Gaddafi prepares attacks on rebels

Gaddafi although they are threatening their own assault on Tripoli.
Western powers are debating limited military intervention, especially a no-fly zone that would see foreign planes stopping Libyan air force planes flying.
China has expressed doubts about military intervention. China and Russia could veto any UN backing for the action.
Enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya would first require bombing the north African nation’s air defence systems, top US commander General James Mattis warned yesterday.
A no-fly zone would require removing “the air defence capability first,” Mattis, the head of Central Command, told a Senate hearing.
Panic gripped Zintan on news that the government was preparing an assault to retake the city, the first in western Libya to throw off Gaddafi’s rule, with people digging in yesterday and bracing for war.
As darkness had fallen on the city overnight, the news spread like a bomb blast: troops loyal to the Libyan strongman were advancing on Zintan, which anti-regime activists “freed” 10 days earlier after fierce clashes.
Watchmen posted on the heights above the city sounded the alarm that troops were as close as 30-40 kilometres away.
Around 40 trucks and armoured vehicles fitted with anti-aircraft guns were spotted coming from the mountainous north while vehicles equipped with multiple missile launchers were sweeping in from the southern plains.
Libyans guarding a major munitions dump near the rebel-held eastern town of Ajdabiyah fear any direct hit by warplanes sent by Muammar Gaddafi’s military could cause destruction for miles around.
A warplane attacked a target just outside the walls of the Haniyeh base on Monday, hitting nothing of significance, before returning to bomb again, striking an area close to a storage bunker inside, according to an officer at the site who has joined the opposition to the Libyan leader.
Military officers and other witnesses confirmed yesterday that the attack had taken place after the accuracy of the report was questioned.
The United States said on Monday it was moving ships and planes closer to the country, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said his government was working to prepare a “no-fly” zone to protect the Libyan people.
Mohammed Yusuf, the officer, said anti-aircraft guns fired at the raiding warplane.
Then at around 9pm, defenders heard a helicopter.
“We attacked with anti-aircraft fire and it left without bombing anything,” he told Reuters at the site.
A further aircraft was heard at around 5:30am yesterday, added Saad Mahmoud, another officer who defected from Gaddafi’s military during a revolt that has put much of the the oil-producing North African state under rebel control.
“We fired randomly in the air and it left,” he said.
Speaking to reporters at the base, captain Faris Zwei, another officer who rebelled against Gaddafi, said he believed pilots were missing their targets on purpose.
The base comprises 35 bunkers.
This correspondent was given access to one which a military expert said was packed with at least 10 000 tonnes of munitions of every calibre.
Five tanks were also visible at the base.
The rebels said they did not have weapons needed to fire the heavy calibre ammunition.
Libyan army units which have rebelled against Muammar Gaddafi are organising under a unified council to launch an attack against forces still loyal to the leader, a rebel officer said yesterday.
Captain Faris Zwei, speaking to journalists at a military base in Ajdabiyah, said: “All the military councils of Free Libya are meeting to form a unified military council to plan an attack on Gaddafi security units, militias and mercenaries.”
But he also said the rebels were waiting for Gaddafi opponents in Tripoli to “free” themselves. “We will give them time to have this honour,” he said at the base in the east, which is under rebel control.
“We want to give every city the honour of freeing itself. If this is delayed, we will intervene,” he said.
the veteran Libyan leader remained defiant, sending forces to a western border area amid fears that the most violent Arab revolt may grow bloodier and spark a humanitarian crisis.
His most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, warned the West against launching any military action to topple his father, and said the veteran ruler would not go into exile or step down.
“Using force against Libya is not acceptable, there’s no reason, but if they want . . . we are ready, we are not afraid,” he told Sky television, adding: “We live here, we die here.”
In Moscow, a Kremlin source suggested Gaddafi should step down, calling him a “living political corpse who has no place in the modern civilised world,” Interfax news agency reported.
In prepared testimony to US lawmakers in Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Libya could become a democracy or face a drawn-out civil war.
The evacuation of non-African foreigners in Libya is coming to a close. But tens of thousands of Egyptians, Tunisians and some other Africans are still in Libya.
In the biggest single operation China has evacuated an overwhelming majority of its citizens from Libya, according to the latest information from the Foreign Ministry released here yesterday.
As of 2pm yesterday, China has altogether pulled out about 32 000 nationals from Libya, 9 000 of whom were back in China, roughly 21 000 were in a third country, while 2 100 were on their way back to a third country.
Presently, China is about to finish its evacuation efforts in Libya’s eastern and midwestern areas while there are about 3 000 Chinese in the nation’s southern part who will be evacuated either by China’s military aircraft or foreign airlines, said the ministry.
It also said that those who are taking shelter in a third country will be flown back to China by government-sent chartered planes shortly. – Reuters-Xinhua-AFP.

You Might Also Like

Comments