Libyan fighters press into Gadhafi strongholds
Libyan revolutionary forces escalated offensives Friday into two key strongholds of Moammar Gadhafi's rule, battling fierce resistance from snipers and loyalist gunners in Gadhafi's hometown and a mountain enclave where a pro-regime radio station urged followers to fight to the end.
In Sirte, Gadhafi's birthplace on the Mediterranean coast, his backers rained gunfire down from mosque minarets and high-rise buildings on fighters pushing into the city from the west, while in the streets the two sides battered each other with high-caliber machine guns, rockets, and rocket-propelled grenades.
In the strategic mountain town of Bani Walid, revolutionary fighters and Gadhafi loyalists traded relentless mortar and rocket fire across a 500-yard-wide desert valley called Wadi Zeitoun that divides the town — and the two sides — between north and south. Fighters dashed through alleyways to set off volleys of fire, hitting a residence that Gadhafi was building on the remains of old fort overlooking the wadi.
"The Gadhafi loyalists have so many weapons. This battle is really crazy," said Maab Fatel, a 28-year-old fighter, his uniform splattered with bloodstains from carrying a wounded comrade.
Libya's new rulers appeared to be launching a coordinated assault to break the back of regime holdouts, who still hold a swath of territory along the central coast and into the southern deserts more than three weeks after revolutionary fighters swept into Tripoli and drove out Gadhafi. The whereabouts of the ousted leader and several of his sons remain unknown.
The new leadership has been gaining international support in their campaign to root out the rest of Gadhafi's regime and establish their authority, with high-profile visits this week by the French president and British prime minister, and on Friday by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In Sirte, Gadhafi's birthplace on the Mediterranean coast, his backers rained gunfire down from mosque minarets and high-rise buildings on fighters pushing into the city from the west, while in the streets the two sides battered each other with high-caliber machine guns, rockets, and rocket-propelled grenades.
In the strategic mountain town of Bani Walid, revolutionary fighters and Gadhafi loyalists traded relentless mortar and rocket fire across a 500-yard-wide desert valley called Wadi Zeitoun that divides the town — and the two sides — between north and south. Fighters dashed through alleyways to set off volleys of fire, hitting a residence that Gadhafi was building on the remains of old fort overlooking the wadi.
"The Gadhafi loyalists have so many weapons. This battle is really crazy," said Maab Fatel, a 28-year-old fighter, his uniform splattered with bloodstains from carrying a wounded comrade.
Libya's new rulers appeared to be launching a coordinated assault to break the back of regime holdouts, who still hold a swath of territory along the central coast and into the southern deserts more than three weeks after revolutionary fighters swept into Tripoli and drove out Gadhafi. The whereabouts of the ousted leader and several of his sons remain unknown.
The new leadership has been gaining international support in their campaign to root out the rest of Gadhafi's regime and establish their authority, with high-profile visits this week by the French president and British prime minister, and on Friday by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
No comments:
Post a Comment