Libyan Civil War Megathread

[citizen k]

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan  rebels said on Friday the gunmen who shot dead the rebel military chief  were fighters of an allied militia, in apparent confirmation of deep  rifts among the forces struggling to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.
The reports follow 24 hours of confusion over the killing of Abdel Fattah Younes, a defector from Gaddafi's inner circle, whose death deals a blow both to the rebels and their Western backers.
There had been widespread  speculation as to whether Younes had been killed in an internal rebel  feud or by Gaddafi forces which had penetrated the Benghazi-based  movement.
The killing of such a senior figure  was a setback for the rebels as they were winning broader international  recognition and launching an offensive in the west, and has deepened fears that divisions within the rebel camp will prolong the conflict.
Rebel minister Ali Tarhouni told reporters in Benghazi that an allied  militia leader who had gone to fetch Younes from the front line had  been arrested and had confessed that his subordinates had carried out  the killing.
"It was not him. His lieutenants did it," Tarhouni said, without  giving details about the militia. He added that the killers were still  at large.
Rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said on Thursday Younes had been recalled for questioning to Benghazi but was killed before he arrived. Relatives said they retrieved a burned and bullet-riddled body.
CALLS FOR UNITY
The rebels have seized swathes of  the country, but five months into the rebellion still appear far from  ousting Gaddafi and remain poorly equipped.
Speculation about the assassination  of Younes ranged widely. There were reports that he had been suspected  of feeding the Gaddafi camp with information. One rebel commander said Islamists whom Younes had targeted in his job as interior minister may have been to blame.
The United States, which like some 30 other nations has formally  recognized the opposition, said Younes's death was a blow but called for  solidarity among the rebels.
"What's important is that they work both diligently and transparently  to ensure the unity of the Libyan opposition," State Department  spokesman Mark Toner said in Washington.
On Friday, weeping relatives and supporters brought Younes's coffin  into the main square of Benghazi to mourn him, as fighters fired guns in  the air.
Some family members vowed allegiance to the rebels' political leader.  "A message to Mustafa Abdel Jalil: We will walk with you all the way,"  nephew Mohammed Younes told hundreds of mourners in the main square.
RUMORS OF SECRET TALKS
Younes, from eastern Libya where  the rebels are strongest, had been Gaddafi's interior minister but  switched sides to become the military chief in the rebel Transitional  National Council.
Rebel defense minister Omar  Hariri, visiting the west, said Younes's death would have an impact on  rebel fighters. "But they will recover, and there will be other  leaders," he said.
Rebels took swathes of Libya  soon after launching their uprising in February against Gaddafi's 41  years of domination of the oil-producing North African state, but have  made few recent advances despite the support of NATO air strikes.
They said they had seized several towns in the Western Mountains on Thursday but are yet to make a major breakthrough.
A rebel commander near Ghezaia told Reuters on Friday that around 100  insurgents had taken control of the town, from which Gaddafi forces had  dominated plains below the mountains.
Reuters could not go there to confirm the report as rebels said the  area could be mined. But through binoculars from a rebel-held ridge near  Nalut, reporters could see no sign of Gaddafi's forces in Ghezaia.
Fighters on the front line near the town of Misrata said they viewed Younes as a martyr and would avenge his death.
"It will be an extra motive for us in the fight against the tyrant," said Khaled al-Uwayyib.
With prospects fading for a negotiated settlement, the five-month-old  civil war will grind on into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in  August.
Nick Witney, analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations in  Paris, said the West had hoped for a "nice simple conflict" with right  prevailing, but this had ignored the nuanced, tribal nature of Libyan  politics.
"It was a brave and right thing to do," he said. "But I feel we've  lost the moral high ground a bit and wandered into something that will  be prolonged and messy, but we're not in a position to sort out."
(Additional reporting by Michael  Georgy near Ghezaia; Mussab Al-Khairalla in Misrata; Alexandria Sage in  Paris; Samia Nakhoul, Avril Ormsby and Clare Kane in London and Missy  Ryan in Tripoli; Joseph Nasr in Berlin; Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers;  writing by David Lewis and Richard Meares; editing by Andrew Roche) 

People carry the coffin of Libya's rebel military commander Abdel Fattah Younes during his burial in Benghazi July 29, 2011. REUTERS/Esam Al-Fetori

[Caliga]

Shocking.

