Libya: rebel defences 'failing' as Gaddafi forces move towards Benghazi

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Soldiers loyal to Muammar Gaddafi reach heart of strategic town of Ajdabiya, 90 miles from city at centre of revolution
Chris McGreal in Ajdabiya | Sunday April 10 2011 15.44 BST

Muammar Gaddafi's forces continued to fight their way toward Benghazi, the heart of Libya's revolution, as five African leaders arrived in Tripoli in an effort to broker a ceasefire and political settlement.

Rebel defences around Ajdabiya appeared to be failing as Gaddafi's soldiers broke in to the heart of the strategic town, 90 miles from Benghazi, and engaged in running street battles after again outmanoeuvring the revolutionaries.

Although western powers continued their air strikes, they did not appear to deter Gaddafi's forces.

Rebels said government forces shot down a Russian-made helicopter sent to the fight by revolutionaries only two days before. Nato forced a rebel MIG jet to land because of the UN-imposed no-fly zone.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/10/libya-rebel-defences-gaddafi-forces-benghazi

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[Turborama]

1. NYT's new update tells a different story: Rebels and NATO Strikes Repel Assault on Key Libyan Town

By C.J. CHIVERS

AJDABIYA, Libya — Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s military forces appeared to falter on Sunday in a second day of assault against the rebel city of Ajdabiya, as opposition fighters aided by heavy NATO airstrikes retook positions through much of the city.

Occasional skirmishes between small units within the city on Sunday morning appeared to be dying out. And other than an apparent mortar attack against a rebel checkpoint, the loyalists’ artillery and rocket batteries were mostly silent by the afternoon, when rebel fighters were able to roam many of Ajdabiya’s streets with confidence.

It was a sharp turnabout from the fighting on Saturday, when heavy artillery barrages sent rebel forces running several times through the day and caused heavy damage here. Loyalist forces were able to infiltrate the city, fighting gun battles in the city center against local rebels who had stayed to defend their homes. But by Sunday, that threat appeared to have passed.

“I think the Qaddafi forces go out of the city,” a doctor working at the city’s hospital said, in English.

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/world/africa/11libya.html?_r=1&hp

[pinboy3niner]

3. Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reported live from Ajdabiyah that Gaddafi forces had been pushed out

I happened to catch it on AJE Live Stream and posted my hastily-transcribed notes in the Libya thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=854733&mesg_id=857619

That was about 4 hours ago, but it took much longer before other media sources stopped reporting opposition fighters' "failure" and began to report their success in driving out the regime's forces and maintaining their control of the city.

It's a sad state of affairs when DU's own Libya threads are more up-to-the-minute than much of the media reporting. :(


:hi:

[Turborama]

9. My access to news is limited to the internet at the weekends

As the wife gets majority share ownership of the remote, unless there's a must see movie on - in which case I get veto powers (The Book of Eli on HBO last night being a prime example).

Our satellite internet connection is too unstable to watch streaming TV, too, unfortunately - especially at weekends when all the expats here are Skyping home.

Note to self: visit the Libya threads in GD more often, especially before posting news stories in LBN. ;-)

:hi:

[joshcryer]

8. On weekends I've found that The Guardian does sparse updates.

It could be outdated.

[Baclava]

2. If a partition of some kind were to happen, it looks like Ajdabiya would be a pretty important city

...that either side would want to control, since it looks like that would mean the last eastern city to control access to the main roads to the oil fields in the south.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Depends on who draws the line in the sand.

.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. Shouldn't we be celebrating this?

Isn't Qadaffi fighting a Western-backed rebellion that's an obvious stalking horse for Big Oil?
That's got a fig-leaf from a UNSC that's only a mouthpiece for the US and Israel?
Ought we not cheer this black eye for imperialism and neo-colonialism?

It's so confusing here.....

[joshcryer]

7. Oh, be assured that such news is reveled in.

[defendandprotect]

10. Thanks -- don't have a current link to Libyan Rev thread --

was going to check it before turning in --

evidently no one's kicked it in a while?

Thanks for this info!!

Wanted to see France's criticism of NATO, especially --

will keep looking for a while --

:)

[KurtNYC]

11. Why are we downing planes and bombing tanks that the Rebels use?

"NATO forced a rebel MIG jet to land" and this horror story from 4/7:

"Fighters said that captured tanks had been marked under an agreement with Nato to prevent friendly fire accidents, but to no avail. According to one rebel, up to seven were killed and others seriously wounded, including one teenaged boy who lost both legs. Others gave different figures.

Witnesses claimed the jets circled for half an hour before firing between two and four missiles. As they fled, rebels abandoned other tanks for fear of being struck again.

One doctor said that the allied strike had been followed immediately by an artillery bombardment by pro-Gaddafi troops in which one of his medical team was killed."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8436032/Libya-more-rebels-killed-in-Nato-air-strikes.html

Is it because we want a stalemate (like in the Iran / Iraq war of the 1980s)? Disgusting.

[orangeapple]

13. IFF (identify friend/foe)

is hard to do without a FAC (forward air controller).

The U.S. lost lots of lives to our own airpower in WW2 trying to perfect this concept. Speed up the planes, give the 'bad guys' and 'good guys' the same equipment and remove the boots on the ground calling the shots and you're going to have 'friendly fire' incidents like this. Flying several miles up (to avoid AAA and MANPADS) and at several hundred mph discerning targets is incredibly difficult.

We've rushed into a civil war, without Congress, without even an understanding of who exactly we're working on behalf of, and with a declaration that we'll fight with at least one hand tied behind our back. It's not exactly a recipe for military success.

[Dark]

12. We have a 600 billion$/year defense budget

And yet the rebels, with our "aid"', are still losing. I want my money back.