Libya: Despite Air Strikes, Gaddafi Forces Outgun Rebels
Anyone expecting that the U.N.-mandated air campaign over Libya is going to enable the country's rebels to deliver a knockout blow to the Gaddafi regime ought to visit the front line, around 10 km north of Ajdabiyah. That front line has barely moved in the four days since allied air strikes last weekend destroyed the regime's armored column that had been advancing on the rebel capital of Benghazi. Although those raids prompted scores of rebel fighters and local war tourists to pile into cars and pickups and surge toward Ajdabiyah, they were quickly repelled by tank shells and Grad rockets fired by Gaddafi's forces dug in around the town's northern entrance.
And despite daily tilts at the loyalist positions, always quickly repelled by superior firepower, the stalemate has not been broken. Civilians who have managed to flee the town say regime forces have it under siege and have cut off its water, electricity and cell-phone access - and that they are trying to force civilians to flee.
The rebels, largely a mishmash of civilians in military garb, are too poorly armed to dislodge the loyalists. While some are bold enough to drive headlong into loyalist shelling armed with little more than truck-mounted machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, most of those gathered hang back, waiting for something to move the front line forward.
"We went about three or four kilometers forward at about 3 p.m., but then we came back because they were bombing," says Ayman Salem, 27, an unemployed worker from Shahat, now clothed in camouflage and perched on a truck alongside an antiaircraft gun. His friends are a 26-year-old mechanic from Benghazi and a 21-year-old day laborer, also from Benghazi. Pointing to his antiaircraft weapon, he says, "There is no comparison between this and Grad missiles." Although he and his comrades have advanced within range of Gaddafi's tanks and artillery, they've never managed to get close enough to bother firing their truck-mounted gun.
There's a wide disconnect between the pathos of the rebels gathered north of Ajdabiyah and the tales of grand strategy and steady progress spun by the rebellion's myriad unofficial spokespeople back in Benghazi. Khaled al-Sayeh, the rebels' ostensible military spokesman, insists that rebel forces have captured both the eastern and southern gates to Ajdabiyah, bypassing the regime forces dug in at the northern gate by moving along the coast. They have effectively surrounded Gaddafi's forces and have even begun to encroach on his stronghold of Sirte. Before long, the loyalist forces will run out of ammunition.
At a press conference on Tuesday evening, without so much as glancing at a sheet of paper, al-Sayeh runs off a long list of impressive achievements. In recent days, he says, rebels and allied air forces have destroyed all but 11 of the 80 tanks Gaddafi had sent to Benghazi. Ten other tanks were captured intact, along with 20 pickup trucks, two armored vehicles and a vehicle with radar equipment. He estimates that between 400 and 600 government troops were killed over the weekend.
But al-Sayeh's message seems to change from day to day. On Monday, he had been more defensive, insisting that "the army is starting from scratch; we are putting the structure in place." The army needs training. It needs arms. And the real officers and commanders have no control over the youth gathered at the front line. "The youth advanced today and it was spontaneous, as always. They don't take orders from anyone," he said bitterly. "If it was up to the regular military, the advance by the youth today would not have happened."
Last week, on the day Gaddafi's forces laid siege to Ajdabiyah, al-Sayeh told a group of reporters that the city was still under rebel control and offered to lead a field trip of reporters there that evening.
Such bravado and outrageous optimism are common in Benghazi. But others at rebel headquarters offer a more sober view. "They are trying to build a government and liberate a country all at once," says Mustafa Giriyani, a Libyan-American businessman and a volunteer on the Transitional National Council. "It has been one month. You couldn't open a grocery store [in that amount of time]. You couldn't send a soldier to the field without six months of training."
Giriyani, like al-Sayeh, is part of the ill-defined rebel leadership; a group of men and women, many of them lawyers and businesspeople, who have turned Benghazi's high court house into the headquarters of Free Libya. Just who heads the Transitional National Council is not entirely clear. They have a functioning media wing and an entourage of spokespeople, but most seem to have little connection to the men out in the desert, fighting - or talking about fighting - this war. The names of three different men have been given over the past three weeks as the ostensible leader of the rebels' military force. One is Abdel Fatah Younis, Gaddafi's former Interior Minister, who defected to the rebels' side. Another is Omar Hariri, a former general who led an unsuccessful revolt against Gaddafi in 1975. And then there is Khalifa Heftir, a famed opposition hero who recently returned from foreign exile to help lead the fight.
