ANOTHER TYRANT – GADDAFI FALLS II
Kyaemon
liby8
Rebels enter Tripoli, crowds celebrate in streets | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/21/us-libya-idUSTRE77A2Y920110821
(Reuters) – Rebel fighters streamed into Tripoli as Muammar Gaddafi’s forces collapsed and crowds took to the streets to celebrate, tearing down posters of the Libyan leader.
video inside
A convoy of rebels entered a western neighborhood of the city, firing their weapons into the air. Rebels said the whole of the city was under their control except Gaddafi’s Bab Al-Aziziya-Jazeera stronghold, according to al-Jazeera Television.
Gaddafi made two audio addresses over state television calling on Libyans to fight off the rebels.
“I am afraid if we don’t act, they will burn Tripoli,” he said. “There will be no more water, food, electricity or freedom.”
Gaddafi, a colorful and often brutal autocrat who has ruled Libya for over 40 years, said he was breaking out weapons stores to arm the population. His spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, predicted a violent reckoning by the rebels.
“A massacre will be committed inside Tripoli if one side wins now, because the rebels have come with such hatred, such vendetta…Even if the leader leaves or steps down now, there will be a massacre.”
NATO, which has backed the rebels with a bombing campaign, said the transition of power in Libya must be peaceful.
After a six-month civil war, the fall of Tripoli came quickly, with a carefully orchestrated uprising launched on Saturday night to coincide with the advance of rebel troops on three fronts. Fighting broke out after the call to prayer from the minarets of the mosques.
Rebel National Transitional Council Coordinator Adel Dabbechi confirmed that Gaddafi’s younger son Saif Al-Islam had been captured. His eldest son Mohammed Al-Gaddafi had surrendered to rebel forces, he told Reuters.
Only five months ago Gaddafi’s forces were set to crush the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the leader warning in a television address that there would be “no mercy, no pity” for his opponents. His forces, he said, would hunt them down “district to district, street to street, house to house, room to room.”…
Slideshow: Rebels enter Tripoli, crowds celebrate in streets | Reuters.com
http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSTRE77A2Y920110821#a=1
click video
Fleeing Libyans say Gaddafi regime crumbling – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ybqNbv2Is
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Aug 12, 2011
Libya’s rebel fighters have been making advances in the west of the country in their push towards Tripoli.
Dozens of civilians have fled the Libyan capital, saying living conditions in the city have been deteriorating.
They say food and fuel are in short supply and electricity has been erratic.
Many of them they say it is only a matter of time before the government of Muammar Gaddafi falls from within.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reports from western Libya.
Reports coming in that Gaddafi has been shot dead, page 1
RT @MalikAlAbdeh: CONFIRMED: Mu’amar #Gaddafi, leader of #Libya for 42 years, has been shot DEAD in vicinity of Rixos Hotel in #Tripoli. #FF
Hopefully it’s true.
CONFIRMED: Mu’amar #Gaddafi, leader of #Libya for 42 years, has been shot DEAD in vicinity of Rixos Hotel in #Tripoli. #FF
Source is MalikAlAbdeh, Chief Editor of the Syrian pro-democracy satellite channel Barada TV… so it’s probably credible.
Good for the Libyan people.
From BBC quoting Al-Jazeera
Al-Jazeera TV is reporting that Col Muammar Gaddafi’s personal security team have surrendered and disarmed.
If Gaddafi personal security team have surrendered, it’s very possible Gaddafi is now dead…
#Libya #tripoli Libyan TV just stopped broadcasting.
The rebels are marching on Tripoli… people are cheering them as heroes… Gaddafi, if he’s not already dead, has mere hours to live.
MalikAlAbdeh: First to tweet this from on-ground sources and I can confirm: #GADDAFI IS DEAD. He was shot dead by #FF in #Tripoli. #Libya
+1
People cheering on Al-Jazeera… he might be dead for real… other rumor that he has fled Libya…
Dead or gone… or hiding…
TRIPOLI FALLS – GADDAFI DETAINED LATEST UPDATE 22 AUG 2011. – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7pHlDhK-lU
GADDAFI DETAINED LATEST UPDATE 22 AUG 2011LIVE FOOTAGE CITY CENTRE GREEN SQUARE TOOK LIVE 21 AUGUST 2011
Rebel leader: Gaddafi fall imminent – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PWiKxlxhec&feature=related
July 8 – As Libyan rebel fighters continue to advance towards Tripoli, a senior commander says they will soon liberate the capital. Nick Rowlands reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK9Q70CG3bU&feature=relmfu
Uploaded by ReutersVideo on Jul 9, 2011
Libyan rebel forces parade through the western town of Zintan, celebrating advances against Gaddafi troops, Marie-Claire Fennessy reports
Libyan Rebel Fighters Enter Tripoli *NEW* – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1WsgTLVnSY
LIBYA FALLS & GADDAFI’S SON SAIF AL-ISLAM CAPTURED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l80MS6uL0vI
SKY NEWS REPORTER REPORTING FROM TRIPOLI
23 comments
Kyaemon
August 23, 2011 at 1:40 am
Fighting rages for Libyan capital
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14611549
Picture and video inside
Libyan rebels are battling troops loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi for control of Tripoli, after they launched an assault on the capital from several directions.