[jimmy olsen]

Looking good in the west

[Martinus]

 

[Mr.Penguin]

Well, it finally seems that the rebels is making so headway, so here is an update on the conflict. From huge mess of conflicting reports and half truths that surround the media reports from Libya, have I more or less been able to piece these reports together...

Brega Front in the East: The rebels control the eastern New Brega, the University compound and most of the old city in the center. However the rebels haven't been able to make any progress in the all important port and industry area to the west...

Misratah Pocket east of Tripoli: The main offensive towards Tripoli has bogged down in the suburbs of Zlitan some 100km east of Tripoli, however the rebels has begun to push south expanding pocket along the main roads along the coast and towards the Nafusa mountains, something that in the end effectively may cut Tripoli of from the rest of the country...

Nafusa mountains south of tripoli: Rebels and pro- Gaddafi forces are fighting for the all important town Gharyan east of the Nafusa mountain range. The city lies on the main road connecting Tripoli with the south of the country. This is likely why Gaddafi has concentrated most if not all his remaining offensive forces in the area, trying to push the rebel back into the mountains, launching counter attack after counter attack...

Tunisian border: In a surprise move have the rebels been able to cross the plains between the Nafusa mountains and the coast and open up a new front west of Tripoli. Heavy fighting is reported from coastal town of Zawiyah, less than 40km west of Tripoli. Further west close the all important border crossing Ras Ajdir has another group of rebels started to attack the small coastal town of Abu Kammash...

If this new offensive from the rebels succeed, will the rebel effectively have cut of main supply line for food and gasoline to Tripoli. And If the pro- Gaddafi forces can't keep the coastal road to Tunisia open, may we very well start to see the end game of this conflict...   

   

[Mr.Penguin]

Reuters now reports that the rebel flag is now flying in the center of the coastal city of Zawiyah west of Tripoli.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/14/us-libya-zawiyah-scene-idUSTRE77D11N20110814

If true, are Tripoli effectively cut of from the Tunisian border and it can't be long before there will be a shortage of food and gasoline in the capital. I expect to see the UN starting to deliver food aid to Tripoli very soon...

[Josquius]

huzzah. this isnt the first time things have looked good and in the past  they always turned around again  but...im hopeful

[citizen k]

If true, I'm happy Zawiyah has been libeerated. The people of Zawiyah fought like lions until they were overun in the beginning of the war.

[Viking]

The really sad thing is that if the europeans could have mustered the equivalent of a MEU Brigade at the start of the war this would have been resolved months ago.

[Tamas]

The really sad thing is that if the europeans could have mustered the equivalent of a MEU Brigade at the start of the war this would have been resolved months ago.

no peace for oil!!!!

[ulmont]

the all important port and industry area to the west...
...
the all important town Gharyan east of the Nafusa mountain range.
...
the all important border crossing Ras Ajdir

That's a lot of all important.

[Ed Anger]

looks like a giant red dong is racing to the sea.

[Mr.Penguin]

the all important port and industry area to the west...
...
the all important town Gharyan east of the Nafusa mountain range.
...
the all important border crossing Ras Ajdir

That's a lot of all important.

Well, I did write in segments, while I was checking different news sources, so I may accidentally have used the phrase a couple of times...

[alfred russel]

the all important port and industry area to the west...
...
the all important town Gharyan east of the Nafusa mountain range.
...
the all important border crossing Ras Ajdir

That's a lot of all important.

Paradoxically, it appears as though Libya has a lot of all important places, without being important in the aggregate.

[Mr.Penguin]

From the Brega frontline...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/world/africa/15libya.html?_r=1

The rebels near Brega fired rockets from positions in a valley as their tanks, rarely seen in action, fired from the edge of a nearby hill. But at the sound of incoming rocket fire, the rebel fighters panicked, jumped in their trucks and drove away from the front lines.

Well, there is your problem...