Streams of civilians fled former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s besieged hometown of Sirte yesterday as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of a medical emergency and the battle for the fugitive strongman’s bastion raged.
A reporter at a mosque field hospital west of the city said hundreds of Sirte residents were fleeing in packed vehicles, with some people even sitting on top of possessions piled high in the rear of pick-ups.
“There are so many rockets now. Yesterday there were a lot of attacks. We just could not stay any longer,” Ali Faraj said as a National Transitional Council (NTC) fighter checked his identity.
A Red Cross team, which delivered desperately needed supplies to medics in the besieged coastal city on Saturday, said the hospital had come under rocket fire as new regime forces stepped up their assault on Qaddafi diehards.
A large force of NTC fighters pushed in from the south to lay siege to the Ouagadougou Conference Center, a showpiece venue close to the Ibn Sina hospital where Qaddafi hosted the launch of the African Union.
Intense exchanges raged for at least two hours despite pleas from the ICRC team for a lull while the team made its delivery, NTC fighters said.
“It’s a dire situation,” ICRC team leader Hichem Khadhraoui said.
Staff at the Ibn Sina hospital told the team that “because of lack of oxygen and fuel for the generator, people are dying.”
Other wounded or ill people cannot get to the hospital because of the fighting and NATO air strikes, Khadhraoui added.
“Several rockets landed within the hospital buildings while we were there. We saw a lot of indiscriminate fire. I don’t know where it was coming from,” he said.
After the ICRC team went in, NTC fighters launched a ferocious attack with rockets, anti-tank cannons and machinegun fire from a position less than a kilometer from the hospital.
Qaddafi loyalists responded with mortar and sniper fire.
“We were surprised” that the attack took place while the team was visiting, Khadhraoui said, adding that they had “contacted all parties to say we were going in.”
The hospital’s water tower was hit, forcing staff to bring in water from outside, he said.
East of Sirte, NTC fighters returning from the front said they had captured a neighborhood in the southwest of the city which was home to many Qaddafi clansmen.
The ICRC had been trying for weeks to enter Sirte, which has been under siege by NTC forces since the middle of last month.
Meanwhile, at least 10,000 missiles are unaccounted for in Libya, a senior NATO official has admitted according to a German media report yesterday, amid fears the weapons could fall into the hands of al-Qaeda.
News weekly Der Spiegel reported on its Web site that Italian Admiral Giampaolo di Paola, who chairs the committee of NATO military chiefs, held a secret briefing for German lawmakers last Monday, in which he expressed the alliance’s concerns.
The weapons could end up in other countries and in the wrong hands, the admiral said, according to Der Spiegel, “anywhere from Kenya to Kunduz” in Afghanistan.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS