Battle For Libya

"Landep News"

Battle For Libya

Libya’s rebels launched a hunt for armed men loyal to Muammar al Qaddafi and reported that they arrested dozens of loyalists in their eastern bastion but that they suffered a blow in the west, where they lost a mountain village.

63 people were arrested under the accusation of having contributed to the killing of a Libyan rebel military chief on Thursday. Security forces patrolled the streets over night and on Monday they attempted to apprehend more people loyal to Qaddafi.

Opposition also captured a base of Qaddafi loyalists, al-Nidaa Brigade, an armed group that was operating under the banner of the rebels. According to medics, at least 11 pro-government troops and four opposition rebels were killed in the fight.

The battle was launched in order to uncover the troops that were operating as a fifth column of the regime within the opposition ranks.

Rebel’s deputy interior minister said that 38 pro-Qaddafi al-Nidaa brigade members were apprehended and another 25 later on. Many are still on the run, and the leaders of the opposition promised they would capture them all.

Rebels say al-Nidaa brigade had as mission to plant bomb cars and participate in terror acts on the streets of Benghazi.

The same group was suspected of being involved in the assassination of Younes, a rebel chief dead in mysterious conditions.

It is considered that these actions show that there is a division within the ranks of the opposition leaders, but experts consider that the division is not serious enough to compromise the rebels’ fight. Transitional National Council is making efforts to show that it speaks on one voice, and that the unity is preserved.

While rebels are trying to find traitors among their ranks, the international community continues to support the activity of the Transitional National Council, recognized as the only partner in Libya, at the Contact Group on Libya, in Istanbul a few weeks ago.

In consistency with the decision in Istanbul, the United Kingdom required last week the pro-Qaddafi ambassador in London to leave his station, as his place is to be taken by the TNC envoy.

William Hague, UK foreign secretary, announced that his country would unfreeze many assets of the regime in Libya, most of them produced by Libyan oil companies, and that the amounts would be placed at the discretion of the TNC.

On Monday, France announced the unfreezing of $259 million in funds, which would be also directed toward the TNC. The money France gave TNC are said to be “the money of the Libyan people,” and that they must be used for food and medicine.

Libyan Rebels

25 people were found on Monday dead in a boat near Lampedusa island, as they were trying to cross the Mediterranean sea from Libya toward Italy.

Situation in Libya has been deteriorating these five months after people began to protest against the abuses of the regime led by president Qaddafi.

The brutal crackdown on demonstrators triggered a response from the international community, which instituted a no-fly zone on Libya in order to prevent the governmental aviation from killing the people as they had already begun to do.

As the NATO intervention continues, without any ground invasion, the situation in Libya drags on, and the removal of the dictator seems the only solution.

An international tribunal has already issued an arrest warrant on Qaddafi, thus rendering the idea of him going into exile hard to do. Qaddafi promised to fight to the death, and he seems serious about it, as he is when promising to never leave the country.

French defense minister said two weeks ago that his country was negotiating with Qaddafi a way to leave power and continue to stay in the country. The idea seems impossible to put into practice given that the opposition toward the leader reached a point of no return, where bringing him in front of justice can no longer be avoided.

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