Rebel commanders say they have taken control of about 80% of the capital, including the headquarters of state TV.
But fighting is still raging in parts of the city, and the rebels have not managed to find the Libyan leader.
World leaders have urged Col Gaddafi to step down. US President Obama said his 42-year rule “was coming to an end”.
The rebels were met by jubilant crowds in central Green Square, which was previously the scene of nightly pro-Gaddafi demonstrations.
They have set up checkpoints in parts of the city, and claim that reinforcements are due to arrive by boat.
But elsewhere in the city they have met stiff resistance.
A rebel spokesman said his forces came under fire from tanks emerging from the Gaddafi compound at Bab al-Azizia in western Tripoli early on Monday, and witnesses say there has been sustained gunfire in the area throughout the day. …..
Kyaemon
August 23, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Libyan rebels announced the beginning of the Tripoli battle video euronews world news – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpXuyzV7Jho
Libyan rebels say they have launched an attack on Tripoli, piling more pressure onto Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. Gunfire and explosions could be heard in the capital on Saturday night, August 21, as the opposition moved closer. (Video EuroNews)
Kyaemon
August 24, 2011 at 12:10 am
Tripoli Jubilant, Jittery Amid Resistance Pockets 8/22/2011 5:31:46 PM
Jubilation turned to uncertain disquiet late Monday in Libya’s capital, with persistent reports of random shootings in the capital, with some pockets of outright fighting. Jeff Grocott has the latest on The News Hub.
http://online.wsj.com/video/tripoli-jubilant-jittery-amid-resistance-pockets/C8D92608-4BFF-4E51-9957-B6744278AD4B.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_mpvidcar_2
Video news
Kyaemon
August 24, 2011 at 12:44 am
Pro-Gaddafi forces withdrawing towards Sirte: TV
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/23/c_131069586.htm
TRIPOLI, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are withdrawing towards the city of Sirte, Gaddafi ‘s hometown, Al-Jazerra television reported.
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NATO warplane bombs Gaddafi’s Bab al-Azizya: TV
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/23/c_131069591.htm
TRIPOLI, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — A NATO warplane bombed Muammar Gaddafi’s tightly-guarded Bab al-Azizya compound in Tripoli after rebels started to attack the fortified compound, Al-Jazeera television reported.
Pan-Arab Al-Arabiya televison said NATO fired two rockets at Bab al-Azizya, citing rebels as saying NATO already is targeting the compound.
Kyaemon
August 25, 2011 at 1:19 am
Rebels celebrate in Tripoli’s Green Square
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14641011
Rebel forces have been celebrating in Tripoli’s Green Square after storming Colonel Gaddafi’s compound in the Libyan capital.
Earlier they ransacked and looted buildings belonging to the dictator and destroyed symbols of his regime.
Lyse Doucet described the scene in Green Square, where Col Gaddafi had regularly appeared with supporters in the early days of the conflict.
McMcain: ‘Tripoli must not turn into another Baghdad’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14655514
US Senator John McCain has said the international community ‘needs to make sure that Tripoli doesn’t turn into another Baghdad where looting and mayhem ensues’.
Mr McCain said he was encouraged by the events in Tripoli and was “confident that the United States would help with the institutions of democracy”.
The battle for control of the Libyan capital Tripoli continues as Colonel Gaddafi’s loyalists put up resistance in and around his compound.
Kyaemon
August 26, 2011 at 4:26 am
Libyan Rebels Reportedly Used Tiny Canadian Surveillance Drone (August 25, 2011)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/world/africa/25canada.html?ref=africa&gwh=BEB1A881312B7EDB7BEF51B0B74C9ABF
Kyaemon
August 26, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Libyan spokesman tells TV Gaddafi can resist for years – Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/libyan-spokesman-tells-tv-gaddafi-resist-years-003607242.html
CAIRO (Reuters) – A spokesman for Muammar Gaddafi said in remarks broadcast on Wednesday that the Libyan leader was ready to resist rebels who have seized the Libyan capital Tripoli for months, or even years, and vowed to turn Libya into “volcanoes, lava and fire.”
Speaking by telephone to the satellite channels Al-Orouba and al-Rai, which broadcast together, Moussa Ibrahim also said that Gaddafi’s forces had captured four “high ranking” Qataris and one United Arab Emirates national, and said that rebel leaders would not enjoy peace if they moved to Tripoli from the eastern city of Benghazi.
