Benghazi - The news hit the city late at night, twenty-four hours after the UN Declaration on the no-fly zone and after a day of euphoria. The city's defenders fired for hours on the waterfront, under the windows of the hotel Almoran, endless volleys which responded more blasts, more and Kalashnikovs.
And it was a waste of ammunition that had lasted twenty-four hours. Since late in the evening of Thursday, the Security Council had made its announcement. Here, in Benghazi, Tobruk and also, in the Cyrenaica liberated from the dictatorship of Gaddafi's announcement was welcomed as a victory.
A true victory for the UN, it was thought, had recognized the rights of Libya in revolt and condemned without appeal to Libya's dictator. Al Rais in those hours was dedicated on the waterfront in Benghazi still a number of jeers, insults, not less than that of bullets fired in the air. I went down to the street to ask a guy in camouflage because he kept Fanning gunfire against the sky, just below my window.
He told me he was celebrating the "umbrella". Yes, he actually said this: For him the no-fly zone is an umbrella that friendly countries have opened up to prevent Benghazi Gaddafi to bombard it with his aircraft. The event was celebrated. Just after dark the gunfire were joined by the fireworks.
Then the news, launched by Al Jazeera, which announced an advance of troops in bursts of Gaddafi. They were thirty miles from the periphery. Cable cars were taken to the South to escape from the mercenaries. The explanation of the shabab, the young fighter, he was naive, simple, yet accurate.
He and many other young men who fired in the air felt abandoned by the rest of the world. The mercenaries of advancing Gaddafi, occupied one after the other cities lined up on the shore of the Mediterranean, erased the gains of the uprising, and the mighty of the land that had encouraged it stood with their hands.
So many words and no action. Benghazi was on the verge of falling back into the silence of forty years of dictatorship. And here the UN decision. The world was reminded of them, and now the shabab expressing joy wasting ammunition that were used to defend the city. Celebrated the "umbrella" protecting them from planes which were not enough, but also praising the blow inflicted by the world to Gaddafi.
A mortal blow. The crackle of Kalashnikovs kept awake continuously sleepy town for the festivities of the night. The people had just come out from the mosques, where after the mullahs had recited the prayers of the Koran verses appropriate to condemn the dictator of Tripoli, humiliated by the UN.
Before the court, overlooking the Mediterranean, in a district for its style houses "Fascist" reminds us of the colonial Italian city of Latina (chipped in an edition), there was an excited crowd waving flags new Libya, even if it was the era of King Idriss flags. Court building was installed on the National Council, the Committee for the Liberation of government that works.
Hung on the facade, as big as a sheet, a French flag, the only Western flag, in tribute to France's Sarkozy, who first received in Paris the representatives of the insurgency, which has promised to give due recognition rule. And then, with Cameron's Britain, with the decisive support and more in the background even if the U.S.
pushed the UN Security Council to approve the resolution that the Shabab with Kalashnikovs under my window called "umbrella ". France has also promised action in the case air Gaddafi continues to threaten civilians. The devices, said Ali, a former naval officer who acts as my guide, I'm already ready on the Italian runways, just across the Mediterranean.
So it puts me, as an Italian, among friends of the new Libya. Hours that are easy to receive awards in Benghazi is more or less deserved. Then the cold shower, terrible, the news that Gaddafi's troops were advancing rapidly in spite of the UN and the threat of Anglo-American air raid. Behind the festive air that reigned in Cyrenaica was mounting concern about the Gaddafi to fifty kilometers.
She had avoided defeat seemed imminent in recent days, when the soldiers were advancing in Tripoli meeting little resistance, and now the threat re-emerge. The rebel army that has never given the impression of being a real army, was again surprised. Sometimes it was even impossible to find.
It was a show a little 'pathetic. Much enthusiasm and so little organization. So much innocence is animated by a genuine desire to get rid of a grotesque dictatorship. The more ridiculous the left for those who suffered. And it was useless to ask the insurgents a program, a blueprint for a democratic Libya.
Do not you quit in a month with clear ideas after four decades of Qaddafi to power. This authentic, naive enthusiasm, at this time accompanied by a kindness which seems carefree, is an impressive sign of weakness. In recent days, with the approach of the troops of Gaddafi, the tens of thousands of flags, sewn or excavated hastily waving hung from balconies and rooftops, were gone.
The people were demoralized. O prudent. Between Benghazi and Tobruk, the route that I walked in six hours, often following the path of the old "Balbo" (road desired by the colonial governor Italo Balbo) flags had reappeared. And Benghazi was again decked with flags. Libya released no longer felt alone, had taken courage.
Although nobody believed in the promises of a cease-fire regime in Tripoli, "liar" was the most common insult directed at Gaddafi. No one thinks that was trusted his promise to comply with UN resolution. He would try everything to escape the limitations imposed upon it by international society.
And in fact his troops yesterday took a leap forward on the road to the Mediterranean coast, approaching Benghazi from where you would find a little more than fifty kilometers. It bombed measure, which was said to be under the control of troops loyal to Saddam. There were twenty-five dead, mostly civilians.
There are rumors, but it is clear that the resolution of the Security Council, and the commitment to promote Anglo-French raids targeted if Gaddafi does not cease to affect the population, have ringagliardito nests of resistance. In short, there are few who believe that the power of Saddam is dying of Tripoli.
