Libyan Civil War, June 10th Update
Back for the First Time in a while. Since my last posting 2 weeks ago, there have been a fair number of changes in the conflict. The largest one is the use of Helicopters by the French and British Forces, starting last week.
Map of Libya, with Cities for reference.
Misurata Front:
Action has returned to this front recently, with major fighting along the entire line as a consequence of both a Qaddafi Counter-Attack, and a Rebel attempt to take Zliten. Since Monday, there have been two large attacks across the entire front, with at least 30 dead, and over 130 wounded on the rebel side. However, the Qaddafi forces were pushed back. the medical teams are overwhelmed in the city though. The size of the force attacking was about the size of a battalion, and included 150 Technicals and 20 Tanks, with the latter coming from the West.
The large problem is now in the city of Zliten, now under siege. This small city of 110,000 finally revolted against Qaddafi, and pushed his forces, numbering somewhere between 2,000 to 7,000. This is corroborated by the fact the town is being shelled. This revolt may have been initiated by the murder of a man walking out of a local mosque after afternoon prayer.
Supposedly, there were plans by Qaddafi’s force to put the Rebel Flag on trucks and go through the city to lure out and capture the rebels. In addition, soldiers holding the city under siege are threatening to rape the women of the city if they don’t surrender. As a result, Misratan Rebels, along with some number of Zlitenian rebels who fled the city earlier, are attempting to fight their way through to liberate the city.
Recent reports state that the rebel force of Misrata numbers about 10,000, which is roughly the equivalent of 2 brigades in the US Military. This has become the main front of the War
The Nafusa Front
Qaddafi’s recent weakening is attested to here on this front. A siege of Al Qalaa and Yefran was broken on June 6th. Supplies are now getting into these two towns. However, an offensive began yesterday across the entire area, from Yefran to Wazzin at the Tunisian Border. In addition, the town of Ghadames has had unrest in the past week. This town is on the only road that goes south through the mountains from Tripoli.
Elsewhere in Libya
In Ghadames, there was some amount of violence of an unknown sort in the past two days. This shows that Qaddafi is having issues, even in the South, which benefited the most from Qaddafi’s rule in the past 42 years. Yesterday, it appears that Algeria fired at Rebels across the border trying to seize the crossing from Qaddafi forces.
In addition, several people were killed in Sabha in the past several days indicating unrest there as well. Airstrike intensified this week, especially in Tripoli, with much of Qaddafi’s compound, Bab al-Azizia, being destoyed.
In addition, the towns of Bani Walid, Zuwarah, and Al Zawiyah have seem recent unrest of some sort as well.
The ICC has said there is good evidence that the Viagra story is indeed true, and that this will be one of many charges for those who will be tried.