Rebels were rattling the gates of oil town Brega on Friday as they advance in eastern Libya and pushing an offensive at Tuarga in the west, almost six months after rising up against strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
They are also pushing forward in the western Nafusa mountains against Gaddafi's forces, which a top NATO commander said were no longer able to launch a credible military offensive.
The rebels, inspired by revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, launched popular protests against Gaddafi on February 15. They vowed that in just a 'a few days' they plan to retake the strategic oil hub of Brega, nestled on the Gulf of Syrte.
Rebels, backed by NATO helicopters, have tried for the past three weeks to seize the vital port 240 kilometres southwest of their eastern stronghold Benghazi.
By late Thursday, after a day of fighting, the rebels said they had taken control of one of three residential zones in Brega.
'Every day, we are gaining ground. We are at the entrance of the city. Some of our fighters have even got inside the residential area,' said Fawzi Bukatif, a civil engineer and a top commander of the insurrection.
In Brussels, a NATO operations report said that, among other targets in the country, air strikes had hit an armed vehicle, a multiple rocket launcher and an artillery piece in the vicinity of Brega on Thursday.
Meanwhile, rebels from Misrata are on the offensive against Gaddafi's troops in the town of Tuarga in an effort to end the barrage of missiles hitting the western town almost daily.
Commanders and fighters said the rebels had pushed into the centre of Tuarga, around 40 kilometres south of Misrata on Thursday.
'They are firing rockets into Misrata every day,' said Tareq, a 26-year-old fighter.
'Today is the day we stop them; today we moved inside Tuarga,' he said on Thursday.
NATO had softened the ground for the rebels overnight on Wednesday, hitting three command and control nodes and two military storage facilities in Tuarga.
After that starting gun Hajj Ali, commander of the Taliq Freedom Brigade—which stopped Gaddafi forces reaching Misrata's port in earlier battles — said rebel forces were moving into the centre of Tuarga in a pincer from the west and east.
The rebels hope to cut of supply lines to the town and disrupt rocket positions, but Ali said they were moving cautiously.
'We have to be careful. It does not look like they have hostages, but there are a lot of snipers,' he said.
On Thursday evening, there were scenes of jubilation in Misrata over news that the offensive had been successful in reaching the town.
Car horns blared and tracer fire was shot into the air in celebration.
But rebel officials admitted there was still some fighting to do.
NATO was authorised in March by UN Security Council resolution 1973 to defend Libya's civilian population from attacks by Colonel Gaddafi's regime, which faces a popular revolt after 42 years in power.
The alliance's top Libya commander, Canada's Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, said the air strikes had affected Gaddafi's military capabilities.
'The Gaddafi regime's forces continue to be weakened, both in strength and their will to fight,' he said, speaking from his Italian headquarters.
Source : New Age
