A tale of two fronts in Libya.
- 13 years ago
Preparing for battle in Sirte.
Interim government forces brace for the fight inside former leader Muammar Gaddafi's hometown.
They head into battle after a Gaddafi spokesman said overnight NATO airstrikes had killed 354 people in a residential building and hotel.
Fighters loyal to the interim government say they are slowly advancing into the city, where there are reports of street to streets fighting.
Gaddafi spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told Reuters said Gaddafi was personally directing loyalist fighters who are fending off provisional government forces at his remaining strongholds
Anti-Gaddafi forces say they will prevail in the fight.
SOUNDBITE: Libyan Fighter Hamed Hassan, saying: (English):
"We are in the heart of Sirte now - the situation is good - we will win."
But it is a fight that continues to come with a cost.
Outside of Bani Walid anti-Gaddafi forces also prepare to head back into battle. On Friday they met stiff resistance inside a town that remains loyal to the former Libyan leader.
That was a serious setback to a new government trying to exert its control over all of Libya and capture remaining bastions of the man who ruled it for 42 years.
Late on Saturday morning, NTC reinforcements began to arrive from around Libya and fighters say another 1,000 men from Tripoli and other parts of the country were coming
On Saturday fighters again met stiff resistance from Gaddafi supporters.
The wounded pour into a field hospital.
Nearly four weeks after the rebel coalition overran Gaddafi's capital Tripoli, the war is not over.
Libya's new leaders say they will have no timetable for drawing up a democratic constitution and holding elections until all of Libya is "liberated".
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters
Interim government forces brace for the fight inside former leader Muammar Gaddafi's hometown.
They head into battle after a Gaddafi spokesman said overnight NATO airstrikes had killed 354 people in a residential building and hotel.
Fighters loyal to the interim government say they are slowly advancing into the city, where there are reports of street to streets fighting.
Gaddafi spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told Reuters said Gaddafi was personally directing loyalist fighters who are fending off provisional government forces at his remaining strongholds
Anti-Gaddafi forces say they will prevail in the fight.
SOUNDBITE: Libyan Fighter Hamed Hassan, saying: (English):
"We are in the heart of Sirte now - the situation is good - we will win."
But it is a fight that continues to come with a cost.
Outside of Bani Walid anti-Gaddafi forces also prepare to head back into battle. On Friday they met stiff resistance inside a town that remains loyal to the former Libyan leader.
That was a serious setback to a new government trying to exert its control over all of Libya and capture remaining bastions of the man who ruled it for 42 years.
Late on Saturday morning, NTC reinforcements began to arrive from around Libya and fighters say another 1,000 men from Tripoli and other parts of the country were coming
On Saturday fighters again met stiff resistance from Gaddafi supporters.
The wounded pour into a field hospital.
Nearly four weeks after the rebel coalition overran Gaddafi's capital Tripoli, the war is not over.
Libya's new leaders say they will have no timetable for drawing up a democratic constitution and holding elections until all of Libya is "liberated".
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters