Misrata Rebels Still Burning, Looting Villages

Fresh Off Destroying Tawarga, Rebels Rampage Through Abu Hadi

The attacks on Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte haven’t gone particularly well, but the nearby village of Abu Hadi was captured pretty quickly. So while Misrata’s rebels are still waiting to conquer Sirte, they’re taking out their frustrations on Abu Hadi instead.

Reports have fighters hurling grenades into abandoned homes, looting anything of value, shooting animals and burning buildings. The attacks have even given other rebel fighters pause.

“The Misrata brigades are taking their revenge for what soldiers originally from this village did to them,” noted one of eastern rebels, while one of the few remain Abu Hadi residents, an elderly man, told reporters that the Misrata forces “came to patrol the house and stole mine and my neighbor’s cars.”

This is hardly a first for the Misratans, and one of the first things they did in the wake of the fall of Tripoli was attack a nearby black city of 10,000 people, Tawarga, and force all of its residents into refugee camps. Then, a few days later, they attacked the refugee camp.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.