Oorlog in Libië #93: De slag om Tripoli laat niet lang op zich wachten

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Op dinsdag 29 maart 2011 01:00 schreef zoefbust het volgende:
GPD Middle East

Gisteravond stonden rebellen nog 60 km oosteljk van Sirt, paar uur geleden zag ik ze terugkeren naar kruispunt in Ras Lanuf, 150 km #Libie

...met andere woorden: opmars van rebellen is voorlopig voorbij en ze zijn al weer terrein aan het verliezen...frontlinie is een jojo

Sirt dus niet in handen van rebellen en ik niet naar nederlandse helicopter op het strand in Sirt. jammer, had me wel leuk geleken.

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Op dinsdag 29 maart 2011 10:27 schreef yavanna het volgende:
Wat een rare slechte beelden. Een kort interview met b.v. een recente krant erbij zou overtuigend zijn, dit niet echt.

Khamis Gaddafi spotted on Libyan TV

Libyan State TV broadcast what they claim is live footage of Colonel Gaddafi's son, Khamis
Gaddafi.

n the video a man bearing a striking resemblance to Gaddafi's son is seen parading through his father's compound in Tripoli.

The footage appears to be an attempt to quash rumours of Khamis' death at the hands of a suicidal Libyan jet pilot who it is claimed flew his plane into the family compound.

Khamis is the commander of the 32nd brigade thought to include the most highly trained soldiers in Libya.

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Op dinsdag 29 maart 2011 11:45 schreef Hans_van_Baalen het volgende:

Punt is wel dat de militairen van G stukken beter getraind zullen zijn.

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Op dinsdag 29 maart 2011 11:49 schreef Re het volgende:

[..]

totdat het beloofde geld op is natuurlijk

maar grootste probleem lijkt me de benzine dus die zal eerst uit benzaghi moeten komen denk ik?

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The Libyan woman who claimed she was gang-raped is being prosecuted for "blackening the men's names".

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Op dinsdag 29 maart 2011 11:52 schreef rakotto het volgende:
Ik denk dat Seif dood is. En Khamis ook, ik denk niet dat dat live beelden waren.

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Op dinsdag 29 maart 2011 13:55 schreef zoefbust het volgende:
Onduidelijkheid over Eman al-Obeidi
T.O

mrt 29 |11:33

Het lot van Eman al-Obeidi, de vrouw die afgelopen weekend tijdens een persconferentie in een hotel uit de doeken deed dat ze meerdere malen was verkracht door mensen van kolonel Kadhafi, is ongewis. Kadhafi's woordvoerder zegt dat ze veilig thuis is bij haar familie, maar volgens haar moeder is dat niet waar. Ze zei in een interview met al-Jazeera dat ze niet weet waar haar dochter is. Ze vertelde ook dat ze om 03.00 uur 's nachts is gebeld vanuit het hoofdkantoor van Kadhafi. "Ze zeiden: 'Als je dochter het verhaal dat ze is verkracht intrekt, mag ze naar huis'. Ze kon alles krijgen, geld een huis, alles, maar ze moest het verhaal intrekken."

http://www.nieuwsmening-magazine.nl/index.php/home

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US gunships mark change of tactic in Libya air strikes



The US has been giving the impression that it has backed away from the bombing campaign in Libya. It has now emerged that while the initial intensity of the high-altitude air strikes and cruise missile attacks has diminished, the US has not let up. In a dramatic and significant escalation of the assault on Gaddafi's forces, the US has deployed low-flying, heavily-armed aircraft against Libyan armour.

It is a deployment far removed from the initial concept of a "no-fly" zone.

The Pentagon has revealed that AC-130 gunships and A10 tankbusters, of the kind used in Iraq and Afghanistan, have been deployed in Libya. "We have employed A10s and AC-130s over the weekend," Vice-Admiral Bill Gortney, said.

The aircraft are better suited than high-flying fighter bombers to attack targets in built-up areas without so much risk of civilian casualties, defence officials say.

However, their sheer firepower can lead to civilian deaths as their attacks on the Iraqi city of Falluja after the 2003 invasion of Iraq demonstrated.

The AC-130 gunship is a heavily modified Hercules transport plane armed with 20mm, 40mm and 105mm cannons. The A10 "thunderbolts" conducts close-range attacks, notably against tanks and armoured vehicles. It is equipped with a multi-barrelled 30mm cannon which can fire a devastating almost 4,000 rounds a minute.

The use of the close air support aircraft has fuelled claims that the US is actively co-ordinating tactics with the rebels. Aware of the controversy any such admission could unleash, Gortney, director of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US actions were in support of the UN-backed resolutions to protect Libyan civilians. "We're not in direct support of the opposition, that's not part of our mandate, and we're not co-ordinating with the opposition," he added. He described the US strategy as one of continuing "to pressure them where we think it's going to give us the best effect".

The AC-130s, flying from a base in Italy, were requested by General Carter Ham, the senior US general overseeing the operation, and are likely to continue flying over Libya in the coming days as allied forces attempt to increase the pressure on Gaddafi's ground forces, the Washington Post reported.

The RAF, which does not possess these low-flying US warplanes, has deployed Tornados firing laser or radar-guided weapons such as the Brimstone missile against Libyan armour. It has also fired Storm Shadow cruise weapons, costing an estimated £800,000 each, against ammunition bunkers in the Sabha area in the southern Libya desert.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk(...)-crisis-live-updates
1.44pm: Ian Black, in Tripoli, writes that Libyan officials "insist, improbably, that there are no shortages in government-controlled areas". However Ian says that is "certainly not true of Misrata, the country's third city, where small numbers of rebels continue to hold out against Gaddafi loyalists and there are reports of a deepening humanitarian crisis, including dwindling stocks of drugs and medical equipment".

As well as Misrata, problems are evidently mounting elsewhere.

The most visible sign of trouble is the long queues at petrol stations. On the 460 kilometres journey from Tripoli to Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte on Monday every petrol station was either closed or had queues stretching hundreds of yards. Traffic jams in the capital are caused by motorists waiting to fill up their tanks.

The problem is a combination of drastically reduced production, poor distribution and panic buying. Oil production is down to about one quarter of pre-crisis levels partly because of the flight of foreign workers. The refinery at Zawiya west of Tripoli was damaged in the fighting and while the one at Ras Lanuf in the east is in rebel hands. Italian tankers bringing refined petroleum have reportedly been turned back.

"Petrol is very cheap," said Ahmed, a twenty-something taxi driver, negotiating the traffic outside Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya barracks. "But now the shortage is getting really serious." Libyans also say they are short of cooking gas.

The head of the Libyan ports authority complained this week that some imports of food and medicine have been stopped even though they are not subject to an embargo by the UN security council.

Another highly visible problem is bread, with queues everywhere. The issue here is one of labour, with the low paid Egyptians and Tunisians who do many menial jobs spurned by Libyans having fled the country when the uprising began in the third week of February. There is some evidence of shortages of cooking oil and sugar.

Other sectors have been similarly affected by the exit of foreign labourers. The port in Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi's home town, is jammed with fishing boats which have been idle since their Egyptian and Tunisian crews fled

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Op dinsdag 29 maart 2011 14:03 schreef waht het volgende:
Alle boeven op een rijtje:

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