Libyan rebels who have seized a town 80km (50 miles) south of Tripoli say they will now push on towards Col Muammar Gadafy’s stronghold in the capital.
The small desert settlement of Bir al-Ghanam is now the closest rebel position to Tripoli and its capture at the weekend is likely to inject some new momentum into a six-month campaign to oust Col Gadafy which has been faltering over the past few weeks.
Anti-Gadafy fighters had been camped since late June on the outskirts of the town, unable to advance. According to rebels there yesterday, they moved in on Saturday under cover from Nato warplanes.
They said their next target was Zawiyah, a town on the Mediterranean coast 50km west of Tripoli.
Zawiyah was the scene of two failed uprisings against Gadafy rule since February. Many of the fighters in Bir al-Ghanam are from there, although a number of those who took part in the uprisings are now in prison or dead.
“Our aim is to get to Zawiyah. Once we do that Gadafy is finished,” said rebel fighter Murad Bada.
In the eastern third of Libya, rebel officials said they had created a security force to protect oil installations, a step which could allow them to resume regular crude exports.
The capture of Bir al-Ghanam is the biggest rebel breakthrough in weeks of largely static fighting on three fronts across Libya. But that alone is not enough to undermine Col Gadafy’s grip on power.
The small rebel force approaching from the south could face much stiffer resistance as it draws nearer to the capital, where Gadafy loyalists are concentrated and where he can count on a certain level of popular support.
The rebel advance elsewhere has been hampered by disagreement and infighting, as well as a lack of experience in warfare.
Libya’s prime minister told reporters in Tripoli on Sunday that government forces were in control of Bir al-Ghanam after fighting off a rebel attack.
But in the town early yesterday the only sign of government forces was the weaponry they had abandoned when they fled.
One artillery piece was left behind and three tanks were burned out. Next to one tank – still mounted on the trailer of a tank transporter – was a deep crater which appeared to have been caused by a Nato air strike.
Rebel fighters were resting in the heat. One was wrapping a wound on his arm which he said was caused by rocket shrapnel.
Another fighter, 32-year-old Salim Shawsh, said that in the five-hour battle on Saturday to take Bir al-Ghanam rebels attacked on foot from behind ridges on the outskirts of the town, with Nato air support.
He said five rebel fighters were killed, including a Libyan-American father and son. They were part of a large contingent of foreigners with Libyan roots who had come back to fight against Col Gadafy.
Yesterday afternoon rebel fighters had pushed on a few kilometres north of Bir al-Ghanam, coming to a halt at a point they said was about 35km from Zawiyah.
Fighters near the new front line said pro-Gadafy forces were positioned in the nearby village of Nasr.
The rebels and their Nato allies hope Col Gadafy will eventually be compelled to relinquish power if they maintain the pressure on him by starving his forces of weapons, fuel and cash while simultaneously attacking his troops. – (Reuters)