Renewed NATO air strikes rock Tripoli while Gaddafi nearing his end !

NATO war planes are continuing to bombard the Libyan capital Tripoli, with large explosions echoing over the city.  (Photo; Bombed area in Tripoli)

At least three strikes in the early hours of Friday sent plumes of smoke over Tripoli, and the direction of the strikes suggested that either the compound of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's embattled leader, or nearby military barracks were shelled.

After the strikes, pro-Gaddafi supporters fired assault rifles into the air and beeped their car horns in defiance.

The night strikes followed a total of 14 air attacks that were carried out on Thursday, considerably fewer than the heavy bombardment on Tuesday that flattened major buildings in Gaddafi's compound in the centre of the city.

The continued air raids came as Gaddafi forces renewed their shelling near the opposition-held western city of Misurata on Wednesday, killing at least 12  freedom figters.

In Brussels, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO secretary-general, said the shelling near Misurata underscored the continued need to protect civilians.

"It is an example that the Gaddafi regime still constitutes a threat to the civilian population,'' he said. "We will stay committed as long as necessary."

'Gaddafi's days numbered'

The airs raids also came as Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, declared on Thursday that Gaddafi's days as leader of Libya were numbered.

"Gaddafi's days are numbered. We are working with our international partners through the UN to plan for the inevitable: a post-Gaddafi Libya," Clinton said at the International Contact Group [ICG] meeting on Libya in Abu Dhabi.

Clinton also said talks were under way with people close to the Libyan leader and that there was "the potential" for a transition of power in Libya.

"There have been numerous and continuing discussions by people close to Gaddafi and we are aware that those discussions include, among other matters, the potential for a transition," she said.

She gave no further details on the talks, other than to say "there is not any clear way forward yet".

Financial pledge

As the battle for control of Libya raged, donors at the ICG meeting pledged more than $1.3bn to help support the National Transitional Council (NTC), the main body representing the Libyan rebels fighting against Gaddafi.

Italy and France offered a combined $1.02bn while Kuwait and Qatar promised a combined $280m to a fund set up to provide transparent assistance to the opposition.

Turkey has established a $100m fund to support the Libyan opposition government based in Benghazi, Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said.

Clinton said "we are ready for the establishment of financial mechanism for the money to flow to the National Transitional Council".

The US secretary of state said while Washington would boost its humanitarian aid to all Libyans by $26.5m, it was not offering any direct aid to the NTC. This was despite Clinton acknowledging that the council "faces a serious budget shortfall'' and "needs our immediate financial assistance".

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "We understand the NTC's frustration but again the international community isn't going to let the NTC go under."

Washington said on Wednesday that the first shipment of Libyan oil sold by the council had been delivered to a US refinery and Clinton encouraged other nations to make similar purchases to help the Libyan people.

The Benghazi-based  freedom figters leadership has said it hopes to restart production of up to 100,000 barrels a day soon, without specifying a timeframe.

Shortage of funds

Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgham, who defected from Gaddafi's government while he was the Libyan ambassador to the UN, said the  freedom figters needs $3bn to cover salaries and food costs for the next four months.

The total amount pledged at the ICG summit, while significant, fell way short of the fund needed. The  freedom figters say that Gaddafi's assets frozen abroad, which are reportedly worth $160bn, should be made available to them.

Ali Tarhouni, the opposition finance minister, urged nations to allow the council to use the funds as collateral for loans.

"Our people are dying," he said.

"It's been almost four months now and nothing has materialised so far. Our message to our friends is that I hope that they walk the walk."

The number of countries recognising the freedom figters council is growing by each day. A day after Spain recognised the NTC, Australia said the  freedom figters  government was legitimate.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will have to face charges against war crimes - says ICC chief prosecutor !

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has sought arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son, Saif al-Islam, and another Libyan official on war crimes charges.


Luis Moreno Ocampo will hand a 74-page dossier of evidence to a three-judge panel at the court in the Hague, the Netherlands, on Monday.


They will decide whether the case is strong enough for them to confirm crimes against humanity charges, and issue international arrest warrants.


"We are almost ready for trial," Ocampo said in a statement earlier. "The office collected good and solid evidence to identify [those] who bear the greatest responsibility."


The third official named was Abdullah Senussi, gaddafi's intelligence chief.
Ocampo's investigation into potential human rights violations has spanned several countries and involved sorting through around 1,500 documents, Al Jazeera's Rory Challands said.


But the two-and-a-half months it has taken to come up with a petition for arrest warrants is a "heartbeat in international justice," he added.


On Monday, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Gaddafi was looking for a "suitable place" to find exile.
"Messages have been arriving from the regime's restricted circle," he said. "Certain [members] have spoken under cover and are beginning to say that Gaddafi is looking for an honourable way out," he added.

Fighting continues in Libya's Misurata - Latest Update on Libya Uprise

Freedom Figters say humanitarian deliveries affected in besieged city as battles rage for control of port rage on

Pro-democracy fighters are battling Muammar Gaddafi's, alias butcher of Libya's, forces on the country's western border while fighting continues in the besieged opposition held city of Misurata.

A spokesman for freedom figters told on Wednesday that heavy shelling had prevented ships from docking in Misurata to deliver humanitarian supplies and evacuate the wounded.

"The attacks have prevented a number of ships seeking to enter the port to evacuate the wounded from Misurata," Ahmed Hassan, the spokesman said.

"Other ships are also waiting to unload shipments from humanitarian agencies."

The freedom fighters said the Libyan army had withdrawn from central Misurata but that fierce fighting was still ongoing for control of the city's port.

"Gaddafi's forces retreated from the port area where they were positioned yesterday after air strikes by the NATO forces," an opposition spokesman, called Reda told the Reuters news agency.

The strikes completely destroyed 37 military vehicles. Gaddafi's forces this morning started bombarding an area about 10km north of the city. It is known as the Steel area.

"The bombardment is still going on. They are using Grad missiles ... Warplanes are flying over Misurata's outskirts but I don't hear any sound of strikes."

Libyan Freedom Fighters claims seizing Sirte - Dictator Gaddafi's Hometown

Libyan Freedom Fighters have claimed that they have captured the town of Sirte which is the home town of embattled Libyan Dictator Muammar Gaddafi alias " Butcher of Libya".


Shamsi Abdul Molah, a spokesman for the opposition's National Council told that opposition forces had moved into the city at approximately 1.30am last night (local time).


"they found it as an unarmed city. They had no problem getting in there, they did not encounter any resistance," reported Sue Turton in Benghazi. Celebratory gunfire was head in Benghazi, the opposition's stronghold in the east of the country, as news filtered in of the taking of Dictator Gaddafi's hometown.


A column of military vehicles was seen leaving Sirte on Sunday, heading west towards the capital, Tripoli.


Clashes between pro- and anti-government forces continue in other areas, meanwhile. In Misurata, nine people were killed overnight by snipers and shelling by dictator Gaddafi's forces.



The claim of the opposition taking Sirte, which could not be independently verified, came as their forces, bolstered by coalition air strikes, pushed westwards and seized control of the key towns of Bin Jawad, Ras Lanuf, Uqayla, Brega and Ajdabiya in a rapid advance along the coastline.




Coalition air strikes against targets in Tripoli also resumed on Sunday night with explosions heard in the Libyan capital.


Gaddafi's forces appeared to be withdrawing eastwards according to a new correspondent. Those still in Bin Jawad surrendered without a fight, he further said.


"It seems there has a been withdrawal and a surrender of Dictator's troops, not a battle," he said. "They removed some of their vehicles that were not bombed further up the road but they removed these vehicles in haste."


The Libyan Freedom Figters were intent on pressing onwards in the direction of Tripoli.


The opposition's National Council now says that it expecting a major battle to occur in the area around Tripoli, as opposed to at Sirte, where stiffer resistance had been expected with Snipers, rocket launchers, RPG's, Missiles  and poisoned gas flames etc...


