Reply #28: In Libya, rebels gaining in the west

[pinboy3niner]

Source: Washington Post

By Ernesto Londono, Wednesday, July 6, 3:22 PM


GHANIMAH, Libya — Rebel victories in Libya’s western mountains are shifting the focus of efforts to topple Moammar Gaddafi’s regime, as fighters close in on cities that control the government’s main supply routes.


On Wednesday, the rebels claimed a new victory in a march toward the capital that, in recent weeks, has won them tanks, rocket launchers and an large ammunition dump seized from Gaddafi’s military. The rapid gains in the west come in sharp contrast to battlefields in the east, where the front lines have remained largely stagnant for months.


The pace and outcome of the battles have given rebels hope that the tide could be shifting in a campaign that has clearly put Gaddafi’s forces on the defensive. The hours-long battle that began before dawn on Wednesday included thundering barrages of artillery and rockets fired from both sides, and ended as truckloads of rebels returned from the battlefields with a new hoard of captured weapons.


“You can see we are going forward,” said Abu Hakim, a rebel fighter. “If we go on like this, we will get to Tripoli very soon."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/in-libya-rebels-gaining-in-the-west/2011/07/06/gIQAmNvA1H_story.html