Victory for Libyan rebels after change of strategy

In a bold move, opposition units switched from besieging the town of Bani Walid, 90 miles south of Tripoli, to launch a dawn assault against Sirte, Muammar al-Gaddafi’s birthplace and his last coastal stronghold.

More than 1,000 rebel fighters took part in the assault, with spearheads advancing along the coastal highway while other units protected the flanks north and south.

Rebel intelligence officer Noraldien Elmaiel said the priority was to capture Sirte rather than other strongholds because, while Gaddafi remains in control, the coastal highway is blocked, effectively cutting Libya in two.

Speaking outside the operations room of rebel forces in Misrata, Mr Elmaiel said even rebel units were surprised by the tenacity of loyalist forces, who continue to fight three weeks after opposition forces entered the Libyan capital.

“Their life is his life,” he told The Scotsman. “He produced for them a lot of things, cars and houses and money, it was a way of life for them. If he loses, they will lose everything.”

He predicted that resistance would not cease until either every loyalist town had been overrun, or Gaddafi himself was either killed or captured.

For now, a war that most thought over when rebels captured Tripoli grinds on across a vast stretch of southern Libya. At Kilometer Sixty, a dust-blown traffic junction that is the further point journalists can travel towards the Sirte front, pick-up trucks and truck mounted rocket launchers were yesterday rumbling to and from the frontline.

Bearded fighter Mustafa Diab, said the advance – which had got within 30 miles of Sirte – had run into fierce resistance. “There are some [loyalist] positions ahead of us, but we can’t reach them, they are hitting us with the artillery and grads [rockets].

Also arriving at Kilometer Sixty were cars and pick-up trucks with refugees, among them a group of women from the newly liberated village of Al Hayshah, where inhabitants had been trapped by Gaddafi forces for several weeks.

Five rebels were killed and a stream of ambulances ferried wounded from the front, but rebels say they counted the offensive a success.

The attention of recent days on Bani Walid, 90 miles south of Tripoli, distracted pro-Gaddafi commanders who reportedly reinforced positions around the desert town.

Rebels in Bani Walid said Gaddafi forces were now concentrated in the central market area – an account backed up by a resident named Khalifa Telisi who had telephoned a family in the town.

“There is still resistance from the central market. All other parts of Bani Walid have been liberated,” Mr Telisi said.

“Another revolutionary battalion is coming in from the south. Gaddafi forces are scattered. It is a matter of hours now.”

A pro-Gaddafi local radio station appealed for the city’s 100,000 people to fight to the death.

“We urge the people of Bani Walid to defend the city against the rats and armed gangs. Don’t back down. Fight to the death. We are waiting for you.”