Courtesy Of "Asia Times Online"
Introduction by Asia Times Online staff
Libyan rebels holding the strategic coastal town of Brega on Wednesday repulsed an assault by pro-Muammar Gaddafi forces, amid signs that a 17-day uprising against Gaddafi's rule is descending into full-blown civil war.
On the ground, rebels armed with AK-47 assault rifles, shotguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers faced mortar and artillery strikes by Gaddafi loyalists. In the air, low-flying MiG 23 Floggers raked the insurgents with strafing and bombing runs, according to media reports.
At the end of the day's fighting, rebel leaders said their forces had driven regime forces to Ras Lanuf, some 96 kilometers west of the battle, at a cost of 14 killed. At time of press Tripoli had released no casualty figures.
Coffins holding the bodies of rebels were on Thursday carried in processions through the streets of the eastern stronghold Ajdabiya, with crowds of angry mourners shooting guns in the air and shouting "Down with Gaddafi!"
Foreign governments and international organizations are heaping pressure on the leader to leave, following a brutal crackdown that reportedly saw him turn foreign mercenaries and fighter-jets on his own people.
While his jets were pounding Brega, Gaddafi gave a rousing, two-hour speech to loyalists in Tripoli, "We will fight until the last man and woman in defense of Libya," he said, blaming al-Qaeda for the revolt and warning of "thousands and thousands of" deaths should the US or North Atlantic Treaty Organization intervene.
In a sign of the tug-and-war battle raging for Brega, government forces on Wednesday morning claimed they had secured the oil facility, according to the Associated Press. However, rebel forces dismissed it as "psychological warfare".
On the ground and in the firing line for Asia Times Online, these photos by Derek Henry Flood gives unparalleled insight into how the battle for Brega unfolded.
A fighter departs Benghazi for the oil town of Brega front on the Gulf of Sirte to fight Qaddafi loyalist forces who are trying to retake the town’s oil installation and airport from rebels.
Rebel supporters drape themselves in the Sanussi flag, Libya’s original post-colonial flag before Colonel Mu’ammar Qaddafi took power in a coup on September 1, 1969 deposing King Idris.
A rebel fighter mans an anti-aircraft gun outside of the opposition-controlled town of Ajdabiya between Benghazi and Brega.
Rebel supporters cheer volunteer fighters heading to Brega at a police check post in the town of Ajdabiya in eastern Libya.
Fighters display shards of an aircraft that they claim to have shot down outside of Ajdabiya.
Rebel reinforcements load fresh ammunition into a truck-mounted anti-aircraft gun outside of Ajdabiya en route to the Brega front.
A lone Libyan rebel prays on the desert floor outside of Ajdabiya.
The Brega hospital’s emergency room following the rout of Qaddafi loyalist forces from the town where staff told journalists of Colonel Qaddafi’s deliberate bombardment of civilians.
Anti-regime rebels on a front line on the outskirts of Brega moments before declaring victory over government forces and their accompanying sub-Saharan mercenaries.
Libyan rebels press forward along the Mediterranean coast.
An oppostion supporter flashes the ubiquitous ‘victory’ sign passing through Brega.
A young rebel pauses in the dunes following the end of fighting.
Hundreds of Egyptian migrant workers flee the area following battle of Brega’s conclusion.
A Libyan rebel rest with his rifle and a cigarette after a long day of fighting Qaddafi-backed forces. Qaddafi-backed troops retreated to the west toward the leader’s stronghold of Sirte while exuberant rebels regrouped and planned their next move.
(Copyright 2011 Derek Henry Flood)
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