Days remaining for Butcher of Libya now gets lesser day by day.

Libyan Freedom Fighters Emerge victorious again - Now on their way towards Gaddafi stronghold !

Bin Jawad is the latest town to fall as Libyan Freedom Figters rapid advance to west takes them closer to Gaddafi-held Sirte.







Libyan Freedom Figters are moving westwards towards a possible showdown with dictator  Muammar Gaddafi's forces.


Opposition forces backed by coalition air strikes have already seized control of the key towns of Bin Jawad, Ras Lanuf, Uqayla, Brega and Ajdabiya in a rapid advance along the coastline.


Meanwhile, the next town in the Libyan Freedom Figters path, Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, was reported to be under attack by coalition warplanes for the first time late on Sunday, according to Libyan state television.



Coalition air strikes against targets in Tripoli also resumed on Sunday night with explosions heard in the Tripoli. Gaddafi's Brutal forces appeared to be withdrawing eastwards. Those still in Bin Jawad, the latest town to fall to freedom figters, surrendered without a fight.

"It seems there has a been withdrawal and a surrender of Gaddafi's bloody forces, not a battle. They removed some of their vehicles that were not bombed further up the road but they removed these vehicles in haste." one of the Cilivians said. 


The Freedom Fighters Main Target is to head west towards tripoli through on and only coastal road exist their. The problem they are going to face is the huge roadblock ahead of them and that's town Sirte which is a Gaddafi's stronghold where many of his troops are located but with support from coalition froces, freedom figters might not find it that hard.

Opposition freedom fighters retreat from Ras Lanuf in Libya

Opposition freedom fighters fall back from oil town under rocket fire and aerial assault as Gaddafi loyalists launch major offensive.





Opposition freedom fighters have been forced to withdraw from the central port city of Ras Lanuf after Dictator Muammar Gaddafi launched a massive offensive against opposition fighting to end the Libyan leader's decades-long rule.


Pro- and anti-government forces are locked in intense fighting for control of several other cities and towns along the coastline to the east of Tripoli, including Brega and Bin Jawad, as well as in Az Zawiyah to the west of the capital.



Opposition freedom forces in Ras Lanuf, the site of a key oil installation, are now retreating from their positions and heading further east.


Opposition fighters were seen trooping into cars and trucks by the hundreds and fleeing eastwards, after coming under intense mortar and rocket fire, as well as aerial bombardment earlier in the day.


Pro-Gaddafi forces hit a natural gas installation, and bombed a civilian house and the area around a hospital, Killing innocent individuals, opposition forces said.


In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Dictator Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said the time had come for full scale military action against the rebels. 


"There is no more chance for negotiations with rebels fighting the Libyan government," he said on Thursday.


He said the military would never give up - but would fight in Libya and die in Libya.


In a press conference late on Thursday, Khalid al-Kaim, Libya's deputy foreign minister, reiterated that it was "clear" that most anti-government protesters and fighters were members of al-Qaeda.



Many had wondered in recent days about "why Gaddafi did not employed his full forces".


"Today we've seen those forces in action," Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley said.


We were caught right in the middle as his forces out-flanked, and then out-bombed and out-shot the opposition forces. There was sustained aerial and artillery and mortar bombardment, followed by a flanking movement.


"There have been a number of casualties. We've seen trucks going along the highway, but that's being shelled by Gaddafi forces all the way along. I counted ... 50 shells falling.


"We've seen trucks with wounded lying in the back of pick-ups, and I think the casualty toll is going to be high. We also saw and heard extensive ground fire coming from the beach [in the north], we think there's been a flanking movement from the beach.


"But it seems like the major offensive that we thought was going to happen is underway now."


Birtley reported that while many opposition fighters had now left the town, a "hard core" was going back to fight.


He said the attack showed the "professionalism of Gaddafi's troops, and it shows that ... he's hitting back."


Engineers at the town's oil facilities have been burning off poisonous gas in case of a direct hit on the refinery, rebels say.


