Libyan Rebels Beat Back Qaddafi Forces’ Attack on Ajdabiya
April 18, 2011, 6:48 AM EDT=================================================(Updates with Misrata dead in fifth paragraph, oil prices in eighth and Libyan rebel oil chief comments in ninth. See EXTRA and MET for more on Middle East turmoil.)By Maher Chmaytelli and Patrick Donahue
April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Libya’s rebels, fighting mainly from pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, repelled an attack from Muammar Qaddafi’s forces on the city of Ajdabiya.
Qaddafi loyalists had earlier shelled Ajdabiya, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Mustafa Gheriani, spokesman for the rebels’ National Transitional Council, said in an interview.
Rebels have struggled for weeks to take and hold cities in central Libya, which have been the focus of most of the fighting since the uprising began in February, calling for deliveries of heavy weaponry and for the coalition led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to increase attacks.
“The rebels don’t have the logistics or organization to move forward with major objectives at this time,” said Andrew Terrill, a Middle East specialist at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. “Unless we see large scale surrender from Qaddafi loyalists, I don’t see too many cities changing hands.”
Qaddafi’s bombing of Misrata, the main rebel-held city in the west and Libya’s third-largest city, killed 17 people yesterday, Al Jazeera television reported. About 300,000 civilians are trapped in Misrata.
Civilians Killed
One attack, possibly from a ground-to-ground rocket, killed at least eight civilians waiting in line for bread, while another injured four at a medical clinic, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in an e-mailed statement today.
“Libyan government forces have repeatedly fired mortars and Grad rockets into residential neighborhoods in Misrata, causing civilian casualties,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “The Soviet-made Grad in particular is one of the world’s most inaccurate rocket systems and should never be fired in areas with civilians.”
Oil declined for the first time in four days in New York after Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter, said the global market has adequate crude supplies. Crude oil for May delivery slid as much as $1.19 to $108.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was at $108.66 at 10:55 a.m. London time.
Damaged Oil Fields
The Libyan rebels’ oil chief was quoted by the Associated Press as saying the opposition forces won’t sell any more oil until production resumes, possibly in a few weeks. Wahid Bughaigis was cited by the AP as saying that rebels are still assessing the damage to oil fields they control after attacks by Qaddafi loyalists.
The fighting has nearly halted oil exports from Libya, which holds Africa’s largest oil reserves.
Rebels are advancing on the oil city of Brega and six rebels were killed and 20 injured in fighting around the city, the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper said.
With NATO air attacks on Qaddafi’s troops and supplies slowly crippling his war machine, “time is much more on the rebels’ side,” said the U.S. Army War College’s Terrill. “The rebels are getting stronger and Qaddafi is getting weaker; I don’t see the urgency of mounting an offensive.”
Qaddafi Under Pressure
Even without the allies putting troops on the ground, Qaddafi can be forced out, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said in an interview with the Parisien newspaper.
“Coalition aircraft can destroy Qaddafi’s supply chain as they move east in the open, but in urban combat I have to concede that while air power can avoid a tragedy, it can’t solve the problem.”
He said Qaddafi’s forces number no more than 10,000 men.
Allied aircraft enforcing the United Nations-mandated no- fly zone and sanctions on Libya carried out 42 strike sorties yesterday, the NATO said in a statement from its operational headquarters in Naples, Italy.
Near the Qaddafi-held capital, Tripoli, aircraft under NATO command destroyed two ammunition bunkers and an anti-aircraft missile site, the alliance said. Two tanks, an armored personnel carrier and a number of other pieces of equipment and ammunition dumps were knocked out by NATO planes. None of the reported strikes were near Ajdabiya.
Aid to Tripoli
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the UN has reached an agreement with the Libyan government to provide humanitarian aid to Tripoli. Ban, speaking in Budapest, said the UN already has a humanitarian presence in the rebels’ stronghold of Benghazi. “We will try to expand our humanitarian activities,” he said.
U.K. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell will travel to the UN today for talks on aid requirements in Libya, his ministry said in an e-mailed statement.
“The humanitarian situation in Misrata is of great concern. The international community should be ready to respond,” Mitchell said in the statement. “It is vital that we continue to get help, such as food, water or medical supplies, through to people. Humanitarian agencies must be given free and unfettered access to Misrata and other areas affected by fighting.”
In other news from the region, Yemen’s opposition coalition rejected a plan by six Gulf states to end unrest, saying that the swift departure of Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh isn’t negotiable.
Police in Yemen used live ammunition, tear gas and water cannon to disperse tens of thousands of protesters marching in the capital, Sana’a, injuring at least 100, according to Abdulmalik al-Yusufi, a doctor at a field clinic along the protest route.
--With assistance from Andras Gergely in Budapest, Eddie Buckle in London, Ayesha Daya in Dubai, Nadeem Hamid in Washington, Eddie Buckle in London, Mohammed Hatem in Sana’a, and Albert R. Hunt in Washington. Editors: Leon Mangasarian, Eddie Buckle.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maher Chmaytelli in Benghazi at mchmaytelli@bloomberg.net; Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net; James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net.
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Death Toll Rises As Gaddafi Pounds Misratah
Increasing numbers of casualties are being reported in Misratah as Colonel Moammar Gaddafi's forces continued bombarding Libya's third city with shelling and sniper fire.
Rebels continued their action in Misratah despite heavy fire from Gaddafi's forces
One senior medic estimated a death toll as high as 1,000 since the last rebel foothold in the west of the country came under attack six weeks ago.
Dr Khaled Abu Falgha, administrator of the city's main hospital, also said around 80% of those killed in the battles were civilians.
Rebels have warned of an impending "massacre" in the city by troops loyal to the dictator if Nato does not step up its attacks on his forces.
Tim Marshall, foreign affairs editor
Medical staff said they had seen a sudden rise in the number of people brought into the hospital suffering gunshot wounds to their heads and necks - the preferred target zone of marksmen.
Dr Falgha said the 60 beds in his facility were all full. Those with lesser injuries were being sent home after initial treatment.
The last week has also seen injuries from cluster bombs, requiring many amputations, he added.
Cluster bombs, which spray deadly bomblets indiscriminately over a large area, are banned by most countries.
Children are among those injured and killed by fighting in Misratah
Residents said Sunday saw government troops, who have pushed into the city centre in recent days, pound Misratahwith mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades.
But local activist Rida al Montasser said rebels had fought off government forces in an area around a central produce market, regaining a small sliver of territory.
He and a foreign NGO worker speaking on condition of anonymity reported 17 people were killed in the battles on Sunday.
He also said Col Gaddafi's forces had fired at the city's hospital.
Rebels in control of most of the eastern half of Libya since the uprising began on February 15 have been unable to advance westward toward the capital, Tripoli.
Opposition forces came under fire on the outskirts of Ajdabiyah, denting their hopes of progress there.
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