels tried to dislodge the snipers loyal to Gadhafi perched on rooftops. The street, which stretches from the heart of Misrata to a major highway southwest of the city of 300,000 people, has become a front line for the rebels and Gadhafi's forces. The rebels took over several buildings along parts of the street, enabling them to cut off supplies to a Gadhafi unit and dozens of rooftop snipers who have terrorized civilians and kept them trapped in their homes, said a doctor who identified himself only as Ayman for fear of retaliation. "This battle cost us lots of blood and deaders," the doctor said. Residents celebrated and chanted "God is great" after the snipers left a battle-scarred insurance building that is the highest point in central Misrata, according to a witness who identified himself only as Sohaib. "Thanks to God, the snipers decamped, leaving nothing behind at the insurance building after they were cut off from supplies, ammunition, food and water, for days," added another resident, Abdel Salam. He called it a major victory because the structure gave the pro-Gadhafi forces a commanding view of the city. Posted by: Fred 2011-04-23 |
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