Muhammad Mukhtar Osman
From feb17.info:
This is a photo of Muhammad Mukhtar Osman: The martyr who allegedly flew his fighter jet into Bab Al-Azziziyah on March 15. Bab Al-Azziziyah is the location of Gaddafi’s compound. This act of courage will forever be remembered. Osman is a hero to the revolution.
And more news from Libya:
Libya
Qadhafi’s Crimes
Rights groups gather evidence of abuses in Libya
AMSTERDAM, March 15 (Reuters) – Rights groups have found evidence of serious rights abuses by Libya’s security forces since the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi broke out, including disappearances and deliberate killings of bystanders and protesters. “We got information from Tripoli, by phone, skype, email, and from Libyans who left the country, and we’ve documented a wave of arrests and disappearances” in the west of the country, said Fred Abrahams, a special adviser to Human Rights Watch.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/rights-groups-gather-evidence-of-abuses-in-libya
Moammar Kadafi’s forces bomb Benghazi
Warplanes attack a military airport in the Libyan rebel stronghold. It’s the first assault on the city since the uprising began a month ago. Meanwhile, intense fighting occurs in Ajdabiya as Kadafi moves to crush the rebellion. Moammar Kadafi’s warplanes bombed a military airport in Benghazi on Wednesday, the first assault on the eastern rebel stronghold since a revolt by inexperienced fighters with outdated weapons began one month ago to topple the Libyan dictator.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/T2BGcfAQzYY/la-fg-benghazi-bombed-20110317,0,5729330.story
Libyan forces should join advance towards Benghazi-TV
TUNIS, March 16 (Reuters) – All armed forces in eastern Libya loyal to Muammar Gaddafi should join a government advance towards the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, a message on Libyan state television said on Wednesday.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libya-state-tv-calling-on-all-armed-forces-in-east-to-join-govt
Gaddafi army tells Benghazi people to lay down arm
BENGHAZI, Libya, March 16 (Reuters) – The Libyan army told people in Benghazi to lay down their arms on Wednesday as its troops advanced closer to the rebel stronghold for what could be the decisive battle in the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam, speaking to French-based TV channel Euronews, said his troops were near Benghazi and “everything will be over in 48 hours”. The town of Ajbadiyah, 150 km (90 miles) south of Benghazi on the Gulf of Sirte, was firmly in government hands after most of its rebel defenders retreated under fire from a withering artillery barrage on Tuesday. Those who stayed had now handed over their guns, a rebel officer said. In Benghazi, seat of the insurgents’ provisional national council, the mood was a mixture of defiance and nervousness, with some citizens predicting a bloodbath and others confident the rebels would still snatch victory against the government offensive.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/gaddafi-forces-tell-benghazi-residents-to-lay-down-arms
Key town ‘falls’ to Gaddafi forces
Gaddafi loyalists claim “total control” of last town on road to Benghazi as rebels’ retreat continues.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/africa/2011/03/201131514547162811.html
Libyan government forces overwhelm rebels in Ajdabiya
Libyan troops loyal to Moammar Kadafi mount a punishing assault to capture the last obstacle on the coastal highway to Benghazi, sending opposition fighters who had vowed to fight to the death fleeing. Troops loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi mounted a punishing assault from two directions Tuesday and overwhelmed lightly armed rebels in Ajdabiya, the last rebel city blocking the coastal highway to the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, just 95 miles to the north.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/rzIWSUVcaNg/la-fg-libya-fighting-20110316,0,1554584.story
Rocket fire rains on crucial Libya town as Qaddafi’s forces advance
Rebels fled from the eastern Libya town of Ajdabiya, seen as key to the success of the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi, as it came under a heavy air assault today.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/ED7PnLt8UMU/Rocket-fire-rains-on-crucial-Libya-town-as-Qaddafi-s-forces-advance
Libyan army: going to Benghazi on “humanitarian” task
TRIPOLI, March 15 (Reuters) – Libya’s army told residents in Benghazi on Tuesday that it will come on what it called a “humanitarian mission” to save them from rebels controlling the eastern city in defiance of Muammar Gaddafi’s 41-year rule. In an announcement carried by state-run television, the army also urged Benghazi residents to not allow their children to join the rebels it described as “terrorists”. Gaddafi’s forces seized the strategic town of Ajdabiyah on Tuesday, opening the way to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libyan-army-going-to-benghazi-on-humanitarian-task