On the front line, a few of the volunteers cite Younis as their leader; others say they follow Heftir. Volunteer council translator Shamsiddin Abdulmolah explains it like this: Younis is like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Heftir is the commander in the field and Hariri is the Defense Minister. But despite these titles, it's not clear that there's much of an army to lead.
Some of those fighting in rebel ranks are soldiers who defected from the Libyan army when the east fell to the rebels, but they're not the majority. And on the desert front lines, they're often indistinguishable from the teachers, oil workers, laborers and lawyers carrying weapons taken from military bases. And whereas a handful of colonels and a few generals manned the desks on military bases and appeared to oversee some basic weapons training in the first few weeks of Free Libya, few are now seen on the front line. Instead, al-Sayeh says they're planning and strategizing - he can't say what exactly - behind the scenes. The task of rallying the disorganized troops at the front has fallen to civilians with megaphones or loud voices.
The loyalists' rapid advance on Benghazi last week before the coalition air strikes began also shook the fledgling rebel movement. Much of Benghazi's civilian population has fled to towns farther east, and some of the previously prominent rebel leaders and defecting military commanders appear to have gone to ground. Amid rising fears of fifth columnists and Gaddafi sniper cells amid the loyalist push on the city last Friday and Saturday, some have also grown more suspicious of the soldiers who defected. "The big problem here is that most of the revolutionary guys don't trust the military people because a lot of military guys were with Gaddafi from the start," says Najla Elmangoush, a criminal-law professor at Benghazi's Garyounis University and an activist at council headquarters. "We welcomed them when they joined," she adds. "But people are concerned that maybe they'll try anytime to change sides." The regime is trying to encourage that fear, spreading false rumors last weekend that rebel commander Younis had returned to the regime's camp.
Even though the intervention by allied air forces has saved Benghazi from being overrun by Gaddafi's forces, the state of the rebels' military there, and down the road on the approaches to Ajdabiyah, suggests it may be quite some time before they're ready to march on Tripoli.
Gaddafi's air force 'destroyed' by coalition
RAF Air Vice-Marshal Greg Bagwell said the allied forces had "taken away (Mr Gaddafi's) eyes and ears" and "destroyed the majority of his air force".
Speaking at the southern Italian air base of Gioia del Colle, where the RAF fighter pilots are based, he said: "Effectively, their air force no longer exists as a fighting force and his integrated air defence system and command and control networks are severely degraded to the point that we can operate with near impunity across Libya."
The destruction of Gaddafi's capabilities was carried out by a combination of bombs and missiles dropped from aircraft and sea missiles.
RAF jets, which continue to patrol the no-fly zone over the north African country, have so far remained unscathed by the action.
"I don't know what he's shooting at but he can't hit us," AVM Bagwell said of the Libyan leader.
In the four days since the allied mission swung into action, the operation has progressed from long-range strikes against key military targets in Libya to one of enforcement of the no-fly zone.
The coalition partners say they are watching over the "innocent people of Libya" and protecting them from attack.
But there are also still targets "in various places," AVM Bagwell said.
"We have the Libyan ground forces under constant observation and we attack them whenever they threaten or attack civilians or population centres," he added.
And he hinted that the British fighters expect to be in it for some time yet.
Asked about how long the mission might last, he said: "You'll have to ask Colonel Gaddafi how long he wants to go on for but we're here for the long term."
The seven international partners have achieved in days what would have previously taken months or years, he added, praising the "Herculean effort" of the RAF men and women taking part in the operation.
"Our people in the air and on the ground, deployed and home-based, military or civil service, have been the inspiration and the engine behind this operation," he said.
"Their ingenuity, hard work, courage and spirit have been ever present."
AVM Bagwell visited the Italian compound this afternoon to pay a brief visit to the RAF members stationed there.
Four RAF Tornados and three Typhoons have flown off from the base today.
Despite the crippling of his defences, a defiant Gaddafi has promised victory over the coalition.
In a televised address last night, he said: "In the short term, we'll beat them. In the long term, we'll beat them."
He declared that the attacks breached the United Nations charter and had been carried out "by a bunch of fascists".
This came as US president Barack Obama agreed with Prime Minister David Cameron that Nato should play a key role in the allied enforcement of the UN mandate.
