The National Transitional Council's forces as revolutionary fighters continued their offensive to seize control of Sirte from former Al Qadaffy...a reminder that a single man with an idea can screw up an entire nation...
loyalists who keep on stubbornly defending the leader's hometown. At the same time, hundreds of families packed up their personal belongings and tried to flee the besieged city.
The exodus of fleeing residents from one of only two remaining Al Qadaffy bastions grew larger on Friday, as they tried hard to escape a town that has for weeks been under heavy bombardment and shelling from the new rulers' fighters and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
from three fronts.
With mortar and gunfire echoing in the background, with black smoke rising from the centre of the city and with NATO jets flying overhead, the NTC fighters did their part by launching an assault on the coastal city in an effort to dislodge the deposed leader's loyalists,
Sirte civilians, men, women and kiddies, fearing for their lives joined long lines of cars that queued up at NTC checkpoints leading out of the town to be checked and the people inside them identified. There is also great concern for civilians still trapped inside the city of about 100,000 people.
Aid agencies said this week that a humanitarian disaster loomed in Sirte amid rising casualties and shrinking supplies of water, electricity and food, with doctors at a field hospital near the eastern front line saying an elderly woman died from malnutrition on Friday morning. They also witnessed other cases of malnutrition.
AL Qadaffy loyalists and some civilians have accused NATO air raids and shelling by the forces of the NTC of killing civilians. But both NATO and the NTC deny the accusations. Civilians coming out of Sirte say pro-Al Qadaffy fighters are executing people they believe to be NTC sympathisers.
Reports say families have not eaten for days and the maimed are unable to be transported to hospitals for treatment., while medical sources have been reported saying that even if the maimed do reach hospitals, doctors are unable to tend to their injuries due to lack of power and limited supplies.
As such, according to a UN source, the NTC has asked the UN for fuel for ambulances to evacuate its maimed fighters from Sirte. He went on to tell Rooters that the UN is sending trucks of drinking water for the civilians crammed into vehicles on the road from Sirte, heading either towards Benghazi to the east or Misrata to the west.
He went on to say that fighting around the city and continuing insecurity around Bani Walid, the other Al Qadaffy bastion, are preventing the world body from deploying aid workers inside.
"There are two places we'd really like access to, Sirte and Bani Walid, because of concern on the impact of conflict on the civilian population," he said