"We've been defeated. They are shelling and we are running away. That means that they're taking Ras Lanuf," a rebel fighter, dressed in military fatigues who gave his name as Osama, told the AFP news agency.


"The town of Ras Lanuf has been purged of armed gangs and the green flags have been hoisted over all [government] buildings," Libyan state television reported on Thursday evening. The report said that government forces were "advancing on Benghazi".

Pro Dictator Muammar Gaddafi forces struggle to regain control of strategic cities

- Human Rights Groups fears that their will be a possible genocide sooner or later- 


Government opponents, the protestors in the Libyan city of Az Zawiyah have successfully repulsed an attempt by crual forces loyal to Dictatot Muammar Gaddafi to retake the city close to the capital, Tripoli, in six hours of fighting overnight, witnesses say.


Tuesday's claims follow reports that government forces attacked the city from the west and the east, and that fighter jets bombed an ammunition depot in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. There was no word on casualties in Az Zawiyah, which is 50km west of Tripoli. "We will not give up Az Zawiyah at any price,'' one witness said.


"We know it is significant strategically. They will fight to get it, but we will not give up. We managed to defeat them because our spirits are high and their spirits are zero."


The rebels, who include army forces who defected from the government, are armed with tanks, machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. They fought back pro-Gaddafi troops who attacked from six directions using the same weapons.

Libyan Uprise - Gaddafi loses more Libyan cities !

Protesters wrest control of more cities as unrest sweeps African nation despite Muammar Gaddafi's threat of crackdown

.Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's long-standing ruler, has reportedly lost control of more cities as anti-government protests continue to sweep the African nation despite his threat of a brutal crackdown.


Protesters in Misurata said on Wednesday they had wrested the western city from government control. In a statement on the internet, army officers stationed in the city pledged "total support for the protesters".


The protesters also seemed to be in control of much of the country's east, and an Al Jazeera correspondent, reporting from the city of Tobruk, 140km from the Egyptian border, said there was no presence of security forces.


"From what I've seen, I'd say the people of eastern Libya are the ones in control," Hoda Abdel-Hamid, our correspondent, said.


She said there were no officials manning the border when the Al Jazeera team crossed into Libya.




People in charge'


"All along the border, we didn't see one policeman, we didn't see one soldier and people here told us they [security forces] have all fled or are in hiding and that the people are now in charge, meaning all the way from the border, Tobruk, and then all the way up to Benghazi.


"People tell me it's also quite calm in Bayda and Benghazi. They do say, however, that 'militias'  are roaming around, especially at night. They describe them as African men, they say they speak French so they think they're from Chad."


Major-General Suleiman Mahmoud, the commander of the armed forces in Tobruk, told Al Jazeera that the troops led by him had switched loyalties.


 "We are on the side of the people," he said. "I was with him [Gaddafi] in the past but the situation has changed - he's a tyrant."


Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, was where people first rose up in revolt against Gaddafi's 42-year long rule more than a week ago. The rebellion has since spread to other cities despite heavy-handed attempts by security forces to quell the unrest.


With authorities placing tight restrictions on the media, flow of news from Libya is at best patchy. But reports filtering out suggest at least 300 people have been killed in the violence.


But Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, said there were "credible' reports that at least 1,000 had died in the clampdown.

Defiant Gaddafi

Amid the turmoil, a defiant Gaddafi has vowed to quash the uprising.

He delivered a rambling speech on television on Tuesday night, declaring he would die a martyr in Libya, and threatening to purge opponents "house by house" and "inch by inch".


He blamed the uprising in the country on "Islamists", and warned that an "Islamic emirate" has already been set up in Bayda and Derna, where he threatened the use of extreme force.


He urged Libyans to take to the streets and show their support for their leader.


Several hundred government loyalists heeded his call in Tripoli, the capital, on Wednesday, staging a pro-Gaddafi rally in the city's Green Square.


Fresh gunfire was reported in the capital on Wednesday, after Gaddafi called on his supporters to take back the streets from anti-government protesters.


