Monday, March 28, 2011
Libya rebels advance towards Gaddafi's birthplace
Libyan rebels watch the fighting along the front line during shelling with forces loyal to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi at a location close to the town of Bin Jawad.
Rebels advanced towards the birthplace of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, streaming west along the the main coastal road in pick-up trucks mounted with machineguns.
Russia criticised the Western-led air strikes that have turned the tide of Libya's conflict, saying these amounted to taking sides in a civil war and breached the terms of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
Qatar became the first Arab country to recognise the rebels - now in the sixth week of their uprising against Gaddafi's 41-year rule - as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people.
Al Jazeera said the rebels had seized the town of Nawfaliyah from forces loyal to Gaddafi, extending their advance westwards towards his hometown of Sirte, about 120 km (75 miles) away.
Emboldened by the Western-led air strikes against Gaddafi's forces, the rebels have quickly reversed earlier losses and regained control of all the main oil terminals in the east of the OPEC member country.
"We want to go to Sirte today. I don't know if it will happen," said 25-year-old rebel fighter Marjai Agouri as he waited with 100 others outside Bin Jawad with three multiple rocket launchers, six anti-aircraft guns and around a dozen pick-up trucks with machineguns mounted on them.
Western-led air strikes began on March 19, two days after the UN Security Council authorised "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces. But since the outset, the mission has faced questions from critics about its scope and aims, including the extent to which it will actively back the rebel side and whether it might target Gaddafi himself.
Russia criticised the Western-led air strikes that have turned the tide of Libya's conflict, saying these amounted to taking sides in a civil war and breached the terms of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
Qatar became the first Arab country to recognise the rebels - now in the sixth week of their uprising against Gaddafi's 41-year rule - as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people.
Al Jazeera said the rebels had seized the town of Nawfaliyah from forces loyal to Gaddafi, extending their advance westwards towards his hometown of Sirte, about 120 km (75 miles) away.
Emboldened by the Western-led air strikes against Gaddafi's forces, the rebels have quickly reversed earlier losses and regained control of all the main oil terminals in the east of the OPEC member country.
"We want to go to Sirte today. I don't know if it will happen," said 25-year-old rebel fighter Marjai Agouri as he waited with 100 others outside Bin Jawad with three multiple rocket launchers, six anti-aircraft guns and around a dozen pick-up trucks with machineguns mounted on them.
Western-led air strikes began on March 19, two days after the UN Security Council authorised "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces. But since the outset, the mission has faced questions from critics about its scope and aims, including the extent to which it will actively back the rebel side and whether it might target Gaddafi himself.
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