Reply #45: In Libya's remote west, rebels say they're winning but need help [View All]

[pinboy3niner]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Posted: Thursday, April 28, 2011 12:00 am


NALUT, Libya • Fresh from seizing a key border crossing from Moammar Gadhafi's forces, rebels in the rugged mountain town of Nalut said Sunday that they're winning a tough and largely unseen war in western Libya but need foreign intervention to finish the job.


The fall of a Gadhafi military post at Wazin, on Libya's southern border with Tunisia, opened an important supply route for the rebels and a safety valve for thousands of besieged civilians, who have streamed over the newly open border carrying bulging suitcases and colorful foam mattresses to seek refuge in Tunisian towns.


On a rare visit by a Western journalist to the remote area since fighting began, rebels described a swift morning shootout that ended after barely an hour, when about 100 pro-Gadhafi fighters retreated over the sandy hills into Tunisian territory. They left behind anti-aircraft weapons, rockets, automatic rifles and three pickups mounted with machine guns, which the underequipped rebels were happy to have.

...


Just after dawn they began their advance. Although they were outgunned — Gadhafi's forces had a half-dozen armed pickups, to just two for the rebels — they remained in formation and withstood barrages of gunfire, coming to within 500 yards before the loyalists fled.


"They ran off so quickly," said fighter Ayman Askar, 32, "that we couldn't even chase them."


http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_dc3e4ee1-e127-55e5-a5b4-f3e6e20946f0.html