Rebel Defenses ‘Failing’ as Gadhafi Forces Near Benghazi
Regime Forces in Central Ajdabiyah as Street Battles Continue
Though the Gadhafi regime has agreed to an African Union-brokered ceasefire deal, fighting has continued in the nation’s east, where indications on Sunday are that the regime is increasingly taking over Ajdabiyah.
Street battles are continuing and the fight is far from over, but Gadhafi’s troops are said to have seized the center of town now. Ajdabiyah is the last city before the rebel capital of Benghazi and has often been contested by the two factions.
Reports from the city say that neither side is using heavy armor much anymore because of the constant threat of NATO air strikes. Rather, the regime’s forces are copying the rebels’ practice of using civilian vehicles to drive to skirmishes.
Exactly when the prospective ceasefire might start to take effect is unclear, but African Union delegates have deployed to Benghazi to discuss it with the rebels. Previous offers of ceasefires from both sides have failed over disputes about where to draw the boundary between the two.
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Valerianus
April 11th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Smart of the Ghaddafi forces to use civilian vehicles, thus confusing the NATO flyboys. Unfortunately for the Libyan rebels, the NATO flyboys will attack at random and without apology, and the result very frequently is a bunch of dead rebels. The descendants of the Allies of World War II have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. The Americans soldiers in Normandy called their own tactical air support, the US 9th Air Force, the 9th Luftwaffe, on account of the flyboys' predilection for shooting at and bombing anyone they happened to see. And then there was the supreme example of air support gone awry, when the 8th Air Force carpet bombed and wiped out an entire US infantry battalion, including the Commanding General of the US Army Ground Forces, General Leslie McNair, who had taken up position to watch the annihilation of the Germans. You really have to admire an air force that manages to take out one of their own four-star generals . . .
Jaime
April 11th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
lol