Libyan rebels face setback after refinery hit

Workers inspect a damaged power generator of the oil refinery which was hit by a grad rocket of the forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi at western Libyan city of Misrata on June 13, 2011.


Libyan rebels faced new obstacles in their campaign to march on Tripoli after shelling from Muammar Gaddafi’s forces damaged an oil refinery in the insurgent stronghold of Misrata, disrupting fuel supply lines.

A Reuters photographer in Misrata joined rebel units as they pushed their front several kilometres west yesterday to the outskirts of Zlitan, a town controlled by Gaddafi’s forces.

Any fighting over Zlitan would bring the rebellion closer to the capital Tripoli, the Libyan leader’s stronghold which lies 200km west of Misrata.

A doctor in a field hospital to the west of Libya’s third largest city said two rebels had been killed and a dozen wounded after the two sides traded heavy artillery fire.

Rebels from Misrata say tribal sensitivities prevent them from attacking Zlitan, and they are instead waiting for local inhabitants to rise up.

Late yesterday, six rockets hit generators at the refinery near Misrata port leaving them heavily damaged. An engineer on site said it was unclear how long it would take to repair.

Nato said it struck an armoured vehicle armed with anti-aircraft guns east of Tripoli today as well as a multiple rocket launcher and another anti-aircraft system.

Libyan rebels make fresh gains, Nato drops leaflets

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A Libyan rebel fighter distributes pizzas to his comrades inside a mosque taken from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, after rebels pushed several kilometres in the direction of Zlitan, west of the rebel-held port city of Misrata, June 13, 2011.

fresh gains on the western front yesterday, pushing back forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi in a string of clashes that brought them closer to the capital Tripoli.

Late yesterday, Nato resumed bombing the Libyan capital with strikes hitting the east of the city.

A Reuters correspondent in the capital heard at least three loud explosions and saw smoke in the sky and a fire. He could hear planes flying above.

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Several hundred people are feared to have drowned off Libya, after a boat carrying some 600 refugees trying to reach Europe broke up at sea on Friday. The UN's refugee agency said 16 bodies, including two babies, had been found.

Libya’s Gaddafi survives air strikes, son killed

Spokesman Mussa Ibrahim, who took foreign journalists on a guided tour: “This is not permitted by international law. It is not permitted by any moral code or principle.Libyans in Benghazi celebrate May 1, 2011, following news that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son was killed.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a Nato air strike on a Tripoli house that killed his youngest son and three grandchildren, a government spokesman said today.

Libyan officials took journalists to the house, which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely caved in in some areas, leaving mangled rods of reinforcing steel hanging down among chunks of concrete.

“What we have now is the law of the jungle,” government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a news conference. “We think now it is clear to everyone that what is happening in Libya has nothing to do with the protection of civilians.”

Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, is fighting an uprising by rebels who have seized much of the eastern part of the country. British and French-led Nato forces are permitted under a United Nations resolution to mount air attacks on Gaddafi forces to protect civilians.

Inside one part of the villa hit late on yesterday, a beige corner sofa was virtually untouched, but debris had caved in on other striped upholstered chairs. The blasts had been heard across the city late yesterday.

A table football machine stood outside in the garden in a wealthy residential area of Tripoli. Glass and debris covered the lawns, and what appeared to be an unexploded missile lay in one corner.

Nato hits Gaddafi convoy in East Libya

Libyans celebrate in Benghazi following news that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son was killed in a Nato air strike.

A Nato air strike destroyed 45 vehicles of Muammar Gaddafi’s forces after they had killed at least five civilians in fighting in two east Libyan towns, an oil official and a rebel spokesman said today.

Gaddafi forces entered the towns of Jalu and Awlijah, south of the eastern frontline near Ajdabiyah, early yesterday and opened fire, killing at least five civilians and wounding more than 10, the rebel military spokesman said.

AbdelJalil Mayouf, information manager at Agoco oil company that controls rebel-held oilfields in the area, said that after that attack a Nato air strike destroyed a convoy of 45 vehicles belonging to pro-Gaddafi forces as they left Jalu.

Libyan forces pound Misrata as 1,000 evacuated by sea

A chartered ship evacuated nearly 1,000 foreign workers and wounded Libyans from Misrata today as government artillery bombarded the besieged city that has come to symbolise the struggle against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.

“We wanted to be able to take more people out but it was not possible,” said Jeremy Haslam, who led the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) rescue mission.