The alliance has agreed to lead efforts to ensure an arms embargo is observed and has drawn up plans "if needed" to take charge of the no-fly zone.
Nato ambassadors meeting in Brussels have so far failed to agree whether it should take over when the United States relinquishes command in the next few days.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton told ABC News that she understood people close to Gaddafi were in touch with other states about the situation.
In an interview, she said: "We've heard about other people close to him reaching out to people that they know around the world, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America, beyond, saying what do we do? How do we get out of this? What happens next?
"I'm not aware that he personally has reached out, but I do know that people, allegedly on his behalf, have been reaching out."
Libyan town quiet after a night of coalition airstrikes
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Relief came Wednesday in the besieged western Libyan town of Misrata after a night of coalition airstrikes that witnesses said targeted encampments of forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.
But the battle on the ground between pro- and anti-Gadhafi forces was far from over as evidenced by fierce clashes in the eastern town of Ajdabiya, where the opposition appeared to have moved its front line to just 5 kilometers from the city.
Airstrikes targeted military sites in Ajdabiya and Misrata Tuesday night into Wednesday, a U.S. military official said. After the bombardment, Misrata residents reported the first calm in a week.
"It is relatively quiet today -- this is the first time we feel that way in weeks," said Mohammed, an opposition spokesman in the city who would only give his first name. "We want to express our gratitude to the international community since there were airstrikes this morning."
He and a Misrata Central Hospital doctor said the situation was dramatically improved Wednesday, after overnight and early morning airstrikes that they said targeted at least two pro-Gadhafi positions.
Gadhafi's forces have been stationed on the outskirts of the city, from where they have been providing support and supplies to loyalists fighting rebels in Misrata proper.
Many grocery stores and other shops opened in the city, two hours east of Tripoli, which has been inaccessible for journalists.
The doctor, Khaled Mansouri, told CNN that five more people were killed in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to at least 95 in the last seven days. A man who died Wednesday morning was shot by a pro-Gadhafi sniper, the doctor said.
Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis, a former interior minister who quit to lead opposition forces, said they have requested weapons from several nations to help the embattled city.
"Misrata is destroyed and they need weapons," Younis told CNN. "We try to send them weapons, but of course they were all light weapons. There were no heavy weapons."
In Ajdabiya, parts of the city fell to opposition forces even though Gadhafi's men, who have been pounding the area with artillery and heavy tank bombardments, retained control of the northern and western gates, opposition fighters and witnesses told CNN.
A hospital staffer and opposition fighters said that nine people were killed Wednesday in fighting near the northern gate.
The international airstrikes against Libyan military positions began over the weekend after Gadhafi defied a United Nations-mandated cease-fire in attacks against civilians. The strikes are intended to help establish a no-fly zone.
The campaign was in its fifth day as Sweden announced it has frozen more $1.53 billion in Libyan assets in response to EU sanctions imposed on the northern African country.
U.S. officials said the coalition also conducted airstrikes Tuesday night in Tripoli, but said they did not "specifically target anything" in the capital.
In the last 24 hours, the United States has conducted 28 airstrikes and the coalition has conducted 26 more, said the U.S. military official, who could not be identified because of the sensitivity of the information.
The coalition has not fired any cruise missiles against targets in Libya in the last 24 hours because the Libyan air defense system is so degraded that manned aircraft can now take over most missions, the official told CNN.
"We now have air dominance so we don't have to use cruise missiles," the official said.
The airstrikes, using precision-guided munitions, were launched against surface-to-air missile sites, command and control sites and Libyan troops and weapons stationed outside Misrata and Ajdabiya.
An ammunition depot was also hit, said the official.
France launched the air campaign in Libya and Britain and the United States followed. Germany is not participating in the military action, though it agrees with the United Nations resolution in principle, and moved Wednesday to ensure that its ships were far removed from the Libyan campaign.
A German navy spokesman said Wednesday that all German ships previously under NATO command in the Mediterranean Sea were reassigned to operate under national command and are returning to previously scheduled port stops in Europe to await further instructions. German crew members of NATO fighter jets were also now under German command.
On the ground, Gadhafi remained defiant and his forces continued their assault on towns with a rebel presence.