Fierce fighting as rebels storm Gaddafi compound
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/fierce-fighting-as-rebels-storm-gaddafi-compound-26390406.html
VIDEO INSIDE
Fierce fighting as rebels storm Gaddafi c …
14 hrs ago – Reuters 1:44 | 6,702 views
Libyan rebels storm the fortified Tripoli compound at the seat of Muammar Gaddafi’s political power and the principal base of loyalist fighters trying to rescue his 42-year-old rule. Rough Cut …
Rebel Forces Raid Gadhafi Compound
2 hrs 5 mins ago – ABC News 5:38 | 476 views
Opposition fighters crashed through the walls of Gadhafi’s compound in Libya.
Fierce fighting as rebels storm Gaddafi compound
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/rebel-forces-raid-gadhafi-compound-26401543.html
VIDEO INSIDE
Gadhafi’s Compound Falls – WSJ.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903327904576525652544535820.html?mod=world_newsreel
TRIPOLI, Libya—Triumphant rebel fighters and thousands of ordinary Libyans stormed Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s fortress compound here Tuesday after a daylong battle, but the elusive strongman was nowhere to be found.
Antiregime troops waged fierce battles at the gates of Bab al-Aziziya, Col. Gadhafi’s longtime home and headquarters. When rebels breached one of its gates in the late afternoon, Tripoli residents joined in to cheer and embrace.
With celebratory gunfire giving way to a pandemonium of looting, rebels and residents made off with weapons, flat-screen television sets and souvenirs from the rule of their leader of four decades. One man waved an ivory staff capped with an engraved elephant head. Another made his way across the compound’s sweeping lawns, wheeling a gold-plated cocktail trolley.
“Today my people have freedom,” cried Bassem Abdel, a 27-year-old who said his brother was shot in the head by Col. Gadhafi’s forces early in the uprising. “And today, Gadhafi is homeless.”
VIDEOS INSIDE
Kyaemon
August 27, 2011 at 3:41 pm
How the Libyan rebels bought a miniature drone on the Internet
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/libyan-rebels-bought-miniature-surveillance-drone-internet-213029799.html
Although Libyan rebels have been celebrating their advance this week into the capital of Tripoli, just a few weeks ago, they had a problem. Outgunned and poorly trained, Libya’s ragtag opposition forces were the object of pitying–if not unsympathetic–reports by the journalists covering their seemingly hapless efforts to advance and hold ground against Gadhafi’s professional forces, who were better trained and better equipped.
Naturally, the rebels turned to the Internet for help. In June, members of the Libyan National Transition Council were “searching the Web,” the New York Times reports, where they found information about a surveillance drone–“essentially a tiny, four-rotor helicopter dangling a pod carrying stabilized-image day- and night-vision cameras”–made by Aeryon Labs of Waterloo, Ontario.
Few Return to Rebel-Held Brega, Libya – NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/27/world/africa/27brega.html?_r=1&hpw
BREGA, Libya — The last 50 miles of the coastal highway leading to this much-contested town in eastern Libya is littered with hundreds of burned-out tanks, trucks, military cars and assorted armored vehicles, sometimes as many as 25 in a single cluster, mangled by NATO bombings and lying at improbable angles, many already rusting despite the dry desert air, others black with char.
Rebel ground forces were not as successful, and over the past several months Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s troops repulsed them repeatedly from Brega, stubbornly guarding its strategic refinery.
In the end, though, Brega fell without much of a fight.
Offering a clue as to why the capital, Tripoli, may have fallen as quickly as it did, rebel fighters here said that as soon as word came that Colonel Qaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam had been captured in Tripoli (even though he apparently had not), the loyalist forces defending the town and its refinery simply gave up and fled.
“They don’t want to fight us anymore,” said Mohammed Abdul Aziz Saeed, a rebel from the elite Ali Hassan al-Jaber Brigade, in the forefront of the fighting. On Friday, Mr. Saeed was assigned with a half-dozen other rebels to guard the entrance to the refinery, where a liquefied petroleum gas tank has been ablaze for a week, sending thick plumes of smoke miles across the desert. It had been hit in the cross-fire as rebels advanced.
Now many of these rebels, most of them citizen soldiers with civilian jobs awaiting their return, expressed hope that it was all but over, and that they would not have to fight their way into Colonel Qaddafi’s hometown, Surt, an additional 210 miles west. “Both of us feel the same way, now,” said another rebel, Ali Sayeed, a university student. There was no sense of the stubborn fighting still going on in Tripoli.
“As soon as they get Qaddafi, it will be over,” said Maj. Hisham Mustafa, in charge of a checkpoint on the highway outside Brega. “Qaddafi and his sons,” he added….