“Although the exchange of fire subsided while we were boarding ... we had a very limited time to get the migrants and Libyans on board the ship and then leave.”

A rebel spokesman said bombardments pounded Misrata for a fifth day today after shelling killed 17 people and wounded about 100, mostly civilians, yesterday.

Gang-raped for two days, tortured and strangled: Libyan woman finally reveals full horrific details of attack by Gaddafi's thugs

* Iman al-Obeidi says she was held hostage by gang of 15 men, including a cousin of Colonel Gaddafi

A Libyan woman who publicly accused a gang of pro-Gaddafi militiamen - including Colonel Gaddafi's cousin - of gang-raping her has, for the first time, revealed the horrifying details of her alleged attack.

Iman al-Obeidi claimed she was forced into a militia car at a checkpoint, driven to a 'palace' and brutalised by 15 drunk men over a two-day period.

After bursting into a hotel full of foreign journalists to reveal her ordeal more than two weeks ago, the 28-year-old has been charged with slander by the Libyan government and she claims the regime is refusing to allow her to leave Tripoli to return to her family.

Interview: Iman al-Obeidi finally spoke to a CNN reporter about her ordeal after being detained by Gaddafi's troops.Ordeal: She described being raped by 15 men over two days before finally escaping

Intimidation: A Libyan government official grabs al-Obeidi as she reveals details of her attack to journalists

Scuffle: Sky News reporter Lisa Holland, bottom left, and FT journalist Charles Clover, back, attempt to protect al-Obeidi as she is threatened by government minders as she tries to tell her story

Libya: 'Woman Who Claims Rape Is Now Free' Libyan woman claims rape by 15 soldiers Women protest against attacks by Gaddafi forces Libyan woman claims rape by 15 of Gaddafi's men Libyan Woman Accuses Gadhafi Troops of Rape

Above is an update of Eman al-Obeidy, the woman who burst into the foreign press dining room on Saturday telling of her gang rape by Qaddafi's men.

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Libyan rebels rain missiles on retreating Gaddafi troops as their march west closes in on dictator's home town

* Rebels pictured firing missiles at Gaddafi forces near Bin Jawad
* Opposition forces 60 miles from dictator's home town Sirte
* Government announces ceasefire in Misrata
* RAF Tornados bomb ammunition dumps this morning
* Russia says air strikes go beyond UN mandate
* Around 1,500 migrants land in Italy in first wave of refugees

Dramatic images today showed the rebel advance up the coast of Libya, as opposition forces closed in on Colonel Gaddafi's hometown.

The rebels have fought their way to within 60 miles of Sirte, where the dictator was born, and were locked in a battle with government forces near the town of Bin Jawad.

The images show opposition forces firing missiles at government troops as smoke billows across the battlefield.

They have made a lightning advance west from their stronghold in Benghazi over the past few days, aided by international air strikes, and have now recovered all the territory lost in a pre-no-fly-zone retreat earlier this month.

In the west, Gaddafi's forces announced a cease fire in the town of Misrata this afternoon. The dictator's forces have been shelling the rebel-held city over the past days, but have also been hit hard by international air strikes.

RAF Tornados bombed ammunition dumps in the Sabah region early this morning, using Storm Shadow missiles to blow up bunkers housing ammunition intended for the forces attacking Misrata

Re-taken: Rebels celebrate in the town of Ras Lanuf. They said they would push on soon towards Gaddafi's stronghold of Sirte

On the march: Rebels are seen inside an oil terminal compound after it was retaken by rebels from Muammar Gaddafi's forces in Zueitina, 528 miles east of Tripoli

Decimated: A Libyan rebel stands near a wrecked Gaddafi tank near the East gate of Ajdabiya

March west: Rebels walk past a burning multi-rocket launcher at sunset outside the oil rich town of Ras Lanuf

Out of action: A Gaddafi tank burns near Ajdabiya

Taking cover: Rebel fighters return fire after being ambushed on the road to Sirte

Fog of war: A plume of smoke rises across the battlefield as rebels watch the fighting

Opening fire: Rebels fire missiles at pro-Gaddafi forces near the town of Bin Jawad, which was seized in the advance last night 

Remains of Gaddafi’s force smoulders near Benghazi

Muammar Gaddafi’s wrecked tanks and other army vehicles smouldered on a strategic road in east Libya today after Western powers launched air strikes that galvanised embattled rebels.

Rebels who had been driven back to their stronghold of Benghazi by the Libyan leader’s air, sea and land offensive in the past two weeks were returning in 4x4 pick-ups to the town of Ajdabiyah, the hard fought over gateway to the east.

