Libyan pro-Gaddafi forces 'fail' to retake Zawiyah

Opposition forces armed with tanks and anti-aircraft guns 'beat back' troops loyal to Gaddafi in six-hour battle

Peter Beaumont in Tripoli
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 March 2011 15.32 GMT

Anti-Gaddafi forces claim to have beaten back a series of attacks aimed at reclaiming the strategic town of Zawiyah, 19 miles from Tripoli.

Although details are sketchy and have been impossible for reporters in Tripoli to confirm at first hand, both sides appear to agree that fighting began after several military vehicles carrying government soldiers attempted to enter the town on Monday.

Soldiers from the Libyan military's elite Khamis Brigade take up positions east of Zawiyah. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP

Both opposition and pro-regime sources confirmed that up to 10 soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire.

Despite reports of fighting in the town, it appeared calm when the Guardian drove through it, with some shops open and people and traffic in the street.

The opposition forces in the town, who seized its centre but not all of its outlying suburbs and villages last week, are using seized military equipment – mostly old – including a tank, several armoured personnel carriers and a couple of pick-up trucks mounted with operational anti-aircraft guns.

The fighters themselves are armed with a mixture of assault rifles, shotguns and other rifles.

Ranged against them is a formidable force from the Khamis Brigade, led by one of Gaddafi's sons, which on Monday afternoon had moved around a dozen modern tanks close to Zawiyah as well as six BM-21 truck-mounted "Grad" rocket launchers within range of the town. US diplomats have said the brigade is the best-equipped force in Libya.

It is not clear whether either tanks or rockets were used in the government assault.

"We were able to repulse the attack. We damaged a tank with an RPG. The mercenaries fled after that," said a resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals.

He said Gaddafi had called Zawiyah's influential tribal leader Mohammed al-Maktouf and warned him that if the rebels did not leave the town's main square by early Tuesday, they would be hit by warplanes. "We are expecting a major battle," the resident said, adding that the rebels had killed eight soldiers and mercenaries on Monday.

Another resident of Zawiyah said he heard gunfire well into the night on the outskirts of town.

Witnesses said young men had been stationed on the rooftops of the taller buildings in the town – as seen by the Guardian on Monday – to monitor the movements of the pro-Gaddafi forces and sound the warning if they thought an attack was imminent.

They also spoke about generous offers of cash by the regime for the rebels to hand control of the town back to authorities.

In Misrata, pro-Gaddafi troops who control part of an air base on the town's outskirts tried to advance on Monday. They were repulsed by opposition forces, who included residents with automatic weapons and army units that had defected, according to one of the opposition fighters.

No casualties were reported and the fighter claimed that his side had captured eight soldiers, including a senior officer.

The opposition controls most of the air base, and the fighter said dozens of anti-Gaddafi gunmen had arrived from farther east in recent days as reinforcements. One witness told the Associated Press: "We will not give up Zawiyah at any price. We know it is significant strategically. They will fight to get it, but we will not give up. We managed to defeat them because our spirits are high and their spirits are zero."

The reports of the clashes around Zawiyah have demonstrated the difficulty in establishing details of what has been going on in many of the contested towns around Tripoli – and in Tripoli itself. Both sides appear to have been guilty of omissions and exaggerations as they fight a propaganda war as well as one with guns and bullets.

While breathless accounts of pitched battles have appeared in the international media, the reality often appears to have been more chaotic and smaller in scale.

The movements of reporters in Tripoli have been carefully controlled by the Gaddafi regime, with journalists forced to rely on descriptions of events provided by opposition members over the phone. Details have often been difficult to corroborate.

On Tuesday, Gaddafi's regime sought to show that it was the country's only legitimate authority and that it continued to feel compassion for areas in the east that had fallen under the control of its opponents.

A total of 18 trucks loaded with rice, wheat flour, sugar and eggs left Tripoli for Benghazi, the country's second largest city, 620 miles east of the capital. Also in the convoy were two refrigerated cars carrying medical supplies.

The convoy was met with a small pro-Gaddafi demonstration as it made its way out of Tripoli. "God, Gaddafi, Libya and that's it," chanted the demonstrators.

"The state is very generous with the people," said 22-year-old Ahmed Mahmoud as he watched the convoy.

Source: Peter Beaumont, the Guardian