Kyaemon
August 27, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Libya Front Moves to Gadhafi’s Town
With Strategic and Symbolic Importance, Sirte Is Focus of NATO and Rebel Push
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576531943877544516.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLENews#articleTabs%3Dslideshow
Slide show 19 pics
BBC News – Battle for Tripoli
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14610722
Key points
Libyan rebels are facing resistance from forces loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi as they fight for control of the capital, Tripoli
One of Col Gaddafi’s sons, Saif al-Islam, who rebels claimed had been arrested, has appeared in the city centre in a government military vehicle The Libyan leader’s whereabouts remain unclear
Grim Evidence of Fighting’s Toll Becomes Clearer in Libya – NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/27/world/africa/27libya.html?hpw
TRIPOLI, Libya — As the fighting died down in Tripoli on Friday, the scope and savagery of the violence during the nearly weeklong battle for control of the capital began to come into sharper focus.
Amnesty International said Friday that it had evidence that forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi had killed rebels who had been held in custody in two camps. In one camp, it said, guards killed five detainees held in solitary confinement, and in another they opened the gates, telling the rebels they were free to go, then tossed grenades and fired on the men as they tried to run for freedom.
The report, based on accounts from escaped prisoners, cited no death toll, but said that of the 160 detainees attacked, only 23 were known to have escaped.
On Thursday, there were reports that the bullet-riddled bodies of more than 30 pro-Qaddafi fighters had been found at a military encampment in central Tripoli. At least two were bound with plastic handcuffs, suggesting that they had been executed, and five of the dead were found at a field hospital.
More bodies turned up in the streets on Friday, where occasional volleys of gunfire were heard. Near Colonel Qaddafi’s abandoned citadel, Bab al-Aziziya, rebels began hauling away nine bloated bodies. The face of one was so badly decayed it appeared charred.
Maggots crawled over the torso of another.
“Only a butcher could commit a massacre like this,” said Sami Omar, a rebel.
Six were dumped near a trash receptacle, two left under a stairwell and one thrown in a large ditch, his hands apparently cuffed…..
Kyaemon
August 29, 2011 at 2:12 am
The Hunt for the Gaddafis: Street to Street with the Rebel Fighters
By Abigail Hauslohner / Tripoli Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090491,00.html
“Zenga zenga, dar dar!” [“Alley to alley, house to house.”] That was the battle cry of Muammar Gaddafi and his sons when they unleashed their forces on the rebels six months ago. Now the phrase may be coming back to haunt the Gaddafis, if they are, in fact, hiding where the rebels believe they are.
On Thursday, closing in on a string of neighborhoods in central Tripoli, rebels often moved house to house through the narrow streets of Ghabour and Abu Salim — two of Gaddafi’s last known strongholds in the Libyan capital. Taking cover behind walls and concrete barricades, groups of fighters from towns across the country dodged sniper fire and waged sporadic gun battles with often invisible assailants as they hunted for the now missing Libyan dictator and his family. “The problem is, we don’t know where Gaddafi is,” admitted Ali al-Abbas, a Swiss-Libyan dual national at midday. “But we know that a lot of the people who escaped from Bab al-Aziziyah went to Abu Salim. And they’ve waged significant resistance there. So that’s why we think he might be there.”
Bab al-Aziziyah is Gaddafi’s vast, fortified compound in central Tripoli, which in the past two days has been transformed into ripe territory for both looting and tourism by the sundry forces of the National Transitional Council, the rival of the Gaddafi regime. But the surrounding areas were long ago designed as Gaddafi defensive strongholds, the fighters say. And these streets may be where Tripoli’s longest and dirtiest battle plays out — if the worst hasn’t already come. “They’re very aggressive,” says Mohamed, a fighter who was driving out of the neighborhood at sunset, amid fierce shelling. “That means they’re fighting for something.” (See pictures of the lengthy battle for Libya.)
The Bab al-Aziziyah compound — massive on its own — was militarily and logistically run from the 77 Base across the street on Airport Road. But it was the adjacent neighborhoods of Abu Salim and Ghabour that Gaddafi used to house his extensive population of staff and supporters. And the ubiquitous green flags of the regime dotting the rooftops there provide the visual reminders — amid the sniper fire — that the battle is far from over.
But there are also signs that a ferocious battle has already been fought. Thursday marked the first day that journalists were able to enter Bab al-Aziziyah Square, a grassy traffic circle in the contested part of town, set between the compound and the 77 Base on one side, and Abu Salim and Ghabour on the other. At midday rebels set fire to a sprawling, ransacked camp that had served as a makeshift supply base and field hospital for Gaddafi loyalists in recent days. The fire, some said, served to mask the stench of decaying flesh.
And indeed, on a median near the circle, nine bloated bodies lay decomposing in the harsh sunlight. A team of ambulance workers said they believed that the bodies had been there for three days while fighting overwhelmed the area. ……
Kyaemon
August 29, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Gruesome find in Tripoli as rebels call for aid – Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/gruesome-tripoli-rebels-call-aid-033525234.html
Libyan rebels have started work to get the capital up and running again, as a gruesome find near a base of Moamer Kadhafi’s elite troops appeared to highlight the brutality of his regime.