The road the rebels drove was a scene of devastation. This correspondent counted at least 14 corpses, though the scale of the bombardment made identifying bodies difficult.

“This is all France ... Today we came through and saw the road open,” said rebel fighter Tahir Sassi, surveying one area where blackened vehicles lined the road and lamp posts were cut in two or bent over.

About 14 tanks, 20 armoured personnel carriers, two trucks with multiple rocket launchers and dozens of pick-ups — all destroyed — were visible, indicating the strength of the force sent to retake Benghazi from rebels.

One tank was a blackened wreck with its turret blown off. Another tank, a tank transporter and armoured personnel carriers smouldered. A few hundred metres (yards) ahead, munitions were still exploding as flames licked around vehicles and stores.

In between meetings on Libya, Obama continues Latin America trip in Chile

- President Obama will arrive here Monday afternoon, continuing his Latin America tour even as he and his national security staff closely monitor the situation in Libya.

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Western powers strike Libya for second night- Libyan rebels welcome air strikes, no ground troops

A rebel fighter points his gun at a suspected Gaddafi supporter as other rebels try to protect the suspected supporter, on a road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah, near Ajdabiyah, today March 21, 2011.

Libyan rebels welcome more air strikes by foreign forces against Muammar Gaddafi’s army but do not want foreign ground troops to intervene in the war, a rebel spokesman said today.

“The committee rejects foreign troops on the ground but we encourage the bombardment of Gaddafi’s army,” Ahmed El-Hasi, a spokesman for the February 17 opposition coalition, said in the eastern city of Benghazi.

The rebels’ aim was still to capture the capital Tripoli, but they wanted to achieve that without foreign offensive action, he told a news briefing.

Some Gaddafi forces pulling back, says US official

Spanish ground crew work on an F-18 jet fighter plane at the Nato air base of Decimomannu, in the southern Italian island of Sardinia, March 20, 2011. Nato ambassadors on Sunday approved an operations plan for the alliance to help enforce a UN arms embargo on Libya, a Nato statement said.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi “pulled back” from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and two other towns after UN-authorised airstrikes, a US national security official said today.

The official, who declined to be identified, said advances by Gaddafi’s forces against Benghazi, Ajdabiya and Misrata had “stalled” as a consequence of the military action by US and European forces that began on Saturday.

But he said Gaddafi’s forces remained active and the United States did not believe the Libyan leader was fulfilling promises to implement a ceasefire.

'Western military strikes unjustified' - World divided on allied action in Libya

How British forces could enforce a no-fly zone

British forces will be heavily involved in the attempt to prevent Gaddafi crushing the uprising in Libya.

Military experts predict the RAF’s Typhoon fighter jets – which are not fully deployed in Afghanistan – are likely to be among the first sent out to establish and police the no-fly zone.

The multi-role jets are capable of delivering the latest high-accuracy bombs, and their capabilities as fighter aircraft far exceed those of Gaddafi’s ageing Russian jets.

UN approve NO FLY ZONE

Libya declares immediate ceasefire but Gaddafi forces keep on bombing

* 25 people dead after bombardment of Aidabiya and Misrata
* Cameron: Tornado and Typhoon fighters on way to Libya
* Gaddafi is 'already bombing rebel stronghold of Benghazi'
* Military action against Gaddafi backed by ten votes to zero
* Libyan dictator threatens planes and ships in Mediterranean
* Country's air space now closed to all traffic ahead of attack
* Commons WILL have debate on intervention on Monday

Libya today continued to blast rebel fighters with a brutal bombardment from land and sea despite the regime claiming it had called a cease fire.

In a day of rapid developments after the UN agreed to launch air strikes, foreign minister Moussa Koussa said all fighting had stopped.

However, rebels claimed there was still shelling in the towns of Ajdabiya and Misrata, the last rebel-held city in the western half of the country. Bombing left as many as 25 people in Misrata dead

Tough talk: David Cameron (right) and Foreign Secretary William Hague leave Downing Street today after an emergency Cabinet meeting on the Libyan crisis.Warning: Gaddafi took the the airwaves last night to say 'We will make their lives hell because they are making our lives hell. They will never have peace'

UK seeks to up Gaddafi pressure

The UK and France have sought to ramp up the pressure on Col Gaddafi ahead of Friday's EU summit, saying the Libyan leader has "lost any legitimacy".