Gaddafi loyalists seize key city, head for opposition stronghold of Benghazi
AJDABIYAH, Libya (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi’s forces seized a strategic town in eastern Libya on Tuesday, opening the way to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi while world powers failed to agree to push for a no-fly zone. The small town of Ajdabiyah was all that stood between the relentless eastward advance of Libyan government troops and the second city of Benghazi and lies on a road junction from where Gaddafi’s forces could attempt to encircle the rebel stronghold.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/15/gaddafi-loyalists-seize-key-city/
Gadhafi says rebel choice: Surrender or run away
TOBRUK, Libya (AP) — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi says he expects victory in the fight against the rebels trying to overthrow his government and is deriding international discussion of a no-fly zone. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Giornale published Tuesday, he said he was not like the Tunisian or Egyptian leaders, who fell after anti-government protests. “I’m very different from them,” he said. “People are on my side and give me strength.” Gadhafi’s forces are racing toward rebels’ strongholds, with an all-out assault on Ajdabiya and blockade of Misrata outpacing French and British efforts to build support for a no-fly zone.
http://feb17.info/general/gadhafi-says-rebel-choice-surrender-or-run-away/
Gaddafi tells West to stay out of Libya
Leader dismisses rebels as “rats” and urges supporters to confront a possible invasion of country for its oil.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/201131633330526824.html
Defiant Gaddafi denounces rebels
Libyan leader condemns what he calls false image of country being portrayed by outside world.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/africa/2011/03/2011315215540657318.html
Gaddafi taunts critics, dares them to get him
TRIPOLI, March 15 (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi lashed out on Tuesday at backers of a no-fly zone over his country and urged Libyans to take up arms and prepare to confront a possible invasion by Western powers. “France now raises its head and says that it will strike Libya,” Gaddafi told a gathering of supporters at his Bab al-Azizia fortified compound in central Tripoli. “Strike Libya?” he asked. “We’ll be the one who strikes you! We struck you in Algeria, in Vietnam. You want to strike us? Come and give it a try.”
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/gaddafi-taunts-critics-dares-them-to-get-him
Gaddafi son says revolt will be over in 48 hours
PARIS, March 16 (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are near the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and “everything will be over in 48 hours”, Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam told France-based TV channel Euronews on Wednesday. He also attacked French President Nicolas Sarkozy for having backed opposition rebels and accused him of having accepted Libyan funds for his election campaign.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/gaddafi-son-says-revolt-will-be-over-in-48-hours
Gaddafi forces attack rebel-held Misrata-residents
ALGIERS/TUNIS, March 16 (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces used tanks and artillery on Wednesday in an attempt to retake the city of Misrata, the last big rebel stronghold in western Libya, residents said. But rebel fighters in Misrata, on the Mediterranean coast about 200 km (130 miles) east of the Libyan capital Tripoli, said they had stalled a ground attack on the city and seized some tanks from pro-Gaddafi units. “The fighters have defeated Gaddafi’s forces from the southern and western side (of the city),” a resident, who gave his name only as Mohammed, told Reuters by telephone.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/gaddafi-forces-attack-rebel-held-misrata-residents
Latest on Libya
Troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi continue to advance in on rebel fighters. Here’s latest from Libya from Tony Birtley, Al Jazeera’s correspondent reporting from Benghazi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeo_EEZjpHg&feature=youtube_gdata
The Libyan Resistance
Ground assault on Libyan rebels
Libyan rebels deny claims that pro-Gaddafi forces have taken Ajdabiya – the last town before their headquarters in Benghazi.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-12756874
Video of damaged Gadaffi Tanks in Ajabiya (March 15)
http://feb17.info/media/video-of-damaged-gadaffi-tanks-in-ajabiya/
Rebels claim key Libyan city after assault from Qaddafi forces
While Qaddafi’s forces attacked Ajdabiya, a key crossroads in the battle for control in eastern Libya, a rebel leader said today the city remains ‘in the hands of the revolution.’
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/OmnBfiv30P8/Rebels-claim-key-Libyan-city-after-assault-from-Qaddafi-forces
Rebel Airforce destroys Gaddafi’s ships
The RAF–i.e., the rebel airforce–has destroyed two of Gaddafi’s ships. Reuters reports: RABAT, March 15 (Reuters) – An opposition Libyan news website reported on Tuesday that rebels flying a MiG 23 warplane and a helicopter sank two pro-Gaddafi warships off the eastern coast near the town of Adjabiyah.
http://pulsemedia.org/2011/03/15/rebel-airforce-destroys-gaddafis-ships/
Libyan held in uprising denies Al Qaeda link
The captive, accused by Moammar Kadafi’s government of being behind Libya’s uprising, denies being a militant. He tells foreign reporters he no longer backs the revolt. It was to be a face-to-face encounter with one of the captured Al Qaeda militants accused by Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi and his associates of being behind the uprising in this North African nation.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/iq0nYOxlJD4/la-fg-libya-islamist-20110316,0,4035772.story
Interview: Riad Kahwaji
Is there any hope of Libya’s rebels regaining the territory that they have lost to Gaddafi’s forces? Riad Kahwaji, a military analyst in Dubai, tells Al Jazeera the rebels need to resort to “guerrilla warfare tactics” in order to repel Gaddafi’s forces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM-BRLRyJl4&feature=youtube_gdata
Libyan opposition: Gaddafi running out of options
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Major General Abdul-Fattah Younis is the head of the Military Council, a faction within the Libyan opposition’s Transitional National Council.
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=24533
Humanitarian Crisis
Libyans fleeing to Egypt as Gaddafi advances – UN
GENEVA, March 15 (Reuters) – Libyans fleeing the advance of Muammar Gaddafi’s forces on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi are crossing into Egypt in growing numbers, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Sybella Wilkes said the UNHCR was prepared to provide supplies and temporary shelter for a sudden influx after Gaddafi troops forced insurgents out of the last major town before Benghazi in eastern Libya.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libyans-fleeing-to-egypt-as-gaddafi-advances-un
Somalis flee Libya’s violence
The UN refugee agency is struggling as the thousands fleeing Libya’s uprising continue to flood into temporary camps near the Libyan-Tunisian border. Hundreds are Somalis who have been caught up in the violence. But their lives have been marred with constant hardship; and many prefer to remain in refugee camps, living under harsh conditions, instead of returning home. Al Jazeera’s Omar Al Saleh reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ7fh393p7I&feature=youtube_gdata
Developments
White House defends Obama no-fly stance
WASHINGTON – The White House on Tuesday defended President Barack Obama’s reluctance to order US forces to mount a “no fly” zone over Libya, following domestic criticism over his stance. Debate over a no fly zone went on at the United Nations on Tuesday but risked being overtaken by advances by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi against opposition forces. “I do not believe that the American people would want the US president to act unilaterally in a way to engage militarily without taking careful consideration of what the consequences of that would be,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/15/white-house-defends-obama-no-fly-stance/
UN talks on Libya no-fly zone due
Negotiations are expected to begin on a draft United Nations resolution from the UK, France and Lebanon, seeking to impose a no-fly zone on Libya.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-politics-12755896
France: Arab nations on board for action against Libya
French Foreign Minister wrote on his blog that its was not enough for countries to say Gadhafi must go, they must also help opponents to his dictatorship.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/france-arab-nations-on-board-for-action-against-libya-1.349580?localLinksEnabled=false
G8 avoids Libya no-fly zone debate
Prospects of the swift establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya receded today after members of the G8 group failed to give their backing at a summit in Paris.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/g8-avoids-libya-nofly-zone-debate-2242251.html
German envoy still has queries on Libya no-fly zone
