Gaddafi forces fire rockets at Misurata

22/06/2011| IslamWeb

Government propelled rockets have landed in the opposition-held Misurata for the first time in several weeks, signaling that the coastal city remains within range of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's artillery fire.

Although no one was injured in the attack, it dampened the relative sense of security among Misurata's residents, who had believed the siege on their city was broken after opposition forces drove out loyalist forces in mid-May.

Fierce fighting has been largely contained in Misurata's far western and eastern edges, where the opposition army is sustaining heavier casualties by the day from the better equipped and better trained Gaddafi forces.

'Sounds of artillery'

Opposition forces have been trying to advance west toward the town of Zlitan, where Gaddafi's soldiers are imposing a tight siege. Libyan television said on Wednesday that "dozens" of people were killed in Zlitan after NATO naval ships shelled the town.

The report could not be independently verified because foreign reporters have been prevented from entering Zlitan.

NATO only comments on its Libya operations the day after. If the Libyan television report is confirmed, it could further complicate the mission of the NATO-led military alliance, whose credibility has been questioned after it admitted on Sunday killing civilians in a Tripoli air strike.

An opposition spokesman called Mohammed told the Reuters news agency from Zlitan that NATO had been hitting loyalist military targets in the town on an almost daily basis. He said Gaddafi's soldiers used their artillery positions in Zlitan to fire artillery shells toward Misurata.

"We hear the sound of artillery fire every night," he said. Four opposition fighters were killed and 60 others were wounded in fighting with loyalist forces on Tuesday in Dafniya, which lies between Zlitan and Misurata. Eleven opposition fighters were killed there a day earlier.

Opposition fighters have made slow progress since NATO countries joined their fight to overthrow Gaddafi in March but are now trying to edge towards Tripoli from Misurata, east of the capital, and from the Western Mountains region to its southwest.

The going is especially difficult in Misurata.

"Gaddafi's forces have moved forward about a kilometer," Mohammed Grigda said at the field hospital in Dafniya just outside Misurata. It was impossible to verify the information but a Reuters reporter in Dafniya saw that opposition mortar positions had edged back slightly.

Gaddafi's firms sanctioned

Shelling by government forces positioned outside Misurata has been limited to neighborhoods on the edge of the city. A child was killed and two others were wounded on Monday when a rocket exploded in a house near the port in the east.

In the Western Mountains, where the opposition forces made significant gains in recent weeks, NATO launched four air strikes on Tuesday against loyalist forces outside the town of Nalut near the border with Tunisia, an opposition spokesman there said.

Gaddafi's soldiers fired 20 rockets into the town, however, no one was injured. NATO said it lost an unmanned helicopter drone over Libya on Tuesday but denied a Libyan state television report that it was a manned Apache aircraft.

"NATO confirms it has not lost any attack helicopter," NATO military spokesman Wing Commander Mike Bracken said in a statement. An "unmanned autonomous helicopter drone" had lost contact with its command centre, it said.

Gaddafi allies denounce the bombing campaign as a foreign attempt to force a change of government and seize the North African state's oil. NATO states defend the operation as a UN-mandated mission to protect Libyan civilians.

NATO admitted on Sunday its strike destroyed a house in Tripoli. Libyan officials said nine civilians died. The Libyan government said on Monday that 19 people were killed in another air strike, raising more questions about the military mission.

In a further blow to Libya's leaders, the United States on Tuesday blacklisted nine companies owned or controlled by Gaddafi's government. The sanctions prohibit US transactions with the companies, including the Arab Turkish Bank, North Africa International Bank and North Africa Commercial Bank.

The US joined Britain and France in attacking Gaddafi's forces in mid-March in a UN-authorized mission to protect civilians as his troops were marching on the opposition stronghold Benghazi.

Gaddafi had threatened to go house by house in hunting down opponents of his 41-year rule, who took to the streets in February in mass protests modeled on the uprisings that brought down the longtime leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

US parliamentarians on Wednesday will consider two bills authorizing limited military action in Libya.

Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed support for the intervention but have been angered by US President Barack Obama's refusal to seek congressional authorization, with some politicians on both sides threatening to target funding for the war.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Libyan gestures as he stands at a house hit by a rocket fired by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, in the city of Misrata, June 21, 2011.

Al-Jazeera