Rebel fighters said on Saturday they had captured the base of the elite 32 Brigade, commanded by Kadhafi’s son Khamis, after a NATO airstrike and seven hours of fierce fighting.
In a building nearby an AFP correspondent saw the charred remains of some 50 people who residents said were captives killed on Tuesday with rifles and grenades.
National Transitional Council (NTC) chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil, meanwhile, promised the elusive Kadhafi and his senior aides they would be given a fair trial in Libya if they surrendered.
Speaking in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the rebellion began in February, Abdel Jalil also called for emergency humanitarian aid for the capital, stressing the need for medical supplies.
“We are calling all the humanitarian organisations and telling them that Tripoli needs medicines, first aid products and surgical material,” he told a news conference….
Kyaemon
August 29, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Inside Gaddafi’s bunker – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L1hWPGVcB0&feature=relmfu
As pro-democracy supporters gain control of cities in eastern Libya, many of Gaddafi’s properties have been ransacked and destroyed. Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland gives us a glimpse into one of his so-called palaces, on the outskirts of al-Baida.
729,849
Kyaemon
August 29, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Scott Heidler reports live from Benghazi – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urtu-oJ8fOk&NR=1
Mustafa Jalil, the chairperson of the National Transitional Council (NTC) held a press conference on Saturday. Al Jazeera’s Scott Heidler, reporting from Benghazi, gives a round up of the conference and discusses the challenges facing the NTC in returning law and order to the country.
Kyaemon
August 30, 2011 at 1:22 am
Gadhafi Family Members Reported in Algeria
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903352704576538621727278048.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond
TRIPOLI, Libya—Members of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s family were reported Monday to have arrived in Algeria, a neighbor Libyan rebels have accused of supporting the ousted regime.
The report cited Algeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry as saying the family entered the neighboring country on Monday. In a statement, the ministry said Col. Gadhafi’s wife and three Gadhafi children are in Algeria after crossing Libya-Algeria border early Monday. The statement didn’t mention Col. Gadhafi’s whereabouts.
The report came as battles raged on two sides of Sirte, the southern city that is the headquarters of Col. Gadhafi’s tribe and his regime’s last major bastion. The rebels were consolidating control of Tripoli, the capital.
Despite effectively ending his rule, the rebels have yet to find Col. Gadhafi or his family members—something that has cast a pall of lingering uncertainty over the opposition’s victory…..
……..The European Union also was seizing a foothold in Tripoli. Kristalina Georgieva, European commissioner for international aid, said Monday the EU has opened a humanitarian office to help distribute medical and other emergency aid in the Libyan capital.
The chairman of the African Union on Monday accused Libyan rebels of indiscriminately killing black people because they have confused innocent migrant workers with Gadhafi’s mercenaries. Jean Ping, speaking to reporters in Ethiopia, added this is one of the reasons the AU is refusing to recognize the National Transitional Council as Libya’s interim government.
Mr. Ping didn’t elaborate these charges, which are stronger than any that have been levied at the rebels by international rights groups. The groups have, however, expressed concern about beatings and detentions of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
Col. Gadhafi had recruited fighters from further south on the continent, but many sub-Saharan Africans are in the country as laborers.
National Transitional Council spokesman Abdel-Hafiz Ghoga denied the AU claims.
“These allegations have been made during the early days of the revolution. This never took place.”
African leaders’ skepticism about the rebels has led to questions about those who received money and arms from Col. Gadhafi in past decades were now repaying him with support. African leaders have insisted they simply don’t support regime change by force.
Survivors and human rights groups have said Gadhafi loyalists retreating from Tripoli after decades of brutal rule killed scores of detainees and arbitrarily shot civilians over the past week.
Council spokesman Mr. Ghoga said his representatives have collected names in cities rebels have liberated, resulting in a list of some 50,000 people rounded up by the Gadhafi regime since the uprising began six months ago. He said rebels freed 10,000 from prisons, leaving at least 40,000 unaccounted for.
Kyaemon
August 30, 2011 at 3:06 pm
PHOTOS: Libyan Rebels Tour The Gaddafi Family Lifestyle
Huffington Post UK First Posted: 27/8/11 13:30 GMT Updated: 27/8/11 15:06 GMT
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/08/27/big-photos-libyan-rebels-_n_938861.html?ref=mostpopular#s341128&title=Swimming_Pool
14 PICTURES
Rebels who have captured the houses of Colonel Gaddafi’s daughter Aisha Gaddafi and his son Hannibal Gaddafi took media photographers on a ‘tour’ of what they found inside on Friday.
Among the interesting finds were bottles of expensive champagne – despite the fact that alcohol was banned under Gaddafi’s regime.
