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| Africa North | ||
| Rebels drive back Gaddafi forces west of Misrata | ||
| 2011-05-10 | ||
| MISRATA, Libya — Rebels fighting to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi drove his forces westwards from the besieged port city of Misrata on Monday and were poised to make another thrust, an AFP correspondent reported as NATO said the strongman’s time was running out. After heavy clashes, the insurgents were in control of a long stretch of road hugging the coastline west of Misrata, Libya’s third city which Gaddafi’s forces have laid siege to for more than two months, forcing thousands to flee. The Red
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said time was running out for Gaddafi, who would ultimately lose his decades-old grip on power given the “wind of change” sweeping the Arab world, the death of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and mounting pressure on the Taliban in Afghanistan. “The game is over for Gaddafi” who “should realise sooner rather than later that there’s no future for him or his regime,” Rasmussen told CNN late Sunday. “We have stopped Gaddafi in his tracks. His time is running out. He’s more and more isolated,” the NATO chief said.
The fighting has been heaviest in and around Misrata, a make-or-break city in the Libyan conflict about 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of the capital. A thick plume of smoke spread on Sunday over the city, the main source of supplies to rebels in western Libya, from blazing fuel depots that Gaddafi’s forces bombed a day earlier. As long queues formed at fuel stations amid fears of shortages, rebels warned Misrata’s residents could run out of food and water within a month if they are not provided with “game-changing” weapons to defeat Gaddafi’s forces. Because of shelling of the city’s port over the past two weeks, only one aid ship a week is now reaching Misrata, said a spokesman in the eastern rebel bastion of Benghazi. The latest shipment of aid to land in the port on Monday morning was carrying surgical kits, spare parts to repair water and electrical supply systems, and 8,000 jars of baby food, the Red | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 There are reports that Khadaffy's troops are parking SPG and tanks next to hospitals and schools, under their parking cover structures. Those cannot be hit since a miss would take out a school or hospital. They have also been parking armor next to mosques and putting up tents to park the armor under. Once again, ROE will prevent attacks there, and it is difficult to tell what is actually contained in the tent - some reports say that active ambulances are pulled into the tents at night, to create the heat signatures and make an attack even more difficult. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2011-05-10 21:13 |
| #5 I'm sorry phil_b, I don't see any signs that NATO attacks---including the initial Tomahawking, managed to substantially harm his heavy weapons. In any case, I expect BRICs are resupplying him right now. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-05-10 06:33 |
| #4 If Gaddafi fails to survive, I suspect the west will be quite perplexed at the type of gratitude the victors may deliver. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2011-05-10 06:12 |
| #3 I'll give Daffy 2 weeks max. His heavy weaponry should be gone by then. Either destroyed from the air or abandoned by his troops. Once it's a small arms war. He doesn't have the numbers. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-05-10 06:02 |
| #2 Would you care to put a small bet on it, phil_b? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-05-10 03:42 |
| #1 advancing to Dafnia and ready to move on Zliten Which means they are advancing toward Tripoli. Saw a report some rebels had reached Zliten. It looks like the end is rapidly approaching for Daffy. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-05-10 01:41 |