Opposition freedom fighters retreat from Ras Lanuf in Libya

Opposition freedom fighters fall back from oil town under rocket fire and aerial assault as Gaddafi loyalists launch major offensive.





Opposition freedom fighters have been forced to withdraw from the central port city of Ras Lanuf after Dictator Muammar Gaddafi launched a massive offensive against opposition fighting to end the Libyan leader's decades-long rule.


Pro- and anti-government forces are locked in intense fighting for control of several other cities and towns along the coastline to the east of Tripoli, including Brega and Bin Jawad, as well as in Az Zawiyah to the west of the capital.



Opposition freedom forces in Ras Lanuf, the site of a key oil installation, are now retreating from their positions and heading further east.


Opposition fighters were seen trooping into cars and trucks by the hundreds and fleeing eastwards, after coming under intense mortar and rocket fire, as well as aerial bombardment earlier in the day.


Pro-Gaddafi forces hit a natural gas installation, and bombed a civilian house and the area around a hospital, Killing innocent individuals, opposition forces said.


In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Dictator Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said the time had come for full scale military action against the rebels. 


"There is no more chance for negotiations with rebels fighting the Libyan government," he said on Thursday.


He said the military would never give up - but would fight in Libya and die in Libya.


In a press conference late on Thursday, Khalid al-Kaim, Libya's deputy foreign minister, reiterated that it was "clear" that most anti-government protesters and fighters were members of al-Qaeda.



Many had wondered in recent days about "why Gaddafi did not employed his full forces".


"Today we've seen those forces in action," Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley said.


We were caught right in the middle as his forces out-flanked, and then out-bombed and out-shot the opposition forces. There was sustained aerial and artillery and mortar bombardment, followed by a flanking movement.


"There have been a number of casualties. We've seen trucks going along the highway, but that's being shelled by Gaddafi forces all the way along. I counted ... 50 shells falling.


"We've seen trucks with wounded lying in the back of pick-ups, and I think the casualty toll is going to be high. We also saw and heard extensive ground fire coming from the beach [in the north], we think there's been a flanking movement from the beach.


"But it seems like the major offensive that we thought was going to happen is underway now."


Birtley reported that while many opposition fighters had now left the town, a "hard core" was going back to fight.


He said the attack showed the "professionalism of Gaddafi's troops, and it shows that ... he's hitting back."


Engineers at the town's oil facilities have been burning off poisonous gas in case of a direct hit on the refinery, rebels say.


"We've been defeated. They are shelling and we are running away. That means that they're taking Ras Lanuf," a rebel fighter, dressed in military fatigues who gave his name as Osama, told the AFP news agency.


"The town of Ras Lanuf has been purged of armed gangs and the green flags have been hoisted over all [government] buildings," Libyan state television reported on Thursday evening. The report said that government forces were "advancing on Benghazi".

Fierce battles Still Continues in Libya between Pro Dictator Gaddafi Forces & Opposition !

Fierce battles raged Tuesday for control of key Libyan cities in the east and west as Libya entered its fourth week of fighting and continued its descent into civil war.
In the eastern oil city of Ras Lanuf, rebels fired antiaircraft guns after Libya's air force carried out fresh raids.


Video shot by Sky News showed that fighting was continuing in Zawiya, despite government assertions that forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi controlled the oil-refining city. Hundreds of anti-government demonstrators could be seen marching in the street, many of them pumping their fists in the air. As the crackle of gunfire could be heard, the demonstrators ran toward the camera. Four men could be seen carrying a fifth, then putting him into an ambulance.


A doctor who left the city in the morning told that Gadhafi forces had fatally shot two fellow doctors in the main square and were shooting wounded civilians rather than allowing them to be treated. The city's two medical clinics were closed, he said.


Military casualties were being taken from the city by ambulance, he further said.

Opposition repulse ferocious assault by Pro Gaddafi forces - Joy for Opposition in Libya !

CNN ; Standing outside a courthouse Sunday that the Libyan opposition is using for a base of operations in the town of Misrata, a witness described a sense of jubilation against a backdrop of blood stains and rocket fragments."I'm standing in the middle of a ... battlefield," the witness told CNN by phone from Misrata after a fierce fight between rebels and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces.
People were holding their hands up, singing, chanting and cheering, he said. "Everyone is hugging everyone."


CNN is not identifying witnesses and sources for safety reasons.Videos posted on YouTube and thought to be out of Misrata showed damage to buildings and several shots of people celebrating around the opposition flag -- once being raised on a pole, and another time being waved by a man atop a charred vehicle that had a dead body inside.





A doctor at Central Misrata Hospital said 42 people were killed in the fighting -- 17 from the opposition and 25 from the pro-Gadhafi forces. Among the dead was a 3-year-old child, killed from direct fire, the doctor said. At least 85 people were wounded, the doctor said.


The fighting continued on the city's outskirts Sunday evening.


The witness described the opposition's victory in central Misrata even as people some 200 kilometers (125 miles) west, at a pro-Gadhafi demonstration in Tripoli, insisted the government had taken back the coastal central Libyan city.


After reports of the opposition successfully holding onto Misrata, east of Tripoli, Libyan state TV showed a graphic stating that "strict orders have been issued to the armed forces not to enter cities taken by terrorist gangs."


On Sunday morning, pro-Gadhafi militias converged on Misrata from three different points, trying to retake control of the city, the witness said. He saw four tanks, though other witnesses told him there were a total of six. Using heavy artillery, the ground forces and tanks headed for the courthouse operations base.


Tanks fired rockets at the building, and black smoke could be seen rising from it, he said.


The opposition couldn't match the government's weaponry, but rebels took to the streets using what weapons they had, such as machine guns. And some simply picked up whatever they could find, with some resorting to sticks, he said.


Speaking to CNN during the battle, he said, "People are willing to die for the cause," describing them as "fearless" and "amazing."
Later, after the forces had been repelled from the city center, the witness said, "I can't believe it.


"The will and the determination and dedication that people are showing here on the ground, it just makes you speechless," he said.
Describing the scene, he said, "We're talking about a rocket on the ground. We're talking about blood everywhere."


CNN could not confirm witness reports for many areas in Libya, including Misrata.
Valerie Amos, the United Nations' Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said Sunday that there was "urgent" need for humanitarian aid in Misrata because "people are dying and need help immediately." The world body has gotten reports that Libyan Red Crescent ambulances dispatched from Tripoli have been trying to get into Misrata to transport out dead and injured people.


"I call on the authorities to provide access without delay to allow aid workers to help save lives," Amos said in a statement.


source ; CNN , photo; al jazeera