BENGHAZI – It will take Libyan rebels no more than 10 days to take control of Sirte, Muammar Gadafy’s home town and last major stronghold along the Mediterranean coast, a rebel commander told Reuters on Sunday.
Rebel troops have advanced to within 100km (62 miles) of Sirte from the east and are also approaching from Misrata in the west, and will fight for Sirte if negotiations now under way on handing them control of the town fail, he said.
“Our aim isn’t bloodshed, our aim is liberation,” Col Salem Muftah al-Refaidy told Reuters during a visit to Benghazi. “We don’t want more bloodshed, especially among the civilians – children, elderly, women.” Asked how long before rebels took the city, he said: “At most 10 days, maybe less.”
Observers are concerned the fight for Sirte could be bloodier than that for Tripoli, where corpses are still rotting in the streets after rebels streamed in last week.
Sirte is believed to hold large numbers of diehard Gadafy supporters and significant military installations. Nato has said Gadafy’s army has fired several Scud missiles from the town, but all are believed to have fallen far from their targets.
Rebel spokesman Mohammad Zawawi said his fighters now occupied the town of Ben Jawad, about 100km from Sirte, and were waiting there for negotiations to be completed. He said talks over the surrender of Gadafy supporters in Sirte were continuing but with little sign of progress.
“We’re still waiting for them to stop fighting and open their city,” Mr Zawawi said. “We’ve had no result yet.” He did not say how long the rebels would wait.
Rebel forces see Sirte as their last obstacle to controlling Libya’s Mediterranean coast, where most of the country’s six million people live.
After Sirte, rebels say they will turn to Gadafy’s Sabha stronghold in the desert south. – (Reuters)