Rebels defy Zawiya onslaught to gain on Tripoli
Source: Agencies |
August 20, 2011, Saturday
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LIBYAN rebels took cover from mortars, rockets and anti-aircraft fire yesterday as they were pinned down in the center of Zawiya while NATO's bombing campaign helped slow Moammar Gadhafi's ability to send reinforcements to the strategic western city.
The fierce onslaught by the Gadhafi regime troops in Zawiya, just 50 kilometers west of Tripoli, signaled a slow and bloody push for opposition fighters as they try to advance toward the capital.
Still, Gadhafi's troops seemed increasingly isolated, scrambling to use all force available to hold back rebels at the western front. NATO has stepped up bombings in Tripoli in recent days, while rebels blocked Gadhafi's supply route from Tunisia.
Fighting in Zawiya has focused on two main streets - Omar Mokhtar and Gamal Abdel-Nasser streets. At the front line, rebel field commander Rida Shaeb said Gadhafi forces held the main Zawiya hospital, as well as a hotel and a bank on the main square. Shaeb's unit of about two dozen men was pinned down about 200 meters from the main square, and left its position after a particularly heavy barrage of mortars and rockets.
Across the country, NATO has maintained a bombing campaign on Gadhafi military targets after instituting a no-fly zone decision in March. The coalition said it took out four military facilities and a surface-to-air missile in Tripoli, as well as a command center, two armored vehicles and five tanks on Thursday in Zawiya.
The alliance also said NATO warplanes sunk a tugboat carrying troops loyal to Gadhafi away from Zawiya on Wednesday.
The strike occurred after pilots noticed a unit of government troops that had been fighting in the oil refinery using a tugboat "in an attempt to redeploy to new positions," according to British military spokesman Major General Nick Pope.
One of the jets used a laser-guided bomb to hit the boat, he said in London. "It was clear from their actions that these troops continued to pose a threat to the local population,"
The NATO bombings, along with the rebels' success in cutting off the supply line to Tripoli with the outside world by controlling the road from the capital to Tunisia, have made it difficult for the Gadhafi regime to reinforce its troops at the front lines.
The fierce onslaught by the Gadhafi regime troops in Zawiya, just 50 kilometers west of Tripoli, signaled a slow and bloody push for opposition fighters as they try to advance toward the capital.
Still, Gadhafi's troops seemed increasingly isolated, scrambling to use all force available to hold back rebels at the western front. NATO has stepped up bombings in Tripoli in recent days, while rebels blocked Gadhafi's supply route from Tunisia.
Fighting in Zawiya has focused on two main streets - Omar Mokhtar and Gamal Abdel-Nasser streets. At the front line, rebel field commander Rida Shaeb said Gadhafi forces held the main Zawiya hospital, as well as a hotel and a bank on the main square. Shaeb's unit of about two dozen men was pinned down about 200 meters from the main square, and left its position after a particularly heavy barrage of mortars and rockets.
Across the country, NATO has maintained a bombing campaign on Gadhafi military targets after instituting a no-fly zone decision in March. The coalition said it took out four military facilities and a surface-to-air missile in Tripoli, as well as a command center, two armored vehicles and five tanks on Thursday in Zawiya.
The alliance also said NATO warplanes sunk a tugboat carrying troops loyal to Gadhafi away from Zawiya on Wednesday.
The strike occurred after pilots noticed a unit of government troops that had been fighting in the oil refinery using a tugboat "in an attempt to redeploy to new positions," according to British military spokesman Major General Nick Pope.
One of the jets used a laser-guided bomb to hit the boat, he said in London. "It was clear from their actions that these troops continued to pose a threat to the local population,"
The NATO bombings, along with the rebels' success in cutting off the supply line to Tripoli with the outside world by controlling the road from the capital to Tunisia, have made it difficult for the Gadhafi regime to reinforce its troops at the front lines.
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