Hardened fighters streamed into Tripoli yesterday as Libya’s rebels sought to deliver a knockout punch to Muammar Qaddafi’s remaining forces and to flush out the strongman, dead or alive.
Leading the army of reinforcements were seasoned combatants from the city of Misrata, whose fellow fighters spearheaded the weekend assault that saw the Libyan capital swiftly overrun and Qaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound captured by Tuesday.
Rebel commanders said that while they control most of Tripoli, hot spots remain where sniper fire, rocket explosions and heavy weaponry make life dangerous.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The rebels are also hellbent on finding Qaddafi, so they can proclaim final victory.
Rebel leaders say they want to put Qaddafi on trial in Libya even though he also faces charges of crimes against humanity along with his son Seif al-Islam and spymaster Abdullah al-Senussi at the International Criminal Court.
The rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) on Wednesday offered a US$1.7 million reward for the capture of the elusive strongman, dead or alive.
NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil also offered amnesty to “members of [Qaddafi’s] close circle who kill him or capture him.”
The 69-year-old Qaddafi has not been seen in public for weeks and despite losing control of the oil-rich North African country he ruled with an iron fist for 42 years is still managing to broadcast messages urging Libyans to drive out the “rats” — as he disparagingly calls the rebels.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts were launched at the UN and in Qatar by backers of the insurgents to secure the unlocking of billions of dollars of Libyan assets for the rebels.
Washington for its part said Libya’s stockpile of weapons of mass destruction had been secured and that it was confident the NTC could set up governing structures after overrunning Tripoli.
A group of mostly foreign journalists who had been confined to Tripoli’s Rixos Hotel by pro-Qaddafi hardliners were freed, but other loyalists kidnapped four Italian journalists near the capital, and two French journalists were wounded by stray gunfire at the compound but were recovering.
A rebel military spokesman told al-Jazeera television that “Libyan territory is 90 to 95 percent under the control of the rebellion.”
In Tripoli’s Souk al-Jumaa, the arrival of at least 60 Misrata rebels on Wednesday sparked joy among residents.
They were joined by rebels from as far west as the Nafusa mountains and as far east as Benghazi, as field commanders vowed to bring the capital under full rebel control.
Fighting is concentrated along the perimeters of Bab al-Aziziya and the neighboring Abu Slim district, where Qaddafi reportedly released, armed and paid former prisoners to fight for his regime.
On Wednesday, thick smoke hung over the Bab al-Aziziya complex, where the two sides fought with light arms, heavy machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and mortars.
Other pro-Qaddafi troops fired heavy Grad rockets in a bid to regain control of Tripoli’s airport from a small group of rebels holding on.
But rebels said Qaddafi forces were pounding insurgents holding the center of Zuwarah, west of Tripoli, adding that they needed reinforcements to help them lift the siege.
Rebels advancing towards Qaddafi’s birthplace of Sirte were also blocked on Wednesday in the town of Bin Jawad as loyalists kept up stiff resistance.
“Qaddafi’s forces are still fighting, we are surprised. We thought they would surrender with the fall of Tripoli,” rebel commander Fawzi Bukatif said.
In Doha the NTC sought five billion dollars in emergency aid from frozen assets at a meeting with foreign representatives from the Libya contact group, the NTC’s delegate Aref Ali Nayed said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in