Heavy Gunfire Rocks Tripoli As Libyan Rebels Advance

[Lunabelle]

Source: huffington post

TRIPOLI, Libya -- Heavy gunfire and explosions rattled the Libyan capital Saturday after rebels seized control of a major coastal city just west of Tripoli. Rebel commanders said the firing in the capital signaled the start of an attack on Moammar Gadhafi's main stronghold.

Gun battles and rounds of mortar shelling were heard clearly at the hotel where foreign correspondents stay in the capital. Explosions were heard in the area as NATO aircraft carried out heavy bombing runs after nightfall.

Col. Fadlallah Haroun, a rebel military commander in their stronghold of Benghazi said this marks the beginning of Operation Mermaid – a nickname for the capital city – an assault on Tripoli coordinated with NATO.





Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/20/libya-rebels-capture-main-square-zawiya_n_932057.html

---

The rebels are gaining position.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tx4obama]

2. The Breaking News link below is a really good one to watch for updates

http://www.breakingnews.com/topic/libya-conflict?q=libya-conflict

[Seedersandleechers]

3. Their updates are over an hour old

The only live coverage I could find was this Libyan link but it's not in English and it's most likely government contolled.





http://tvpc.tv/Channel.php?ChannelID=2960

[Tx4obama]

4. Hour old because no one has any new updates right now. Link to AJ below

Al Jazeera - Libya Live Blog
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/Libya

[alp227]

5. AP: Tunis Recognizes Libyan Rebels as Country's Rep

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia's Foreign Ministry has recognized the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people, the official Tunisian TAP news agency reported Saturday.

full http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/08/20/world/middleeast/AP-ML-Tunisia-Libya.html

[Lunabelle]

6. Libya: Rebels Say They Launched Attack On Tripoli

Source: huffington post

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- Libyan rebels said they launched their first attack on Tripoli in coordination with NATO late Saturday, and Associated Press reporters heard unusually heavy gunfire and explosions in the capital. The fighting erupted just hours after opposition fighters captured the key city of Zawiya nearby.

Gunbattles and mortar rounds were heard clearly at the hotel where foreign correspondents stay in Tripoli. NATO aircraft made heavy bombing runs after nightfall, with loud explosions booming across the city.

"We planned this operation with NATO, our Arab associates and our rebel fighters in Tripoli with commanders in Benghazi," Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the head of the rebel leadership council, told the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera. Benghazi, hundreds of miles east of Tripoli, is the rebels' de facto capital.

Abdel-Jalil they said chose to start the attack on Tripoli on the 20th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which fell on Saturday. The date marks the ancient Islamic Battle of Badr, when Muslims conquered the holy city of Mecca in A.D. 624.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/20/libya-gaddafi-tripoli_n_932286.html

---

08/20/2011 9:27 PM NATO Jets Still Over Tripoli

CNN reporter Jomana Karadsheh tweets that sounds of distant explosions continue and that NATO jets are still flying over Tripoli.

08/20/2011 11:13 PM Gaddafi's Son Appears On State TV

From Reuters:

Before dawn, state television showed Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam addressing what it called a youth conference. A roomful of supporters broke into occasional chants and applause as he declared that the rebels would be defeated.

[Lunabelle]

7. I didn't realize this was all being done with NATO

"Libyan rebels said they launched their first attack on Tripoli in coordination with NATO late Saturday"

[TheWraith]

9. "Coordination with NATO" probably means "These are our guys here, here, here, and here."

"Please don't bomb them. Also, if you could destroy the machine gun nests here, and the tanks here, that would be awesome."

[Cleita]

8. Watching Al Jazeera right now and a small contingent of

rebels are already in Tripoli. They are waiting for the heavy artillery and tanks. Ghaddafi made a speech claiming the rebels hate Libya but one of the AJ pundits said he believes the the speech was a cover while he and his family leave Libya. He said Ghaddafi doesn't have the courage to stay until the end.

[TheWraith]

10. I dunno. I think Daffy might stick it out to the end.

Of course, he won't be taken alive. If he stays, he'll die Hitler style, and his last order will probably be to say he died in battle.

[Cleita]

11. Uh Oh!. Looks like the rebel infiltrators got arrested. n/t