UNITED NATIONS, March 15 (Reuters) Germany’s U.N. ambassador said on Tuesday some key questions about a proposed no-fly zone in a draft Security Council resolution on Libya remained unanswered. Envoy Peter Wittig was speaking to reporters after a draft resolution providing both for a no-fly zone and for further sanctions against Libyan leaders was circulated by Britain, France and Lebanon at a meeting of the 15-nation council. “We raised questions we felt are still not fully answered, as to the Arab participation in such a measure, as to whether the implementation of such a zone would run counter to the intention of the Arab League itself, the Arab League having pointed out that there should be no foreign intervention,” Wittig said.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/german-un-envoy-says-some-key-questions-about-no-fly-zone-in-d
Ahmadinejad warns West against any intervention in Libya
MADRID: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Western powers Tuesday against imposing a no-fly zone or taking other military action in Libya. Ahmadinejad renewed his condemnation of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s bombardment of opponents in his own country, in an interview with Spanish television in Tehran. But he also told Europe and the United States to learn the lessons of the Iraq and Afghan wars, saying any armed intervention in Libya would make things worse.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=126044#axzz1GXpjjYrr
Syria dismisses “rumors” it backed Libyan regime
Syria on Tuesday dismissed allegations it had provided military support to the regime of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi which is battling a deadly insurgency. “We are not taking sides in favor of one party or the other,” said Foreign Minister Walid Muallem at a news conference.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/03/15/141693.html
Other News
Libya may review future Western oil contracts
TRIPOLI, March 15 (Reuters) – Libya’s government will honour existing contracts with Western oil companies but the crisis is likely to influence its future cooperation with them, a senior foreign ministry official said on Tuesday. “Yesterday I met with Mr Shukri Ghanem, the president of the National Oil Commission, and he told me he is still in contact with the chairmen of Eni <ENI.MI> and some American companies,” Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told Reuters in Tripoli. “We hope that they will be convinced that the security is guaranteed for everyone and they will be back here to resume their work,” he said. Asked if existing contracts could be reviewed, he said: “I don’t think so at this stage. … Maybe for new ones, for new concessions, for new contracts. Maybe what happened in the last four weeks will be reflected in the future cooperation with other countries.”
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libya-says-crisis-may-affect-future-cooperation-with-western-oil
Gaddafi ‘funded Sarkozy campaign’
France denies allegations by Col Gaddafi’s son that Libya helped finance Nicolas Sarkozy’s electoral campaign in 2007.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-europe-12760367
State: GOP budget cuts would hurt our Libya response
Republican proposals for cutting the international affairs budget would harm the U.S. ability to respond to the political changes and humanitarian crises throughout the Arab world, according to two top officials dealing with the issue. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Cairo on Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. government official to visit the region since the tide of revolutions swept across the Arab world in January. She will also visit Tunisia and meet with leaders of the Libyan opposition. One senior official from State and one from USAID who just returned from the region are warning that now is the wrong time to slash funding for diplomacy, humanitarian assistance, and refugee assistance, as House Republicans are proposing.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/03/15/state_gop_budget_cuts_would_hurt_our_libya_response
Solidarity
Protesters on roof of Libyan embassy in London
LONDON (AFP) – Protesters climbed on to the roof of the Libyan embassy in central London on Wednesday in a demonstration against Mummer Gaddafi’s regime, replacing the national flag with one used by Libyan rebels. Five young men made victory signs and held up the Libyan monarchist flag, a black, red and green standard with a crescent and star which Gaddafi has banned for more than 40 years. The flag has been used worldwide as the symbol of solidarity with rebels fighting a bloody battle with pro-regime forces in Libya.
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=24527
Analysis/Op-ed
Human Rights Watch: Events of 2 years ago sparked current uprising in Libya
GENEVA, Switzerland – Courageous Libyans defying the repressive Gaddafi regime took to the streets not a month ago, but more than two years ago. Risking death sentences and unnoticed by most of the world, a small group of families began holding weekly demonstrations in Benghazi, the city that has become the epicenter of the uprising now sweeping the nation.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/11/events-2-years-ago-sparked-current-uprising-libya
Inside Story – Who is winning the Libyan conflict?