The rebels also found gaudy sofas, giant paintings of sports cars and, in one case, a giant golden mermaid.
Take a look at some of the most interesting photos below.
Kyaemon
August 30, 2011 at 4:00 pm
The Remains of the Gaddafis: Clues to Their Whereabouts
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2091028,00.html
The Gaddafis were well prepared, says Saif al-Islam al-Kebi, a Tripoli resident-turned-rebel who grew up next door to the palatial, and heavily fortified residential compound of Mutassim, one of Gaddfi’s sons, and the dictator’s national security advisor. Over the course of five years in the 1990s, al-Kebi watched, mesmerized, as a team of engineers from a German company constructed a vast underground bunker beneath Mutassim’s property.
Hidden beneath an ornate lawn and gardens, guest house and mansion, is an underground warren of secret rooms and tunnels. Multiple sets of 10-inch thick metal doors secure the elaborate hideaway, which includes bunk beds with mattresses still wrapped in plastic; sitting rooms; an industrial kitchen; a laundry room; and a fully equipped hospital. “This is the main surgery room,” claims al-Kebi, marveling at the sheer volume of equipment, as he gives a tour of the place.
Kyaemon
August 30, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Libyan war ‘not over’ as Gadhafi’s son killed in battle, rebels say
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/29/libya.war/index.html?eref=time_world
Beaten Gaddafi Is NOW Prepared To Negotiate Peace
http://www.benzinga.com/general/politics/11/08/1888743/beaten-gaddafi-is-now-prepared-to-negotiate-peace
Kyaemon
August 31, 2011 at 4:14 pm
The Battle for Tripoli: Photographs by Yuri Kozyrev
http://lightbox.time.com/2011/08/30/the-battle-for-tripoli-photographs-by-yuri-kozyrev/#1
30 pictures
In Libya, the fall of a dictator came faster than anyone expected. After six months of fighting along what were often stagnated front lines, the rebels succeeded last week in overwhelming the forces of Col. Muammar Gaddafi to take control of the Libyan capital. The sudden assault sent the enigmatic 69-year-old Libyan leader and his family into hiding; his forces scattering.
And throughout Tripoli, TIME contract photographer Yuri Kozyrev and I have watched over the past week as a population celebrates its victory over a tyrant. As security improves with each night, more and more families flock into the city’s iconic Green Square—now renamed Martyrs’ Square—where Gaddafi once delivered his bombastic speeches. And in a sprawling assortment of military bases, mansions, villas and farms, curious Libyans have sifted through the surprises and the horrors left behind by a 42-year-old regime.
Among the discoveries are Gaddafi family mansions, where odd assortments of belongings have offered a rare glimpse into the luxuries, eccentricities and paranoia that defined the ruling family’s existence for more than four decades.
In the center of the capital, rebel forces broke through the gates of Gaddafi’s most notorious prison, Abu Slim, liberating thousands of mostly political prisoners to tell tales of hardship, torture and disappearance.
But other discoveries have yielded little more than overwhelming tragedies and ominous signs of a desperate regime’s intent and capabilities. After days of fighting between rebels and Gaddafi’s forces last week, residents found a city strewn with bodies—many of them allegedly killed execution style and en masse.
So far rebels and journalists have reported at least half a dozen sites where Gaddafi’s forces appeared to have carried out massacres in the final hours of their control. Many of the dead are rebels and soldier defectors who were captured and tortured before their being killed. But at least one site, where the more than 30 victims might be Gaddafi fighters or supporters, suggests that both sides may have been guilty of brutal conduct in the battle for Tripoli.
Now as the country turns toward an uncertain and perilous future, Col. Muammar Gaddafi and his sons remain at large. And as food, water and fuel shortages disrupt an already fragile peace in the capital, many wonder whether Libya will be able to save itself or whether it will follow the footsteps of a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq into civil war and chaos.
Abigail Hauslohner is a Cairo-based correspondent for TIME. Yuri Kozyrev is a contract photographer for TIME who has covered the Arab Spring since January. To see his previous work from Libya, click here.
Kyaemon
September 1, 2011 at 4:20 am
How NATO could find itself protecting Qaddafi loyalists in Libya
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2011/0831/How-NATO-could-find-itself-protecting-Qaddafi-loyalists-in-Libya
With the clock ticking on the Libyan rebels’ Saturday deadline for forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi to surrender or face attack, NATO is anxiously seeking to head off a potentially bloody military onslaught.
Not only could battles for the loyalists’ remaining strongholds draw the Atlantic alliance deeper into Libya’s civil conflict, given NATO’s mandate to protect civilian life. But any fierce fighting at this point could make a future political transition all the more difficult – complicating the alliance’s quick exit from Libya.
