Gadhafi fights on as rebels advance
Source: Agencies |
August 16, 2011, Tuesday
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MOAMMAR Gadhafi's forces pushed rebels back from the center of Libya's strategic city Zawiya yesterday in fierce fighting to prevent the opposition from consolidating a major advance to within 50 kilometers of the capital Tripoli.
In neighboring Egypt, Libyan Interior Minister Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah flew into the capital Cairo on his private plane with nine family members, Egyptian airport officials said.
A Tunisian security official said Abdullah defected after entering Tunisia by land on Saturday and then flying to Cairo.
The minister arrived after a weekend of significant advances by rebels from Libya's western mountains toward Gadhafi's stronghold of Tripoli. The rebels on Saturday pushed through to Zawiya, 50km west of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast, for the first time since the uprising began in February.
An oil production engineer from Zawiya said rebels had cut off the main pipelines transporting fuel to Tripoli. Zawiya has the government's only functioning oil refinery.
"We shut down all four pipelines to Tripoli," said Nurial-Bouaisi, one of the rebels. He also claimed coastal roads leading from Tripoli to the Tunisian border were now under rebel control.
The rebel advance raised fears among Tripoli residents that fighting might soon reach the capital. Civilians from Tripoli drove through checkpoints on a desert road around Zawiya, heading for the rebel-held western mountains.
"We are afraid of whatever is coming," said Mohammed Bilkheir, an accountant escaping Tripoli with his family.
Yesterday, Gadhafi's forces pushed the rebels out of the center of Zawiya in fighting concentrated on the main coastal road connecting Tripoli and the border crossing with Tunisia.
On Sunday, the rebels said they were trying to cut off two of Gadhafi's supply routes. They claimed to have captured at least two other towns on key supply routes to the capital. They said they now hold Gharyan, 80km south of Tripoli.
Omar Obeid, a field commander, said rebels had taken up positions in houses along a major supply route connecting Tripoli with the Ras Ajdir border crossing into Tunisia. The same road runs through Zawiya.
Meanwhile Gadhafi has urged Libyans to free the country from NATO and "traitors".
He said: "The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution (which brought Gadhafi to power in September 1969) will remain.
"Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from NATO."
In neighboring Egypt, Libyan Interior Minister Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah flew into the capital Cairo on his private plane with nine family members, Egyptian airport officials said.
A Tunisian security official said Abdullah defected after entering Tunisia by land on Saturday and then flying to Cairo.
The minister arrived after a weekend of significant advances by rebels from Libya's western mountains toward Gadhafi's stronghold of Tripoli. The rebels on Saturday pushed through to Zawiya, 50km west of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast, for the first time since the uprising began in February.
An oil production engineer from Zawiya said rebels had cut off the main pipelines transporting fuel to Tripoli. Zawiya has the government's only functioning oil refinery.
"We shut down all four pipelines to Tripoli," said Nurial-Bouaisi, one of the rebels. He also claimed coastal roads leading from Tripoli to the Tunisian border were now under rebel control.
The rebel advance raised fears among Tripoli residents that fighting might soon reach the capital. Civilians from Tripoli drove through checkpoints on a desert road around Zawiya, heading for the rebel-held western mountains.
"We are afraid of whatever is coming," said Mohammed Bilkheir, an accountant escaping Tripoli with his family.
Yesterday, Gadhafi's forces pushed the rebels out of the center of Zawiya in fighting concentrated on the main coastal road connecting Tripoli and the border crossing with Tunisia.
On Sunday, the rebels said they were trying to cut off two of Gadhafi's supply routes. They claimed to have captured at least two other towns on key supply routes to the capital. They said they now hold Gharyan, 80km south of Tripoli.
Omar Obeid, a field commander, said rebels had taken up positions in houses along a major supply route connecting Tripoli with the Ras Ajdir border crossing into Tunisia. The same road runs through Zawiya.
Meanwhile Gadhafi has urged Libyans to free the country from NATO and "traitors".
He said: "The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution (which brought Gadhafi to power in September 1969) will remain.
"Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from NATO."
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