"We will not give up," the embattled leader said Tuesday on state media as supporters waved green flags. "They will not terrorize us. We are making fun of their rockets. The Libyans are laughing at these rockets. We will defeat them by any method."
Late Monday, coalition forces suffered a minor setback when a U.S. fighter jet malfunctioned and crashed near Benghazi in eastern Libya.
The two crew members parachuted out and landed in different places. U.S. rescue teams, picking up the pilot, dropped two 500-pound laser-guided bombs after they saw an armored vehicle approaching the pilot and feared for his safety, said Capt. Richard Ulsh, spokesman for the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
An investigation of the incident is underway after reports surfaced that some Libyans were injured by shrapnel.
Capt. Becky Massey, the pilot of one of the two Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft involved in the rescue, said the bombs were dropped three miles from the location of the downed pilot. One of the Ospreys then landed and picked up the pilot.
A U.S. aircraft later dropped precision-guided munitions on the F-15E wreckage to fully destroy it, a U.S. military official told CNN.
Rebels had already recovered the second crew member and treated him with "respect and dignity" until coalition forces reached him, U.S. Navy Adm. Samuel Locklear III said Tuesday.
The Libyan war was sparked in February by protests demanding an end to Gadhafi's almost 42-year rule. The Libyan strongman responded with force, prompting the international community to take action.
Locklear told reporters Tuesday that Gadhafi was still ordering armed action and would remain in violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution until he stopped those attacks.
The international operation has targeted air defense sites and command centers, but coalition leaders have said no plans exist to kill Gadhafi.
However, a Johns Hopkins University professor said the coalition can only achieve so much through aerial strikes.
"We have to understand the limits of what air power can do," Fouad Ajami told CNN's "AC360."
"This is a recipe for a stalemate," he said. "(Gadhafi) stays in his bunker. The people in Benghazi stay behind the line. Otherwise, this will go on for quite a long time."
Criticism and questions persist about the international campaign, with no clear answer on who will take over command of the mission and what the endgame or exit strategy will be.
U.S. President Barack Obama said the timetable for a transition of military leadership will be coming in days, not weeks.
NATO said Wednesday it will decide shortly what its role in the operation will be. A spokesman added the alliance is well prepared.
"This is the bread and butter of NATO," an official said.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has voiced his opposition to NATO taking political leadership over the Libya campaign. He suggested that a commission composed of foreign ministers from the participating states play that role.
Ajami, however, said the Arab world would welcome NATO involvement.
"They know that the calamity is unfolding in Libya, and they know that no help is going to come other than from the West and from the United States."
British Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday that Kuwait and Jordan have agreed to provide logistical support to the Libyan effort. Qatar has already contributed planes to mission.
The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday it will participate -- but only in providing humanitarian assistance.
Toward that end, the country has sent a ship and two planes with basic relief supplies, the country's news agency said.
Gaddafi's air force 'destroyed' by coalition
RAF Air Vice-Marshal Greg Bagwell said the allied forces had "taken away (Mr Gaddafi's) eyes and ears" and "destroyed the majority of his air force".
Speaking at the southern Italian air base of Gioia del Colle, where the RAF fighter pilots are based, he said: "Effectively, their air force no longer exists as a fighting force and his integrated air defence system and command and control networks are severely degraded to the point that we can operate with near impunity across Libya."
The destruction of Gaddafi's capabilities was carried out by a combination of bombs and missiles dropped from aircraft and sea missiles.
RAF jets, which continue to patrol the no-fly zone over the north African country, have so far remained unscathed by the action.
"I don't know what he's shooting at but he can't hit us," AVM Bagwell said of the Libyan leader.
In the four days since the allied mission swung into action, the operation has progressed from long-range strikes against key military targets in Libya to one of enforcement of the no-fly zone.
The coalition partners say they are watching over the "innocent people of Libya" and protecting them from attack.
But there are also still targets "in various places," AVM Bagwell said.
"We have the Libyan ground forces under constant observation and we attack them whenever they threaten or attack civilians or population centres," he added.
And he hinted that the British fighters expect to be in it for some time yet.
Asked about how long the mission might last, he said: "You'll have to ask Colonel Gaddafi how long he wants to go on for but we're here for the long term."
The seven international partners have achieved in days what would have previously taken months or years, he added, praising the "Herculean effort" of the RAF men and women taking part in the operation.