In recent days, rebel groups have been hit hard by pro-Gaddafi forces. The situation on the ground remains uncertain, but latest reports suggest those loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libya leader, have recaptured Azzawiya – 30 km to the west of Tripoli. The frontline is now moving towards the east. Just who is winning this conflict? And are hopes that the Libyan leader would be ousted proving premature?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKM9N9jaSRk&feature=youtube_gdata
Gaddafi’s forces likely to push rebels back to Benghazi, analysts say
Libya’s military has consolidated control around Tripoli, the capital, and steadily reclaimed several cities and coastal territory that had temporarily fallen into rebel hands.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/15/AR2011031503324.html?wprss=rss_world/mideast
Europe fiddles as Libya burns | Simon Tisdall
On military intervention, there are almost as many opinions as there are EU members, and no one wants to act without the US. Disagreement between European countries over Libya has moved from the merely embarrassing to the wholly humiliating, after Germany again blocked Anglo-French no-fly zone proposals at a G8 meeting in Paris. The EU’s Libya debacle is now the foreign policy equivalent of last year’s eurozone meltdown, and similarly damaging to its global credibility and influence. Once again, Europe is being forced to confront an unpalatable truth: unless the US takes the lead, nothing gets done. Europe has not been entirely passive in the face of Muammar Gaddafi’s accelerating counter-attack on rebel forces. The EU has imposed sanctions, frozen the assets of leading figures and backed an arms embargo. It has also loudly proclaimed that Gaddafi must go. But these measures have made no appreciable difference on the ground.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/15/europe-libya-intervention-eu-us
Libya crisis: no ‘happy ending’ for Colonel Gaddafi
James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, controversially told Congress on Thursday that “over the longer term … the [Libyan] regime will prevail”. His comments provoked a furore, even prompting the White House to insist that the president did not agree.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12720643
More Than a “Personal Error of Judgment”: Seif Gaddafi and the London School of Economics
“Seif is committed to resolving contentious international and domestic issues through dialogue, debate, and peaceful negotiations.” These were the words with which Professor David Held introduced a public lecture by Seif al-Islam al-Gaddafi at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2009. Last week, British media revelled in replaying Held’s words, before cutting to Seif Gaddafi’s February 21, 2011, speech on Libyan state TV in which he predicted “rivers of blood” and vowed: “We’ll fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet.” Another Youtube video shows Gaddafi wielding an assault rifle and rallying his supporters with promises to arm them.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/916/more-than-a-personal-error-of-judgment_seif-gaddafi-and-the-london-school-of-economics
Solidarity and Intervention in Libya
The Libyan uprising is entering its fourth week. The courage and persistence of the Libyan people’s efforts to overthrow al-Qaddafi have been met with ongoing regime brutality ranging from shoot-to-kill policies to the indiscriminate use of artillery against unarmed civilians. When we last wrote on this subject, we already recognized that the situation in Libya was dire. Since that time the violence of the regime’s unhinged bid to subdue the armed insurgency has only escalated. The mounting civilian death toll resulting from regime brutality has amplified previous calls for international intervention. The Security Council unanimously issued a resolution imposing tough measures against the Libyan regime including an arms embargo, asset freeze, travel ban and a referral of the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court for investigation. More recently, the Arab League has called on the Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. The issue of a no-fly zone is only one of several proposals now being loudly advocated.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/907/solidarity-and-intervention-in-libya
Abduh al-Fallah: Elite Myths and Popular Uprisings
The refrain “al-sha‘b/yu-rîd/is-qât/al-ni-zâm” has proven resiliently mobile: it rang out in Tunisia, echoed in Tahrir, traveled west to Libya and Algeria, and east to Yemen, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. A central part of this poetic and exhilarating refrain is al-sha’b: the people. How do we understand the people today when the term has come to be at best a glorified, naïve idea and at worst a stale concept? As we witness popular mass mobilization overthrow some of the most entrenched and ostensibly stable regimes in the region, the time has come to revisit the political meaning of al-sha’b.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/910/abduh-al-fallah_elite-myths-and-popular-uprisings_
We in the Middle East have replaced humiliation with dignity | Ahmet Davutoglu
From Libya to Turkey the will of the people has revived a sense of common destiny. This is now our region. The wave of revolutions in the Arab world was spontaneous. But it also had to happen. They were necessary in order to restore the natural flow of history. In our region – west Asia and the south Mediterranean – there were two abnormalities in the last century: first, colonialism in the 1930s, 40s and 50s that divided the region into colonial entities, and severed the natural links between peoples and communities. For example, Syria was a French colony and Iraq a British one, so the historical and economic links between Damascus and Baghdad were cut.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/15/middle-east-dignity-common-destiny
