Crisis in LibyaGaddafi launches first major counter-attack on rebels
Gaddafi’s forces are escalating a counteroffensive, pushing the country closer to an all-out civil war; opponents of Gaddafi today (Wednesday) repelled an attack by the Libyan leader’s forces trying to retake Brega, a key coastal oil installation, in a topsy-turvy battle in which shells splashed in the Mediterranean and a warplane bombed a beach where rebel fighters were charging over the dunes. At least five people were killed in the fighting; the assault on the Brega oil port was the first major regime counteroffensive against the opposition-held eastern half of Libya, where the population backed by mutinous army units rose up and drove out Gaddafi’s rule over the past two weeks; a coalition of anti-government movements is considering whether to ask the UN to execute airstrikes against pro-Gaddafi forces; NATO has drawn up plans for imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, but the organization said it would implement the plan only with a UN Security Council blessing, which is unlikely because of Russia’s objections
Libyan rebels celebrate in captured armor // Source: pmln.us
Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi vows to fight to the “last man and woman” to defend his country as forces loyal to him today (Wednesday) battled government opponents for control of a key oil installation and an airstrip on the Mediterranean coast in a counter-offensive against the rebel-held eastern half of the country.
Opponents of Gaddafi today (Wednesday) repelled an attack by the Libyan leader’s forces trying to retake Brega, a key coastal oil installation, in a topsy-turvy battle in which shells splashed in the Mediterranean and a warplane bombed a beach where rebel fighters were charging over the dunes. At least five people were killed in the fighting.
The BBC reports that the assault on the Brega oil port was the first major regime counteroffensive against the opposition-held eastern half of Libya, where the population backed by mutinous army units rose up and drove out Gaddafi’s rule over the past two weeks.
“We will fight until the last man and woman. We will defend Libya from the north to the south,” Gaddafi said while addressing supporters and foreign media in a conference hall in the capital Tripoli.
“We will not accept an intervention like that of the Italians that lasted decades,” he said during a rambling speech, referring to Italy’s colonial rule early in the twentieth Century. “We will not accept a similar American intervention. This will lead to a bloody war and thousands of Libyans will die if America and NATO enter Libya.”
Fox News reports that Gaddafi’s forces are escalating a counteroffensive, pushing the country closer to an all-out civil war.
Fighting has intensified over the past two weeks after government opponents seized control of the eastern half of the country and several cities and towns in the western half near the capital Tripoli.
Anti-government protesters have garnered broad support from their homegrown opposition movements and fear foreign aid could work against them.
At the same time, Ajdabiya’s people geared up to defend the city, fearing the pro-Gaddafi forces would move on them next. At the gates of the city, hundreds of residents took up positions on the road from Brega, armed with Kalashnikovs and hunting rifles, along with a few rocket-propelled