"Our people in the air and on the ground, deployed and home-based, military or civil service, have been the inspiration and the engine behind this operation," he said.
"Their ingenuity, hard work, courage and spirit have been ever present."
AVM Bagwell visited the Italian compound this afternoon to pay a brief visit to the RAF members stationed there.
Four RAF Tornados and three Typhoons have flown off from the base today.
Despite the crippling of his defences, a defiant Gaddafi has promised victory over the coalition.
In a televised address last night, he said: "In the short term, we'll beat them. In the long term, we'll beat them."
He declared that the attacks breached the United Nations charter and had been carried out "by a bunch of fascists".
This came as US president Barack Obama agreed with Prime Minister David Cameron that Nato should play a key role in the allied enforcement of the UN mandate.
The alliance has agreed to lead efforts to ensure an arms embargo is observed and has drawn up plans "if needed" to take charge of the no-fly zone.
Nato ambassadors meeting in Brussels have so far failed to agree whether it should take over when the United States relinquishes command in the next few days.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton told ABC News that she understood people close to Gaddafi were in touch with other states about the situation.
In an interview, she said: "We've heard about other people close to him reaching out to people that they know around the world, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America, beyond, saying what do we do? How do we get out of this? What happens next?
"I'm not aware that he personally has reached out, but I do know that people, allegedly on his behalf, have been reaching out."
Gaddafi's air force 'defeated'
The commander of British aircraft operating over Libya has said that Col Muammar Gaddafi's air force "no longer exists as a fighting force".
Air Vice-Marshal Greg Bagwell said the allies could now operate "with near impunity" over the skies of Libya. He said they were now applying unrelenting pressure on the Libyan armed forces.
He was speaking during a visit to RAF aircrew based at Gioia del Colle in southern Italy.
"We are watching over the innocent people of Libya and ensuring that we protect them from attack," he said.
"We have the Libyan ground forces under constant observation and we attack them whenever they threaten civilians or attack population centres."
His comments come as Nato members debate who leads the intervention, with the US keen to hand over to Nato.
Western aircraft have flown more than 300 sorties over Libya in recent days and more than 162 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired.
Snipers Earlier, witnesses reported that international forces had launched new air strikes near Libya's rebel-held western city of Misrata.
Witnesses said tanks pulled back from their positions, from where they have been spearheading a siege of the city for days, but said snipers continued to target people from rooftops.
Mohamed, a spokesman for the rebels in Misrata, said: "Misrata was in a desperate state... we almost lost all hope, but the strikes came at a good time with good intensity and frequency.
"They even managed to take out some convoys inside the city which was very impressive.
"The strikes made such a difference - Gaddafi's forces are scared of them. I want to express our gratitude and appreciation for these actions - we will never, ever forget."
Col Gaddafi's forces have also resumed their pounding of Zintan, near the Tunisian border, according to reports.
And there are also reports of fierce fighting between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces in the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiya. Residents fleeing the town described shelling, gunfire and houses on fire.
Late on Tuesday, Col Gaddafi made his first public appearance in a week and gave a short speech to a crowd of supporters in Tripoli.
He urged "all Islamic armies" to join him, saying: "We will be victorious."
Naval blockade Meanwhile, ships from Nato nations have started patrolling off the Libyan coast to enforce a UN arms embargo against Col Gaddafi's regime.
A spokesman for the Western military alliance, Canadian Brig Gen Pierre St Amand, said six vessels were taking part in the first day of patrols.
They aim to intercept and board ships suspected of ferrying arms to the Libyan government.
"If, after inspection, doubts remain as to the legitimacy of the cargo, the vessel will be diverted to a designated port for further inspection," Gen St Amand said.
Nato members are currently holding talks about assuming responsibility for the no-fly zone over Libya.
Turkey is an integral part of the naval blockade but expressed concern about the alliance taking over command of the no-fly zone from the US.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has arrived in the Egyptian capital Cairo for talks on both Libya and Egypt's hoped-for transition to democracy following the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
He was previously in Moscow, where President Dmitry Medvedev criticised what he called the "indiscriminate use of force" by coalition aircraft in Libya.
Mr Gates rejected the criticism of the air strikes, saying Col Gaddafi was lying about civilian casualties.
Russia abstained from last week's UN Security Council resolution that authorised armed intervention in Libya to protect civilians.
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