“Getting a quiet end to this and preventing any kind of bloodbath is definitely a big priority for NATO, and for a couple of key reasons,” says Nikolas Gvosdev, a
Not only could battles for the loyalists’ remaining strongholds draw the Atlantic alliance deeper into Libya’s civil conflict, given NATO’s mandate to protect civilian life. But any fierce fighting at this point could make a future political transition all the more difficult – complicating the alliance’s quick exit from Libya.
“Getting a quiet end to this and preventing any kind of bloodbath is definitely a big priority for NATO, and for a couple of key reasons,” says Nikolas Gvosdev, a professor of national security studies at the US Naval War College in Newport, R.I.
IN PICTURES: Rebels take Tripoli
“First, the ‘responsibility to protect’ is just as much NATO’s mandate when it’s about civilians who might be aligned with loyalist forces as the other way around, so NATO could see itself dragged into any last bloody fights,” he says.
“And second, NATO would very much like to see this wrapped up as quickly as possible with as little additional civil strife as possible,” he adds. “Not only does more fighting mean political stability is put off, but it also causes problems for NATO leaders who told their constituents the fall of Tripoli was the end of this campaign.”
Ultimatum to surrender……
Kyaemon
September 2, 2011 at 3:32 am
Libya’s problems are far from over
The fall of Moammar Kadafi, who has long dominated life in Libya, will create a dicey security situation. NATO and the U.N. will have to send economic aid and, most likely, peacekeeping troops.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-boot-libya-20110824,0,4969337.story
By Max Boot
August 24, 2011
Moammar Kadafi’s 42-year rule may be over, or nearly so, but Libya’s problems have hardly ended. Even under the best of circumstances, Libya would have a difficult time making a transition to anything approaching democratic rule. Kadafi has so dominated Libyan life with his cult of personality, centered on his bizarre Green Book, that few if any independent institutions remain. Entire generations know nothing but his despotism.
And of course this isn’t the best of circumstances. Libya has been ravaged by six months of civil war that killed tens of thousands; the exact figure is unknown and probably unknowable, but even in April estimated death tolls ranged from 10,000 to 30,000. The figure today is undoubtedly higher, as is the equally unknown toll of the wounded and maimed. Moreover, a million Libyans are estimated to have left the country as refugees. An additional 240,000 or so are internally displaced.
To take just one example of the kinds of problems that a post-Kadafi state will confront, imagine how hard it will be to resolve property disputes between returning refugees and those who occupied their homes after they left.
And Libya’s problems multiply from there. The civil war has devastated the country’s main industry: oil production. Experts estimate that it will take a couple of months before Libya can produce 500,000 barrels a day, and at least three years to get up to its 2010 output of 1.8 million barrels a day. At today’s prices (about $108 for a barrel of crude), that represents $118 billion in lost revenue over the next three years.
The task of reviving Libya’s battered economy is certain to be made harder by a dicey security situation. Even after Kadafi’s defenses began collapsing and rebels entered Tripoli, there were reports of continuing fighting and of regime die-hards. As in Iraq, some of them may well decide to wage an insurgency.
There is also the probability of fighting among rebel elements united by little more than their hatred of Kadafi. Already, in July, Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis, one of the rebel military commanders, was killed by his compatriots. The Transitional National Council will no doubt struggle to keep a lid on such seething enmities given its minimal experience in governance and its lack of loyal, trained and equipped security forces to command.
Kadafi was enough of a strongman to prevent outright warfare among Libya’s 140 tribes. But with his police state gone, the tribes may fight each other for revenues and influence, and some could ally with Islamist extremists who are also part of the rebel coalition.
Does this sketch too dark a picture? I hope so. Certainly Libya is not a complete basket case. In fact, the leaders of the Transitional National Council have shown themselves to be fairly moderate and mature; they have substantial foreign currency reserves to spend; and Libyans can take pride in the fact that they took the lead role in their own liberation…..
Kyaemon
September 9, 2011 at 10:15 am
Libya rebels consider disarming after fight ends
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2011-09/08/c_131116460.htm
BEIJING, Sept. 8 (Xinhuanet) — The war in Libya continues but already the rebel government has begun considering to disarm the very men who brought it to power.
A weeknight in the Libyan capitol Tripoli.
Young men drive around the city square firing their weapons into the air.
Mohammed Majoub is typical of these rebels.
Normally the owner of a motorbike business, he fought in almost every major battle from Misrata to Tripoli.
He was injured in the shoulder and leg but managed to capture dozens of weapons from Gaddafi soldiers including a rocket launcher in the back of his pick up.
Many of these young men also captured their weapons.
But others were simply handed them by the forces of Colonel Gaddafi.
Commander Abdullah Riani of Libyan rebels said, “He thought that all the Libyan people would support him and he spread the weapons like candy.”
Commander Abdullah Riani is now one of the many rebels participating is a scheme to collect guns from fighters no longer engaged in conflict.
