The Guardian ~ Libya in turmoil

The Guardian ~ Libya in turmoil

Pro-Gaddafi soldiers and supporters gather in Green Square, Tripoli. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP

Reuters has this on the fighting at Bin Jawad, about 100 miles from Sirte, a Gaddafi stronghold, which blocks the road to Tripoli.

One fighter, returning wounded from Bin Jawad to rebel-held Ras Lanuf further east, said Gaddafi loyalists had attacked advancing rebels with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades. Asked what he had seen, he replied: "Death." Distraught and bandaged, he would not say any more.

Rebels had taken Bin Jawad on Saturday but later withdrew, which let army units occupy local homes and set up sniper and rocket propelled grenade positions for an ambush that forced rebels back to Ras Lanuf.

"It's real fierce fighting, like Vietnam," rebel fighter Ali Othman told Reuters. "Every kind of weapon is being used. We've retreated from an ambush and we are going to regroup."

12.39pm: While Zawyiah, 30 miles west of Tripoli, and Ras Lanuf, further east, remain in the hands of the opposition despite government claims, reports indicate that loyalist forces supported by aircraft have pushed rebels away from the coastal town of Bin Jawad to stop their advance on Gaddafi's home town Sirte. Amid conflicting claims one thing is clear, writes Peter Beaumont.

What is clear, however, is that a large military deployment appears to be under way in Tripoli and the surrounding areas, with ever more tanks visible both inside the city and in the countryside and more missile launchers seen on the roads. One column of BM-21 Grad launchers seen by the Guardian on Saturday included 11 vehicles.

12.22pm: Here is the Guardian story on the SAS subplot, with its Keystone Kops element. Fox says there is a British diplomatic mission in the eastern part of the country trying to establish contact with rebel groups.

The defence secretary, Liam Fox, has confirmed that a "small diplomatic team" is in Benghazi to talk to Libyan rebels but refused to confirm reports that any British nationals had been detained. According to Guardian sources, a suspected British intelligence and special forces unit, which parachuted in about four days ago, was caught near the town of Khandra, about 30km west of Benghazi...

"We want to clearly understand what the dynamic is here because we want to be able to work with them to ensure the demise of the Gaddafi regime, to see a transition to greater stability in Libya and ultimately to more representative government."

12.14pm: I've just been talking with Peter Beaumont about the gunfire that broke out this morning in Tripoli that initially sounded like gun battles, but then turned into celebratory gunfire. Peter makes a couple of points. First despite government reports that rebel-held towns such as Zawiyah have been retaken by loyalist forces, this is not the case. The towns are calm. He emphasises how hard it is to pin down what is going on unless you can see things for your own eyes. Second, the gunfire of this morning amounts to an attempt by the regime to prepare its troops for the coming battles in the next few weeks.

The whole point of this is to say to the soldiers who are going to be deployed in the battles that we are anticipating coming in the next few weeks is 'this is the reception you're going to get. We're asking you to kill your fellow Libyans and this is the reception you'll get when you're engaged in this fighting.

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11.37am: Martin Chulov has been talking to me about the story, broken in the Sunday Times (paywall), about that SAS group being held by the rebels in Benghazi.

Martin says the SAS team were caught about 19 miles west of Benghazi and appear to be part of a British diplomatic mission to make contact with the opposition. A senior member of Benghazi's revolutionary council told Martin: "they were carrying espionage equipment, reconnaissance equipment, multiple passports and weapons. This is no way to conduct yourself during an uprising. Gaddafi is bringing in thousands of mercenaries to kill us, most are using foreign passports and how do we know who these people are? They say they're British nationals and some of the passports they have are British. But the Israelis used British passports to kill that man in Dubai last year."

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Source: The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/06/arab-and-middle-east-protests-libya

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