Libya rebels claim Tripoli advance

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Libyan rebels claim to be advancing on Tripoli on three fronts and meeting only sporadic resistance.

Thirty-five miles west of the city, television pictures appeared to confirm reports that they are in control of much of the town of Zawiya, including the coastal highway to the Tunisian border.

Fifty miles to the south, opposition fighters say they have pushed out of the Nafusa mountains to capture Ghariyan, cutting one of only two main highways linking Tripoli to the rest of Libya.

To the east, rebel forces in Misrata have this weekend completed their capture of Tawarga.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/14/libya-rebels-tripoli-advance

[tabatha]

1. Maps

[tabatha]

2. It may be over.

Two SA planes landed at Tripoli, and it is rumored there are discussions between TNC and PM for peaceful transfer of power.

[Odin2005]

3. OH PLEASE let it be over!

[DCBob]

4. indeed.

this has gone on much too long.

[DCBob]

5. "Tripoli Tom" makes a statement..

"In Tripoli, a spokesman insisted Zawiya was under government control but gave no further details."

Reminiscent of Baghdad Bob.

[indurancevile]

6. over? still have to get iran, somalia, syria etc to complete the pnac agenda.

"remaking the map of the middle east" iz us.

[cqo_000]

7. Don't get too excited just yet

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters...

... the rebels' attempt to take Zawiyah from his forces: "This is not an advance. This is what you call a skirmish, what you call a suicide mission. You have to remember we are very powerful. Tens of thousands of volunteers are armed right now."

The rebels have launched numerous unsuccessful assaults on Zawiyah after losing it to Ghadafi's forces in March and their latest push was hampered when a NATO aircraft mistakenly bombed a rebel tank that had been seized from Ghadafi's forces, killing the four soldiers on board.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/muammar-gaddafi-tells-troops-to-prepare-for-battle-in-rebel-held-towns/story-e6frf7lf-1226115265428

[pampango]

8. Juan Cole: Rebels Advance, Surround Tripoli, as Qaddafi Totters

http://www.juancole.com/2011/08/rebels-advance-surround-tripoli-as-qaddafi-totters.html

The long slow slog of the Libyan struggle to throw off the rule of Muammar Qaddafi, accelerated this weekend, possibly decisively, with rebel forces making major advances. Tripoli was said to be ready to embrace the rebel youth when they came into the capital.

Free Libya forces made substantial advances over the weekend, coming up from Zintan to take much of Zawiya on the coast, with the help of the majority in the city that opposes dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Zawiya was the site of among the first and biggest anti-Qaddafi demonstrations, and was brutally repressed with tank and artillery fire on unarmed noncombatants by Qaddafi brigades. Since March it has been under secret police rule, but that was thrown off jointly by locals and by their allies from the Western Mountain region to the south.

Not only did they take most of Zawiya, but they went into the neighboring towns of Surman and Gharyan, where there was heavy fighting. If the Free Libya fighters can keep Zawiya, they can cut Tripoli off from arms and supplies that flowed to Qaddafi from smugglers in Tunisia along the Mediterranean. Zawiya itself has an important petroleum refinery, which could end up being denied to Qaddafi in Tripoli.

Qaddafi forces do not appear to have defended Zawiya very vigorously, suggesting a collapse of esprit de corps. The same conclusion could be reached on observing the sudden decamping of Qaddafi loyalists from Tawarga, which left even the rebels puzzled. ... Despite a defiant television appearance Sunday in Tripoli, Qaddafi must have a premonition that his rule of Libya is effectively over with. His last ‘million man march’ in the capital drew only 100 people. Mysterious negotiations between his rump government and the Transitional National Council, which now has the bulk of the country, took place in Tunisia on Sunday evening. Were they discussing the terms of Qaddafi’s exile?