These groups ask people to register their weapons and enter into negotiations to buy them back.
In a bid to distance themselves from the enforcement techniques of former regime they insist this new scheme is voluntary
He said, “We do it in a civilized, democratic way and a respectable way as a Libyan community.”
CCTV correspondent Jack Barton said, “The task of disarming this essentially civilian fighting force is going to be long and complicated, but perhaps an even greater challenge will be reintegrating these men back into normal society.”
The government has announced steps to begin recruiting many former rebels into the police and army.
But already small steps are being made by the rebels themselves to get back to normal.
These men are from the western mountains are were involved in some of the fiercest fighting for Tripoli.
With major operations at an end they’ve now put down their guns and deliver food throughout communities hit by shortages.
It is small steps like this by which the rebels truly hope to see civilians turned into rebels, turn back into civilians again.
Kyaemon
September 18, 2011 at 1:44 am
REPORTER’S BATTLE FRONT VIDEO INSIDE.
BBC News – Libya: Anti-Gaddafi fighters move into Bani Walid
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14954371

16 September 2011 Last updated at 12:25 ET
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Anti-Gaddafi fighters have renewed assaults on Bani Walid, one of the final strongholds of the ousted Libyan leader.
Gunfire and explosions have been heard around the town’s hills and valleys, 180km (110 miles) south of Tripoli, as hundreds of fighters moved in.
Reporting from the outskirts of Bani Walid The BBC’s Peter Biles says anti-Gaddafi forces are experiencing significant resistance.
Kyaemon
September 25, 2011 at 4:42 pm
YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF THE LIBYAN WAR
US, Britain and France Attack Libya (more than 40 civilians Killed) – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyh1dV2rup4&feature=related
U.S. and U.K. forces on Saturday unleashed around 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Libyan targets. U.S. Vice. Adm. William Gortney told reporters that the missiles, which struck Libya around 3 p.m. EDT, were aimed at more than 20 Libyan air-defense sites.
French Fighters Attack Qaddafi’s (Libyan) Forces: French President Sarkozy takes the lead! – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=UrOn3Ybu9Eg
52,052 
Mar 19, 2011
Nicholas Sarkozy, “Our planes preventing attacks.” French jet fighters are doing the work of the world in Libya. The new leader of the western world, of the free world, President Sarkozy, is doing what a leader does, and that is to lead. It has been a long run, but the leadership of the United States is a thing of the past and we have President Obama to thank for that. Thank you Mr. President. Thank you for taking this burden off of my country’s shoulders. Now we can just sit back and let the French do for the world what the Americans have never been able to do. What that is, I’m not sure, but it is apparent that a lot of people in the United States and in the world think that the United States has not done a good job at leading. So we leave it all to you France; good luck with that leadership role.
Rejoicing in Libya’s Benghazi – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2HLKemsOP4&feature=related
46,957
Pro-democracy fighters have been celebrating in the second Libyan city of Benghazi after French jets demolished Muammar Gaddafi’s heavy armour that was heading their way. Al Jazeera’s James Bays visited the site of the attack to file this report. (Mar 20, 2011)
Mission Libya: Video of F16 fighters & A10 tank busters at US base in Italy – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=VeW8ZL9VyNU
More NATO jets took off from Aviano airforce base in northern Italy on Tuesday as sorties over skies of Libya continued in a NATO-led coalition airstrikes against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime. US F16 fighter jets along with A10 jets, took off early morning on Tuesday, as more planes returned to the airforce base upon the finish of the nights raids.
Target Libya: Video of French fighter jets headed for Benghazi – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6IjY1JQto4&feature=relmfu
A French fighter jet fired on a Libyan military vehicle, the first reported offensive action in a international military operation against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s forces, a French defence official said on Saturday. A French defence ministry spokesman said the strike happened at 1645 GMT on Saturday. He said the target was confirmed as a military vehicle, but it was not clear what kind. No hostile fire on the French jet has been reported, the spokesman said.
French fighter jets over Libya – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihA0bbN4C-8&feature=relmfu
Video shows Libya army ‘executions’ – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7QwHffIJaU&feature=related
Al Jazeera has received pictures that purportedly show Libyan army officers killed for refusing to fire on the rebels.
Libya rebels battle Gaddafi loyalists – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Jr1tm9uMFq4
Anti-government fighters in the western Libyan town of Az Zawiyah have fought off forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan president, pushing them from the town. But the limited effectiveness of Gadaffi’s forces and the overall disorganisation of the rebels have led largely to a stalemate situation.
Rebel forces enlist to fight Gaddafi – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXUtOEDbjzI&feature=relmfu
Abdul-Fatah Younis was formerly Libya’s interior minister and head of the Libyan Special Forces. Having renounced both his posts last week, he has become one of hundreds of Libyans who have taken up arms to fight Muammar Gaddafi.