The Sydney Morning Herald
Rebels close to Gaddafi bastion
David Kirkpatrick, Tripoli
US AND European bombs are battering Muammar Gaddafi's most important bastion of support, in his tribal home of Sirt, as rebels close in on the city.
Their swift advance, recapturing within 20 hours two important oil refineries and a strategic port, set the stage for a battle in Sirt that could help decide the war for Libya.
There were unconfirmed reports yesterday that rebel forces had routed pro-Gaddafi defenders in Sirt, but there was no corroboration. Even so, rebels in Benghazi, the birthplace of the uprising, drove through the streets firing weapons into the air to celebrate.
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The ease of the rebel march west along the coast underscored the essential role of Western air strikes, now focused mainly on Colonel Gaddafi's ground troops. But how the poorly equipped and disorganised rebel forces will fare against the garrison in Sirt, where air cover may be less useful, remains open to question.
As Western warplanes again bombed sites around Tripoli and other Gaddafi strongholds, NATO agreed at a meeting in Brussels to take over the mission. The decision effectively relieved the United States of leading the fight, and ended a week of squabbling.
In interviews last weekend, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left open how long the US commitment would remain. A Pentagon official said on Sunday that the US was already beginning to reduce the number of its warships involved in the operation. The official said that at least one of the submarines that had fired Tomahawk missiles into Libya had left the area, and that a further naval pullout was likely.
Rebel fighters met little resistance as they pushed past the oil towns of Brega and Ras Lanuf, recapturing the two important refineries.
''There wasn't resistance,'' said Faraj Sheydani, 42, a rebel fighter interviewed on his return from the front. ''There was no one in front of us. There's no fighting.''
The explosions of about 10 large bombs near the city were heard in downtown Tripoli on Sunday night, followed by barrages of anti-aircraft fire and cascades of tracers.
In western Libya, however, the rebel-held city of Misrata was still under siege by loyalist forces. By Sunday evening, rebels were again reporting street fighting in the centre of the city as well as renewed shelling and mortar fire from Gaddafi tanks and artillery.
NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.smh.com.au/world/rebels-close-to-gaddafi-bastion-20110328-1cdcu.html
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