Qadaffy....dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics
Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyaor
Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule...
"The scouting teams of the revolutionaries reached the outskirts of Al-Heisha after expelling Qadaffy forces," the rebel military command said in a statement early on Wednesday.
Al-Heisha lies roughly 70km south of Misrata and 250km from Tripoli, near two key crossroads that link loyalist-held territory in the west with that in the oil-rich Sirte basin.
It was just the latest in a series of battlefield operations to isolate the capital.
In addition to gaining a foothold in Az-Zawiyah, rebels said they had taken two towns near Tripoli on key supply roads Gharyan, 80km south of the capital and Surman, less than 16km west of Az-Zawiyah.
"Gharyan is fully in the hands of the revolutionaries," a rebel front man, Abdulrahman, said by telephone. "Qadaffy has been isolated. He has been cut off from the outside world."
Government front man Moussa Ibrahim acknowledged in remarks broadcast on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
that rebel fighters were in Gharyan. "There are still armed gangs inside the city. We are able to drive them out," he said.
But while rebels controlled most of Az-Zawiyah, Qadaffy forces shelled the city, wounding several civilians.
Funerals were held for 23 others who rebels said were killed the previous day.
Nuri el-Bouaisi, an oil production engineer in the city, said rebels had cut off pipelines that transport gasoline and diesel fuel to Tripoli.
"We shut down all four pipelines to Tripoli," El-Bouaisi said, whose claim could not be verified.