Sunday, April 17, 2011

Gadhafi forces attack rebels outside Ajdabiya

"The forces of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi struck Sunday outside Ajdabiya, forcing the rebels to retreat to their stronghold easternmost and reducing their hopes of advancing to the West to end the stalemate in the civil war. A witness said he saw about a dozen rockets fall on the western entrance of the village, the rebels wanted to use as a permanent position to recapture the oil port of Brega.

Many fled the attack while loud explosions shook the city. "There are still some folks out there at the western entrance, but the situation is not very good," said Wassim El Agouri, a rebellious 25-year volunteer waiting at the eastern entrance of Ajdabiya. On Saturday, the rebels reached the outskirts of Brega, located 80 kilometers to the west, but many had to return to Adjabiya refuge after six soldiers were killed by the impact of rockets fired by the forces of Gadhafi on the road between two cities .

Sunday marked the one month since the UN Security Council adopted a resolution authorizing the use of force to protect civilians in Libya, which led international military campaign. But despite the NATO attacks against the forces of Gadhafi, the rebels have failed to make further progress or maintain progress in the weeks of clashes in the eastern coastal cities of Libya.

In the west, the city of Misrata in the hands of rebels, has been under siege for seven weeks, raising international concern about a growing humanitarian crisis. It is believed that hundreds of civilians have been killed by the fighting and shelling over the place. A spokesman said rebel forces had bombed Gadhafi Misrata again Sunday, killing at least six people.

Abdel Basset Mezerik also indicated that there were at least 47 wounded. United States, France and Britain said this week that he would interrupt the bombing until Gadhafi departs, the objective of reviewing and modifying the mission of regime change. However, with NATO troops still in Afghanistan, Western countries have ruled out sending ground troops to a strengthened position on Sunday by the British prime minister, David Cameron.

"What we have said is that there is no doubt an invasion or occupation, this does not take Britain to put boots on the ground" he said in an interview with Sky News. But Cameron said the powers would help in other ways to prevent Gadhafi "untie his hell on people in Misrata" and other cities located on the Libyan coast, including providing "non-lethal equipment" to the rebels.

The rebels have repeatedly asked for more sophisticated weapons, saying that their machine guns and grenade launchers are not powerful enough to confront government forces. "We want weapons, modern weapons," said Ayman Aswey fighter of 21 years. "If we did, we could move on and defeat them," he said.

With the sound of explosions and gunfire all Ajdabiya plying from western entrance, dozens of rebels and civilian vehicles carrying men, women and children in a row to the east, toward the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. A dust storm invaded the area during the morning, obscuring the view across the vast, flat desert.

Some rebels said they would stop anti-tank mines at the eastern entrance of Ajdabiya. Days of sporadic clashes in the western part of the road to the city of Brega have failed to end the deadlock in the civil war. Rebel spokesmen said Saturday that more experienced soldiers were fighting against the forces of Gadhafi on the margins of Brega, but it was not possible to verify this information.

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