Libya's NTC steps back after heavy fighting with Gaddafi remnants in Sirte

[jakeXT]

Source: Xinhua

English.news.cn 2011-10-17 05:47:46

TRIPOLI, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Fighters of Libya' s ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) on Sunday retreated from several positions in the northern coastal town of Sirte, so as to allow NATO to bomb sites that are holding up the remaining forces of the previous leadership.

According to a source close to the NTC, their fighters fought fierce battles on Sunday with the diehard loyalists of fallen leader Muammar Gaddafi at the Dollar district and the so-called Area Two of Sirte, hometown of the country's 42-year-long ruler.

The battles forced the NTC fighters to pull back, which will give way to NATO's aircraft and heavy artilleries aiming at hideouts of the pro-Gaddafi forces, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.

Meanwhile, a military source in Benghazi, Libya 's second largest city, was quoted as saying by local newspaper Cyrene that the NTC has continued to besiege Sirte on all sides, and advanced several kilometers inside the Clio neighborhood.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-10/17/c_131194902.htm

[dipsydoodle]

1. Wouldn't have thought there was much left to bomb in Sirte

News reporters have already said the city has effectively been destroyed and is likely now to uninhabitable for years to come.

[Selatius]

2. Reducing the buildings to rubble likely made them easier to hide in for Gaddhafi troops.

They'd simply run and hide during the bombing runs, and when the runs are over, they quickly re-emerge and occupy the rubble and prepare to fire at NTC forces through nooks and cracks and crevasses.

[dipsydoodle]

3. "Gaddhafi troops"

There are also doubts as to whether they should even be referred to as such having been referred elsewhere akin to the British holding out at Rorke's Drift.

I would doubt that Gaddhafi has any control over them : they are fighting their own cause against the new leadership.

[Selatius]

5. You're right. I referred to them as such for simple short-hand.

Likely, they're just locals defending their homes and were guilty of living in the birthplace of the fallen dictator.

[Xithras]

9. Yep, the NTC rebels are heavily looting Sirte

There have been a few articles on it already. The fighting around Sirte seems to largely be tribal at this point, with the Gaddadfa tribe trying to repel what they're seeing as an invasion by the other tribes from other parts of Libya. There doesn't seem to be any real pro-Ghaddafi command and control anymore...it's just loose bands of fighters and snipers making last stands at this point.

If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out this CNN article on the current state of the fighting. It clearly demonstrates that the NATO claim that they're only bombing military targets is a blatant lie. At this point, Sirte looks like Dresden, and makes Fallujah look like a picnic in the park.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/10/17/rivers-sirte-shattered.cnn

[Little Tich]

4. Where is Gaddafi? The question everyone is asking...

[bongbong]

6. Mop-up

Operation Independent Libya (O.I.L) is a smashing success! It only killed a few tens of thousands of Libyans, and now the oil revenues will flow back to where they belong - to the multinational corporations!

[al bupp]

7. Unfortunately, sir, the facts contradict your slogans...

The new Libyan government has indicated that all oil contracts in place before the revolution will be honored without change under the new leadership. Furthermore, oil workers themselves have struck in protest to the continued presence of hold-over managerment with ties to the old regime, something that would have been unthinkable under Gaddafi.

[bongbong]

8. Nope

Easy google search shows you're lying or misinformed. There will be new contracts awarded to the NATO powers that helped kill so many Libyans.

[Amonester]

10. Links, please.

If it's on the Internet, it MUST be true, isn't it...

[bongbong]

13. asdf

see my post #12

[al bupp]

11. Facts are stubborn things, sir

Here's just a sample of what I found on a Google, using the terms "ntc libya oil contracts":

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=110712">Libya Oil Contracts Won't Be Political Favors - NTC

LONDON (Dow Jones Newswires), Sep. 1, 2011

New contracts to produce oil and gas in Libya won't be awarded as political favors, but will be given to companies on merit after an open bid process, the U.K.-based coordinator and spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council said Thursday.

"Oil contracts will be awarded on merit, not political favoritism," said Guma El-Gamaty in a telephone interview with Dow Jones Newswires. New oil contracts will be published and international companies invited to bid, he said.

...

International oil companies, including France's Total, will most likely continue to play a prominent role in Libya's oil sector because of their long experience producing oil in the country already, El-Gamaty said.

"We expect them to be bidding," he said.

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Oil-flows-again-in-Libya-20111016">Oil flows again in Libya

(Ali Tarhuni) said Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) was under pressure to review contracts with foreign oil companies signed under Gaddafi.

New deals are unlikely to be signed anytime soon.

The NTC's oil and finance minister, Ali Tarhuni, said last week that new deals would have to wait for a democratically elected government.

Tarhuni pledged to investigate "every penny" of suspicious oil contracts signed under the former regime, responsible for what it described as "unbelievable" corruption.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110906-708352.html">Libya's NTC Will Respect Existing Oil Contracts - EU Diplomat

SEPTEMBER 6, 2011, 10:04 A.M. ET.
BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--Libya's National Transitional Council has said it will respect existing oil contracts, a European Union diplomat said Tuesday.

Speaking of meetings with new Libyan officials, the diplomat said: "In general terms, they underlined business continuity. There will not be any action taken on the decisions of the Gadhafi regime."

For future contracts, the diplomat said, Libya will be open to all bids from any company.

The diplomat also said Libyan NTC officials have said they do not want to be pushed to fix an election date and want sufficient time. He said they didn't want to be pegged down to holding an election in eight or 12 months.

[bongbong]

12. Selective picking

Your data is ancient - from early Sept. You certainly picked those out with care! The claims the NTC makes are subject to whoever was spokesman that day, and certainly not believable while the war was on. Here is more recent data.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-libya-oil-deals-idUKTRE79A2G020111011

"Libya pledged on Tuesday a probe of Gaddafi-era oil deals amid mounting pressure from the local industry in a move which analysts said could spread panic among foreign players and even delay the return to normal oil output."

Translation: new contracts to the NATO bombing countries. It's clear from perusal of the news that they'll wait a few months and then do it, so that it won't be in the news.

[al bupp]

14. I posted, sir, three examples from the first page of Google results...

I gave you the search terms, so you or anyone else can try them and see for themselves that it was hardly selective, but rather fairly representative. As for being ancient, 6-7 weeks ago does not strike me as being ancient time.

You are, of course, free to question the credibility of NTC statements, but the minister quoted in the Reuters article you cite, Mr. Tarhouni, is also quoted in one or more of the articles I referenced.

I would expect that new deals, as they are made in the future, may indeed end-up being made w/ companies from countries which supported the revolution. I hardly find that shocking. The important criteria will be how open and transparent these deals are, and whether or not they result from a fair process that's responsive to Libyans, something which was not the case under Gaddafi, who ran the country more or less however he pleased. In any event, I'm sure new contracts will make the news, at least in the trade journals.