The reconquest of Cyrenaica was lost stop or braking. But his bastion Tripoli could last long and he tries in these hours, in defiance of the UN, to join in Benghazi. 
And it was a waste of ammunition that had lasted twenty-four hours. Since late in the evening of Thursday, the Security Council had made its announcement. Here, in Benghazi, Tobruk and also, in the Cyrenaica liberated from the dictatorship of Gaddafi's announcement was welcomed as a victory.
A true victory for the UN, it was thought, had recognized the rights of Libya in revolt and condemned without appeal to Libya's dictator. Al Rais in those hours was dedicated on the waterfront in Benghazi still a number of jeers, insults, not less than that of bullets fired in the air. I went down to the street to ask a guy in camouflage because he kept Fanning gunfire against the sky, just below my window.
He told me he was celebrating the "umbrella". Yes, he actually said this: For him the no-fly zone is an umbrella that friendly countries have opened up to prevent Benghazi Gaddafi to bombard it with his aircraft. The event was celebrated. Just after dark the gunfire were joined by the fireworks.
Then the news, launched by Al Jazeera, which announced an advance of troops in bursts of Gaddafi. They were thirty miles from the periphery. Cable cars were taken to the South to escape from the mercenaries. The explanation of the shabab, the young fighter, he was naive, simple, yet accurate.
He and many other young men who fired in the air felt abandoned by the rest of the world. The mercenaries of advancing Gaddafi, occupied one after the other cities lined up on the shore of the Mediterranean, erased the gains of the uprising, and the mighty of the land that had encouraged it stood with their hands.
So many words and no action. Benghazi was on the verge of falling back into the silence of forty years of dictatorship. And here the UN decision. The world was reminded of them, and now the shabab expressing joy wasting ammunition that were used to defend the city. Celebrated the "umbrella" protecting them from planes which were not enough, but also praising the blow inflicted by the world to Gaddafi.
A mortal blow. The crackle of Kalashnikovs kept awake continuously sleepy town for the festivities of the night. The people had just come out from the mosques, where after the mullahs had recited the prayers of the Koran verses appropriate to condemn the dictator of Tripoli, humiliated by the UN.
Before the court, overlooking the Mediterranean, in a district for its style houses "Fascist" reminds us of the colonial Italian city of Latina (chipped in an edition), there was an excited crowd waving flags new Libya, even if it was the era of King Idriss flags. Court building was installed on the National Council, the Committee for the Liberation of government that works.
Hung on the facade, as big as a sheet, a French flag, the only Western flag, in tribute to France's Sarkozy, who first received in Paris the representatives of the insurgency, which has promised to give due recognition rule. And then, with Cameron's Britain, with the decisive support and more in the background even if the U.S.
pushed the UN Security Council to approve the resolution that the Shabab with Kalashnikovs under my window called "umbrella ". France has also promised action in the case air Gaddafi continues to threaten civilians. The devices, said Ali, a former naval officer who acts as my guide, I'm already ready on the Italian runways, just across the Mediterranean.
So it puts me, as an Italian, among friends of the new Libya. Hours that are easy to receive awards in Benghazi is more or less deserved. Then the cold shower, terrible, the news that Gaddafi's troops were advancing rapidly in spite of the UN and the threat of Anglo-American air raid. Behind the festive air that reigned in Cyrenaica was mounting concern about the Gaddafi to fifty kilometers.
She had avoided defeat seemed imminent in recent days, when the soldiers were advancing in Tripoli meeting little resistance, and now the threat re-emerge. The rebel army that has never given the impression of being a real army, was again surprised. Sometimes it was even impossible to find.
It was a show a little 'pathetic. Much enthusiasm and so little organization. So much innocence is animated by a genuine desire to get rid of a grotesque dictatorship. The more ridiculous the left for those who suffered. And it was useless to ask the insurgents a program, a blueprint for a democratic Libya.
Do not you quit in a month with clear ideas after four decades of Qaddafi to power. This authentic, naive enthusiasm, at this time accompanied by a kindness which seems carefree, is an impressive sign of weakness. In recent days, with the approach of the troops of Gaddafi, the tens of thousands of flags, sewn or excavated hastily waving hung from balconies and rooftops, were gone.
The people were demoralized. O prudent. Between Benghazi and Tobruk, the route that I walked in six hours, often following the path of the old "Balbo" (road desired by the colonial governor Italo Balbo) flags had reappeared. And Benghazi was again decked with flags. Libya released no longer felt alone, had taken courage.
Although nobody believed in the promises of a cease-fire regime in Tripoli, "liar" was the most common insult directed at Gaddafi. No one thinks that was trusted his promise to comply with UN resolution. He would try everything to escape the limitations imposed upon it by international society.
And in fact his troops yesterday took a leap forward on the road to the Mediterranean coast, approaching Benghazi from where you would find a little more than fifty kilometers. It bombed measure, which was said to be under the control of troops loyal to Saddam. There were twenty-five dead, mostly civilians.
There are rumors, but it is clear that the resolution of the Security Council, and the commitment to promote Anglo-French raids targeted if Gaddafi does not cease to affect the population, have ringagliardito nests of resistance. In short, there are few who believe that the power of Saddam is dying of Tripoli.
The reconquest of Cyrenaica was lost stop or braking. But his bastion Tripoli could last long and he tries in these hours, in defiance of the UN, to join in Benghazi.
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