British aircraft fired cruise missiles at a headquarters bunker overnight in Gaddafi’s birthplace of Sirte.
A city beyond rebel control, on the Mediterranean coast 450 km (300 miles) east of Tripoli, some believe he might seek refuge there among his tribesmen. Loyalist forces also still hold positions deep in the Sahara desert.
“Sirte remains an operating base from which pro-Gaddafi troops project hostile forces against Misrata and Tripoli,” a NATO official said, adding that its forces had also acted to stop a column of 29 vehicles heading west toward Misrata.
In Benghazi, rebel military spokesman Ahmed Bani said the bombing in Sirte was aimed at ammunition stores and depots for Scud missiles. “Maybe the mercenaries will run away,” he said, referring to suggestions Gaddafi’s forces include hired fighters from Chad and other sub-Saharan African countries.
“After this bombing, maybe the people there will try to rise up.” he added, saying TNC commanders were also in contact with tribal chiefs in Sirte, hoping to avoid bloodshed.
Such negotiations will be a major challenge across the country for Libya’s new rulers as they try to meet expectations of young men now bearing arms and to heal ethnic, tribal and other divisions that have been exacerbated by civil war.
This writer asks your indulgence as he screams objection to the wholesale killing tactics of the NATO military alliance. There is just no way any reasonable person can say that innocent civilians are not being slaughtered wholesale by the powerful cruise missiles that NATO is using to bomb the free people of SIRTE into submission. It does not matter to NATO that the free people of Sirte do not want the European imposed Rebel government.
Progressive Politics 