por admin » Mié Mar 02, 2011 6:18 pm
Los rebeldes en Libia estan pidiendo la ayuda del extranjero, quiere que los bombardeen por el aire.
Gadhafi en un discurso de casi tres horas amenazo que miles de Libians moriran si US y las fuerzas de NATO intervienen en el conflicto.
Rebels Seek Airstrikes by Foreign Forces
By CHARLES LEVINSON in Brega, Libya, MARGARET COKER and SAM DAGHER in Tripoli and JULIAN E. BARNES in Washington
Rebel fighters drove forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi from a seaside oil town, as rebel leaders called for international airstrikes on Col. Ghadafi's positions and the Obama administration tried to lower expectations of a foreign military intervention.
Col. Gadhafi, in a nearly three-hour speech Wednesday, for the most part abandoned the bellicose rhetoric of recent speeches and offered concessions to rebels—while also warning that thousands of Libyans will die if U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces intervene in the conflict.
He also said the U.S. military would have to launch pre-emptive strikes to destroy Libya's air defenses, should President Barack Obama order the imposition of a no-fly zone over the North African country,
"Let's just call a spade a spade," Mr. Gates said. "A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya."
Convoys of rebel fighters headed toward the northern oil-refinery city of Brega Wednesday.
..But rebel leaders in Benghazi on Wednesday called on outside powers to launch tactical airstrikes on Mr. Gadhafi's positions, according to Mustafa Gherriani, a spokesman for a newly formed, self-appointed provisional government based in eastern Libya.
Col. Gadhafi in a speech to an audience that included dozens of his core supporters, ambassadors and foreign media, offered a blanket amnesty to rebels if they laid down their weapons, and said that for the time being he was willing to give negotiations that would be spearheaded by tribal elders and religious figures a chance.
Col. Gadhafi also dangled financial incentives to his opponents. He said Benghazi, the rebel-controlled eastern city, was missing out on 20 billion dinars ($16.89 billion) in development funds that had been earmarked for it.
He also said he wouldn't wait forever. "I am now leaving it to our families and relatives in the areas where these people are to resolve the problem among them one way or another, but it will not continue," he said. He said if the U.S. and its allies were determined to end his regime then he would arm Libyans for a fight until the very end.
He also denied that his regime had bombed or fired on demonstrators, and invited the United Nations to send a delegation to Libya to investigate.
European nations and Egypt launched emergency airlifts along Libya's borders Wednesday, as tens of thousands of hungry, anxious foreign workers poured into Tunisia, the Associated Press reported. More than 140,000 refugees have fled into Tunisia and Egypt and thousands more were arriving by the day.
On Wednesday morning, pro-Gadhafi forces moved into the oil refinery city of Brega, seizing the airport and oil refinery on the city's western edge, according to residents.
They took over the city's university including a strategic high point that gave them control of a central thoroughfare that splits the town and connects the country's main east-west highway to the sea.
It was the first significant mobilization and deployment of rebel volunteer fighters in eastern Libya, and the first major battle between Gadhafi loyalists and rebel fighters in the east of the country since the last of Mr. Gadhafi's forces fled eastern Libya or defected to the rebellion 10 days earlier.
Fighter jets launched airstrikes against rebel forces in Brega and in the area of the rebel-held city of Ajdabiya, home to a massive rebel-controlled arms depot.
Recruits to the Libyan rebel forces learn how to use an anti-aircraft gun at a training base in Benghazi on Tuesday.
When reports of Brega's fall to pro-Gadhafi forces reached other cities in eastern Libya early Wednesday morning, rebel fighters rallied to the cause. Brega would have been the second city to fall this week after the tiny seaside settlement of Ras Lanuf, which lies west of Brega, fell to regime forces without a fight on Sunday.
Rebel forces from Benghazi, about 200 kilometers away, and Ajdabiya, about 70 kilometers away, rushed to defend Brega. As they passed through the city of Ajdabiya, the last major rebel-held city before the front lines in Brega, crowds of well-wishers cheered them on. Young boys shoveled loaves of bread, cheese wedges, and water bottles into the passing cars' open windows.
With reinforcements, the rebel forces pushed the pro-Gadhafi fighters back toward the edge of the city, according to rebel fighters and witnesses.
Witnesses said pro-Gadhafi forces holed up in the university campus had been surrounded by rebels, and were driven out late Wednesday afternoon.
After rebels surged onto the campus to celebrate, a warplane swooped down and dropped a bomb that landed about 50 meters away from the celebration, according to witnesses. No one was wounded.
"Gadhafi is dropping bombs on his own people. He's an animal," said Nasser al-Subhy, a doctor at Brega's main city hospital.
Doctors said four dead and 13 wounded had reached the hospital as of about 4 p.m. on Wednesday, but said they expected significantly more casualties once ambulances could reach the front lines.
The latest clashes by pro-Gadhafi forces and rebels over control of rebel-held cities deepened the prospect of an extended war in the country. The ragtag army of antiregime forces in eastern Libya on Tuesday began moving west toward Tripoli, which is firmly under the control of Col. Gadhafi, and on Wednesday two U.S. warships entered the Mediterranean Sea. The U.S. on Tuesday ordered the two warships and 1,200 Marines to the waters off Libya.
A relative of a man killed in a February clash between protesters and forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi mourns at the funeral Tuesday in Benghazi.
.Mr. Gates's comments to Congress Wednesday echoed remarks on Tuesday by Marine Gen. James Mattis, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East.
"My military opinion is, sir, it would be challenging," Gen. Mattis said at a Senate hearing. "You would have to remove the air-defense capability in order to establish the no-fly zone so it—no illusions here—it would be a military operation. It wouldn't simply be telling people not to fly airplanes."
Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said if the U.S. were to try to establish a no-fly zone the military would have to assume Libyan defenses pose a serious threat. "You have to assume they are very capable until proven otherwise," Adm. Mullen said.
A no-fly zone wouldn't necessarily prevent the Libyan military from attacking the rebels or protesters, but would be intended to prevent the country's air force from attacking rebel positions or protesters.
Mr. Gates noted that the United Nations Security Council resolution on Libya hasn't authorized the use of force.