Rebels fighting to oust Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi pressed ahead yesterday with day two of a NATO-backed offensive after seizing a desert hamlet about 50km from Tripoli.
Reinforced with fresh French weapons parachuted into the North African country and coordinating with NATO-led air strikes aimed at destroying Qaddafi’s frontline armor, the rebels attacked the regime’s forces in the plains southwest of the capital.
The area targeted by the rebel offensive is seen as strategic as it also features the garrison city of Gharyan, a government stronghold in the Nafusa mountains.
“We waited before launching this assault and finally got the green light from NATO ... and the offensive began,” a rebel leader in Zintan, a hill town, said on Wednesday.
A correspondent embedded with the rebels said there were intense exchanges of artillery, mortar and cannon fire with government troops dug in around Gualish.
In the conflict, several African mercenaries fighting alongside Qaddafi forces were captured.
NATO listed a series of seven targets where Qaddafi’s military equipment had been attacked, including eight armored vehicles and military refueling equipment near the eastern oil town of Brega.
An anti-aircraft gun had also been taken out close to Gharyan, where earlier this week four tanks had been destroyed. Eight armed vehicles were also hit in the latest attacks in the vicinity of Zlitan.
After a retreat from around the plains town of Bir al-Ghanam last week, rebel spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani pledged on Saturday that his forces would soon try to push the front line northwards.
The latest offensive came after France said it no longer needed to drop weapons to the rebels fighting Qaddafi’s forces since they were getting more organized and could arrange to arm themselves.
However, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet cautioned against the rebels’ prospects of defeating Qaddafi and pushing toward the capital.
Away from the battle front, tens of thousands of rebel supporters in their stronghold Benghazi on Wednesday took to the streets in a propaganda riposte to a pro-Qaddafi demonstration, which had been beamed to their area of control on Friday last week.
That rally was a clear demonstration that the veteran leader still had vast numbers of supporters in Tripoli, while the Benghazi demonstration was aimed at sapping the morale of the pro-Qaddafi crowds and boosting that of the rebels.
On the political front, a senior Chinese diplomat visited Benghazi and met members of the opposition, Chinese state media said yesterday, as Beijing showed itself becoming more deeply engaged in the war-torn nation.
Chen Xiaodong (陳曉東), in charge of North African affairs at the foreign ministry, met officials of the opposition’s National Transitional Council, Xinhua news agency said.
Chen called for a quick political solution to the four-month-long crisis and urged the rebels to hold talks with officials loyal to Qaddafi, it said.
Until recently, China had maintained its long-standing policy of non-interference and public neutrality on the conflict, calling multiple times for a peaceful end to the popular uprising.
However, it now appears to be getting more involved, with Beijing last month recognizing Libya’s opposition as an “important dialogue partner” after talks in Beijing between Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎) and senior rebel leader Mahmud Jibril.
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