The civil war continues unabated in Libya.
Forces loyal to Khaddaffi assaulted the key city of Zawiya, west of Tripoli. My sources are reporting that the rebels are continuing to hold out,but the loss of life has been heavy. Aside from being hit from the air, the rebels are being shelled by Khaddaffi's navy.
Another scene of the fighting is Misratah, a key town 120 miles east of the capitol. Khaddaffi's forces broke through to the bridge leading to the center of the town but according to rebel sources were pushed back five hours later by rebel forces. One account claims that the rebel commanders intentionally opened the way for Libyan tanks to enter the city, then surrounded them and attacked with anti-aircraft guns and mortars.
Rebel forces in Misratah also face naval bombardment.
Rebel forces first pushed out of the rebel-held eastern half of Libya in an attempt to clear the road to Tripoli. They secured control of two important oil ports at Brega and Ras Lanouf, but were stopped cold when they tried to advance to capture Sirte, by heavy air bombardment.
By Saturday night, the rebels had gotten as far west as the town of Bin Jawwad, about 110 miles east of Sirte. But pro-Khaddaffi forces moved into Bin Jawwad overnight and when the rebels were hit with a barrage of fire from helicopter gunships and artillery and rockets from the ground, pushing them back.
An additional front in the war is at Tobruk, in the east. Forces loyal to Khaddaffi failed in their attempt to take the city, but maintain a foothold there. The strategy here is obvious..to blunt any rebel attempts to take Tripoli by putting pressure on their home base in Benghazi.
In another ominous move, Khaddaffi has moved most of his air force from airfields in the eastern and western regions to two southern facilities near the Sahara, more than 800 miles away. Aside from protecting them from rebel attacks, this serves another purpose.
If the Brits or the US were to try to impose a no fly zone, it puts Khaddaffi's air bases out of carrier reach. Planes flying from the Mediterranean would have to refuel in midair in order to get that far south.
I don't know why anyone is surprised by how Quaddafi is acting. The man is an insane megalomaniac, this does not mean he is stupid just evil.
ReplyDelete"Planes flying from the Mediterranean would have to refuel in midair in order to get that far south."
ReplyDeleteThis is not a major problem.
Other aircrafts might also be used :
during the last gulf war, B52s took off from Diego Garcia,and few thousands of milles to their objectives in iraq
A B-52 is a different animal than a carrier based fighter, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteA B-52 is a heavy bomber, and not an airplane designed to enforce a no fly zone. It's also not a plane you would send out without fighter escort.
Also, mid air refueling under air combat conditions is, in fact,pretty hairy. Imagine refueling a tank or an APC while you're being fired upon by the enemy and I think you'll get the idea.