Gadhafi's forces attack on 2 fronts
Source: Agencies |
March 9, 2011, Wednesday
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LIBYAN government troops, tanks and warplanes attacked rebels on the western and eastern fronts yesterday, pressing their campaign to crush an insurrection against Moammar Gadhafi.
Government artillery pounded Zawiyah, the closest rebel-held city to the capital Tripoli as trapped residents cowered from the onslaught, witnesses said.
In the east, a swathe of which is under rebel control, air strikes targeted rebel positions behind the frontline around Ras Lanuf on the Mediterranean coast.
Apparently undeterred by Gadhafi's renewed show of force, the rebel leadership said that if he stepped down within 72 hours it would not seek to bring him to justice.
Earlier, the rebels said they rejected an offer from the Libyan leader to negotiate his surrender of power. The government denied any such talks had taken place.
On the international front, foreign governments struggled to agree on a united strategy for dealing with the turmoil in the oil-producing country.
Britain and France led a drive at the United Nations for a no-fly zone over Libya, a move that would prevent Gadhafi from unleashing air raids or from flying in reinforcements.
The US government, whose wars in Iraq and Afghanistan enraged many of the world's Muslims, said it was weighing up what military options could achieve.
Gadhafi's forces launched a concerted attack with tanks and artillery yesterday to recapture Zawiyah, about 50 kilometers west of Tripoli.
A government spokesman said troops were now in control but a small group of rebel fighters was still resisting.
"Maybe 30-40 people, hiding in the streets and in the cemetery. They are desperate," he said in Tripoli.
The rebel army - a rag-tag outfit largely made up of young volunteers and military defectors - had made swift gains in the first week of the uprising as they took control of the east and challenged the government near Tripoli.
But their momentum appears to have stalled as Gadhafi's troops pushed back using warplanes, tanks and heavy weapons.
Gadhafi has poured scorn on the rebels, denouncing them variously as drug-addled youths or al-Qaida-backed terrorists, and said he will die in Libya rather than surrender.
The head of the rebel National Libyan Council said yesterday it would not hound Gadhafi if he stepped down in the next 72 hours,
"If he leaves Libya immediately, during 72 hours, and stops the bombardment, we as Libyans will step back from pursuing him for crimes," Mustafa Abdel Jalil, an ex-justice minister, told Al Jazeera television from the rebels' stronghold in Benghazi.
Government artillery pounded Zawiyah, the closest rebel-held city to the capital Tripoli as trapped residents cowered from the onslaught, witnesses said.
In the east, a swathe of which is under rebel control, air strikes targeted rebel positions behind the frontline around Ras Lanuf on the Mediterranean coast.
Apparently undeterred by Gadhafi's renewed show of force, the rebel leadership said that if he stepped down within 72 hours it would not seek to bring him to justice.
Earlier, the rebels said they rejected an offer from the Libyan leader to negotiate his surrender of power. The government denied any such talks had taken place.
On the international front, foreign governments struggled to agree on a united strategy for dealing with the turmoil in the oil-producing country.
Britain and France led a drive at the United Nations for a no-fly zone over Libya, a move that would prevent Gadhafi from unleashing air raids or from flying in reinforcements.
The US government, whose wars in Iraq and Afghanistan enraged many of the world's Muslims, said it was weighing up what military options could achieve.
Gadhafi's forces launched a concerted attack with tanks and artillery yesterday to recapture Zawiyah, about 50 kilometers west of Tripoli.
A government spokesman said troops were now in control but a small group of rebel fighters was still resisting.
"Maybe 30-40 people, hiding in the streets and in the cemetery. They are desperate," he said in Tripoli.
The rebel army - a rag-tag outfit largely made up of young volunteers and military defectors - had made swift gains in the first week of the uprising as they took control of the east and challenged the government near Tripoli.
But their momentum appears to have stalled as Gadhafi's troops pushed back using warplanes, tanks and heavy weapons.
Gadhafi has poured scorn on the rebels, denouncing them variously as drug-addled youths or al-Qaida-backed terrorists, and said he will die in Libya rather than surrender.
The head of the rebel National Libyan Council said yesterday it would not hound Gadhafi if he stepped down in the next 72 hours,
"If he leaves Libya immediately, during 72 hours, and stops the bombardment, we as Libyans will step back from pursuing him for crimes," Mustafa Abdel Jalil, an ex-justice minister, told Al Jazeera television from the rebels' stronghold in Benghazi.
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