Libya rebels step up offensive

AFP/Tripoli

A Libyan rebel fighter sits beside his wounded brother at a hospital near Misrata’s western frontline yesterday

Libya’s rebels ramped up a pre-Ramadan offensive yesterday, pushing Muammar Gaddafi’s troops into retreat in the east and preparing a fresh attack from the south of Tripoli. Rebels said they had chased the bulk of Gaddafi’s eastern army from the oil town of Brega while encircling loyalists holed up among oil installations in the northwest of the town. As part of what now appears to be a countrywide effort to tighten the noose on Gaddafi before Ramadan begins around August 1, insurgents in the west said they were awaiting orders to start a fresh offensive from the Nafusa Mountains southwest of the capital. But at Brega, rebel gains were stymied by vast quantities of anti-personnel mines planted by retreating loyalists and the difficulties in attacking an estimated 200 Gaddafi troops fighting from positions near vital petrochemical facilities. That difficulty was laid bare late on Tuesday, when 24 rebel fighters died. It was by far the rebels’ bloodiest day since the battle for Brega began almost a week ago. A rebel military source said many of the casualties came when troops closing on isolated Gaddafi forces were hit by a line-guided rocket attack. Outside the town, rebel troops cleared minefields holding up their advance, while trying to dislodge Gaddafi’s artillery to the west. Rebel military sources said some Gaddafi forces were arcing rockets over Brega down onto rebel positions from the town of Bishr, while most Gaddafi troops had retreated to Ras Lanuf, another oil town further west. Libya’s government has denied the rebels retook Brega. The rebels said Gaddafi troops inside the town were largely conscripts and volunteers who were surrounded. Across the Gulf of Sirte, near the rebel-held enclave of Misrata, the picture was reversed. There rebels said seven of their fighters were killed and 13 wounded when they repulsed a fresh Gaddafi attack. “At least seven of our fighters were martyred and 13 others were wounded in intense fighting with loyalist troops,” a rebel statement said. The next rebel target is Asabah, 80km south of Tripoli and the last barrier between rebels and the garrison town of Gharyan. Western governments hailed the tightening noose around Gaddafi. “He’s losing control of energy in his own country,” French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet told journalists in Paris. “A government that each day loses its international authority and... control of territory should ask itself some questions,” Longuet said. On the diplomatic front, France accepted yesterday that Gaddafi could stay in Libya if he quits politics under a ceasefire deal, but the US said it was for Libyans to decide. “One of the possibilities being considered is that (Gaddafi) stay in Libya but on the clear condition that he steps aside from Libyan political life,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told LCI television. The White House said it was up to Libyans to determine Gaddafi’s fate once he steps down. “The United States’ position has always been that Colonel Gaddafi lost his legitimacy to lead and that he needs to be removed from power, to remove himself from power,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney. “It is up to the Libyan people to decide what his future is beyond that,” he said as Slovenia became the latest country to recognise the opposition National Transitional Council as Libya’s legitimate rulers. Gaddafi’s foreign minister, Abdelati al-Obeidi, said after talks in Moscow that the Libyan leader’s “departure is not up for negotiation”.