But Gaddafi's speech has done little to stem the steady stream of defections from his side.


Libyan diplomats across the world have either resigned in protest at the use of violence against citizens, or renounced Gaddafi's leadership, saying that they stand with the protesters.


Late on Tuesday night, General Abdul-Fatah Younis, the country's interior minister, became the latest government official to stand down, saying that he was resigning to support what he termed as the "February 17 revolution".


He urged the Libyan army to join the people and their "legitimate demands".


On Wednesday, Youssef Sawani, a senior aide to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons, resigned from his post "to express dismay against violence", Reuters reported.


Earlier, Mustapha Abdeljalil, the country's justice minister, had resigned in protest at the "excessive use of violence" against protesters, and diplomat's at Libya's mission to the United Nations called on the Libyan army to help remove "the tyrant Muammar Gaddafi".


A group of army officers has also issued a statement urging soldiers to "join the people" and remove Gaddafi from power.


Death of teens on the rise





The unarmed Libyan youth have being brutally killed in certain areas according to the news we get from their.

Defiant Kernal Muammar Gaddafi vows to fight on - Already over 250 youth were killed !

Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has vowed to fight on and die a "martyr", calling on his supporters to take back the streets from protesters demanding his ouster, shouting and pounding his fist in a furious speech on state TV.

Gaddafi, clad in brown robes and turban, spoke on Tuesday from a podium set up in the entrance of a bombed-out building that appeared to be his Tripoli residence hit by US air raids in the 1980s and left unrepaired as a monument of defiance.

"I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents ... I will die as a martyr at the end," he said.

"Muammar Gaddafi is the leader of the revolution, I am not a president to step down ... This is my country. Muammar is not a president to leave his post."

"I have not yet ordered the use of force, not yet ordered one bullet to be fired ... when I do, everything will burn."

He called on supporters to take to the streets to attack protesters. "You men and women who love Gaddafi ...get out of your homes and fill the streets," he said. "Leave your homes and attack them in their lairs ... Starting tomorrow the cordons will be lifted, go out and fight them."

Gaddafi said "peaceful protests is one thing, but armed rebellion is another".

"From tonight to tomorrow, all the young men should form local committees for popular security," he said, telling them to wear a green armband to identify themselves. "The Libyan people and the popular revolution will control Libya."

The speech, which appeared to have been taped earlier, was aired on a screen to hundreds of supporters massed in Tripoli's central Green Square.

At times the camera panned out to show a towering gold-coloured monument in front of the building, showing a fist crushing a fighter jet with an American flag on it - a view that also gave the strange image of Gaddafi speaking alone from behind a podium in the building's dilapidated lobby, with no audience in front of him.

Speech highlights

Shouting in the rambling speech, Gaddafi declared himself "a warrior" and proclaimed: "Libya wants glory, Libya wants to be at the pinnacle, at the pinnacle of the world".

Among the other points made by Gaddafi in his speech:

He called on the people to catch what he called drugged young people and bring them to justice.

He called on the people to "cleanse Libya house by house" unless protesters on the streets surrendered.

He warned that instability in Libya "will give al-Qaeda a base".

He cited the examples of an attack on Russian parliament and China's crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, saying that the international community did not interfere.

He said he could do the same in Derna and Bayda.

He offered a new constitution starting from Wednesday, but this would come with dialogue, not by collaboration with the enemy.

He blamed the uprising on Islamists who wanted to create another Afghanistan, and warned that those in Bayda and Derna had already set up an Islamic Emirate that would reach Benghazi.

He said that the country's youth was drugged and did not know anything; they were following the Islamists' leader and their leaders would be punished with death in accordance with the Libyan law.

Just hours after Gaddafi's speech, Libya's interior minister, General Abdul-Fatah Younis, announced his resignation and support for what he called the "February 17 revolution".

In a video obtained by Al Jazeera, he was seen sitting on a desk reading a statement that also urged the Libyan army to join the people and their "legitimate demands".