It was unclear who was doing the shooting, which started
just before daybreak, or what had caused it. Machine gun volleys, some of them
heavy calibre, reverberated around central Tripoli along with ambulance sirens,
pro-Qaddafi chants, and a cacophony of car horns as vehicles sped through the
vicinity.
Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim denied any fighting was
under way in the capital, saying the gunfire was to mark the army’s recapture
of several cities from rebel forces.
“These are celebrations because government forces have taken
control of all areas to Benghazi and are in the process of taking control of
Benghazi,” Ibrahim said, referring to Libya’s rebel-controlled second largest
city situated in the far east.
A rebel spokesman in eastern Libya said, however, that
insurgents were still advancing on the central coastal city of Sirte, Qaddafi’s
hometown which lies hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the west of the rebel
stronghold of Benghazi.
“We have moved on to the offensive and we are near Sirte
now,” Col. Lamine Abdelwahabin of Benghazi’s rebel military committee told
Reuters there.
State television also said government forces had retaken the
important coastal cities of Zawiyah and Misrata, to the immediate west and east
of Tripoli. A resident in Misrata said the city was still in rebel hands.
As of Saturday night, Libyan rebels had dug into positions
in Zawiyah after withstanding two armored assaults by government forces. It was
not possible to reach anyone in the town early on Sunday morning.
Salem Ghazy, a Tripoli businessman, was part of a group of
men, some of them security forces and others civilians, who were firing into
the air from automatic weapons in Tripoli and brandishing posters of Qaddafi.
“Libya is united. We will fight these forces that are trying
to ruin the country. These forces are backed by outside powers,” he said.
A resident near the central Green Square said: “They are
shooting in celebration. It’s because they said the towns where the rebels have
been fighting have been liberated.”
Ibrahim denied there was any fighting in Tripoli.
“Everything is safe. Tripoli is 100 percent under control,” he said, while
adding: “I would like to advise not to go there for your safety.”
Rebel commander Abdelwahabin said most people in Tripoli
opposed Qaddafi. “All Libyans are unanimous about overthrowing Qaddafi, even in
Tripoli, but they are unable to move there as all the security forces are
dressed in civilian clothing, mixing with anyone trying to protest,” he said.
A tense calm settled over the western town of Zawiyah after
nightfall on Saturday, with rifle-toting insurgents on rooftops and manning
checkpoints on streets leading into the center.
The rebels said they were bracing for another tank and
artillery attack by government forces on Sunday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim had told reporters late
on Saturday that Zawiyah was “quiet and peaceful. “We hope by tomorrow morning
life will be back to normal.”
A doctor in Zawiyah, some 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli,
said at least 30 people, mostly civilians, were killed during fighting on
Saturday that wrecked the town center, raising to at least 60 the death toll
from two days of battles.
Almost 600 km (400 miles) to the east along Libya’s
Mediterranean coast, insurgents said they took the town of Bin Jawad on
Saturday, on the heels of seizing the oil port of Ras Lanuf, and were thrusting
westwards toward Sirte.
Exultant after asserting control over much of the east of
the vast oil-exporting North African state in a revolt against the flamboyant
autocrat Qaddafi, some rebels said an assault on Sirte was imminent.
“If (rebels) can expand down into the Gulf of Sirte ...
they’ve got a very good shot at independence at the least — or maybe even
overturning him at the most,” said Peter Zeihan, analyst with the US -based
Stratfor intelligence newsletter.
But others were wary of the limitations of an undisciplined
rebel force made up of soldiers who have bolted from Qaddafi’s ranks and
volunteers who have more enthusiasm than experience.
Where many eastern towns have fallen with scant resistance, Sirte
is unlikely to be a pushover. It has long received hefty subsidies from
Qaddafi, who liked to host Arab and other international conferences in the
coastal city.
Sirte also hosts a major air base and significant military
forces loyal to Qaddafi and the Sirte basin is home to a large part of Libya’s
oil reserves.
Britain’s Sunday Times reported that rebels had seized a
British SAS special forces unit of up to eight soldiers escorting a junior
diplomat in eastern Libya on a secret diplomatic mission to make contact with
opposition leaders.
The SAS intervention apparently angered opposition figures
who fear Qaddafi could use any evidence of Western military intervention to
sway patriotic support away from the uprising, according to the London paper.
The report could not immediately be confirmed.
In a French newspaper interview, Qaddafi said he was
embroiled in a fight against Islamist terrorism and expressed dismay at the
absence of support from abroad.
“I am surprised that nobody understands that this is a fight
against terrorism,” Qaddafi told le Journal du Dimanche.
“Our security services cooperate. We have helped you a lot
these past few years. So why is it that when we are in a fight against
terrorism here in Libya no one helps us in return?“
Western leaders have denounced what they call Qaddafi’s
brutal response to the uprising, and the International Criminal Court said he
and his inner circle face investigation for alleged targeting of civilians by
his security forces.
But the opposition, while assembling an inspired fighting
force, has failed to produce a convincingly clear leadership, a weakness
Qaddafi hopes to exploit as the struggle continues.
The International Energy Agency said the revolt had blocked
about 60 percent of Libya’s 1.6 million bpd (barrels per day) oil output. The
drop, due largely to the flight of thousands of foreign oil workers, will
batter the economy and have already jacked up crude prices abroad.
