Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Al Qadaffy...whose instability has been an inspiration to dictators everywhere...
loyalists Monday staged unsuccessful attacks against the important Libya coastal oil complex at Ras Lanuf. At the end of the day, that NTC fighters managed to hold back the assaults and according to a commander, killed 15 attackers.
It appears highly certain that Al Qadaffy loyalists still cannot digest the fact that theirs is a lost cause and that the dictatorial regime of the runaway leader is well and throughly over. On the other hand, the incidents also suggest that revolutionary forces still face resistance in areas they control.
There were two back-to-back attacks with saboteurs setting fires and then a convoy of gunnies riding in from the desert continued their assault.
Describing the first attack, Col. Hamid al-Hasi, a commander for the revolutionaries in eastern Libya, said a group made up of 15 persons set fire to the facility. He said five of the saboteurs were killed and the rest incarcerated.
Then in a separate attack, a convoy of Al Qadaffy armed loyalists apparently based in a refugee camp about 25 kilometres south of Ras Lanuf, targeted the port. Revolutionary commander, Fadl-Allah Haroun, said a total of 15 people were killed in both attacks.
The size of the ground assault force was unclear, but Haroun said it may have been as big as 40 vehicles.
NTC forces meanwhile, have been facing stiff resistance from Al Qadaffy supporters in Bani Walid since last week. They have captured most of the northern half of the town, which is one of several remaining bastions of Al Qadaffy's rule, but the battle for the town is far from over, and until it is taken the fighting will be fierce.
When it comes to NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
, the alliance's warplanes maintained air strikes on remaining pro-Al Qadaffy sites. The military alliance said its targets Sunday focused on Sirte, particularly a military logistics facility and three surface-to-air missile systems.