Libyan Civil War, June 15th Update
Today marks 4 months to the day of the beginning of this process. On February 15th, protests started in Benghazi. They were rather small.
In an unrelated piece of news, Qaddafi’s forces are now firing weapons from the ruins of Leptis Magna, using the ruins as shields, knowing that NATO will not risk destroying history. It is likely rebels will have to deal with this themselves.
Nafusa Front
The war here is also progressing. Though are still rocket attacks on Nalut and Wazzin, Qaddafi’s forces have not attempted to move towards them. In contrast, the rebels have taken several towns surrounding the formerly besieged Yefren and Qalaa. This has created an uninterrupted corridor from Wazzin to Yefren.
In addition, the town of Kikla seems to have been relieved, if I am reading Reuters correctly. Kikla is geographicly in an interesting situation. Unlike many of the towns in the Nafusa Mountains, the road to Kikla doesn’t connect up to both of the major roads surrounding the Nafusa Mountains. Instead, it only comes in from the south. This means there is only one way in and out of the area. While this make it good to hold off a force (only one point of entry to defend), it makes it hard to advance for the same reason. There are now only 2 towns before Gharyan, where sporadic gun battles occur nightly, it seems. If Gharyan falls, that closes Fezzan off from Tripoli, and isolates 2 Forces from one another. Combined with the attempt to attack and Zliten, and it is possible that Tripoli will be completely cut off.
Elsewhere
The situation is Sabha is unchanged for now. It seems that one of the tribes in the area has been massively mistreated by Qaddafi, and have suffered a large number of executions recently. They have fortified the Souk al-Namla residential district.
Meanwhile at Brega, minor fighting is going on. Two notable events have occured recently. 2 days ago, a group of Qaddafi soldiers pretended to surrender, walking up to some rebels with a white flag. When they got close, they took out some hidden guns, and fired, killing 23-25 rebels, and injuring 26 more. Also, on June 11th, NATO planes spotted a trench being dug that was filled with a black substance, presumably oil.
Political
Liberia has cut ties with Libya. In addition, Canada recognized the NTC as the legitimate government yesterday. Meanwhile, in the US, Republicans have attempted to pull out of the war because of Obama’s support for the operation. This has been aided and abetted by some Democrats, most infamously the loon Dennis Kucinich.
Dennis Kucinich must be knocked out in the Primary. He is a disgrace to the Democrats.