Update from Libya

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

As I've mentioned before, I think Al Jazeera (Jysmeera) is an anti-Jewish media organization. However, they cover and report Libya far more than any other media organization, so I will show some of their reporting. The reporting quality and substance are good.

One thing to mention before the videos. About a week ago the rebels cut the northern Gaddafi areas (including Tripoli) off from practically their only oil supplies coming from the South. It is speculated that they will run out of fuel in a couple of months.

Here are two videos that talk about the fighting in the Western Nafusa Mountains, which are very close to Gaddafi's capital at Tripoli.

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

Worth reading:

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/...twar&seid=auto

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...a-rebels_n.htm

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is facing dramatic shortages of fuel for his soldiers and citizens in Tripoli, and he is running out of cash to pay his forces and what is left of his government, according to the latest U.S. intelligence reports. In France, the foreign minister reported that Gadhafi is prepared to leave power.

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

A new offensive for the key oil port of Brega is said to be coming soon. If the rebels get this, then they have effectively won the war in the long run. Provided that they could keep the oil pipelines safe, they would have even more economic superiority over Gaddafi, which translates into military superiority over Gaddafi.

I had been thinking prior to this that the NLA (rebels) should swing around Brega and try to do a siege on it, since it was reported that those troops are basically a stationary force that is well-entrenched. There's no mention of that and I wonder if this will just be another assault.

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

Just to give a brief update on Libya, the freedom fighters have taken Tarwagha, a city to the East of Misrata, ending the siege of Misrata, and threatening to cut off the supply route to Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte.

In the East, the rebels have captured the residential areas of Brega and just need to take the refinery and other oil installations.

In the West, the rebels are closing in on Zawiyah, one of the first towns to be utterly crushed by Gaddafi. If they get it, Tripoli will be cut off from smugglers in Tunisia.

It's interesting that there are reports that Gaddafi has put 1,000 conscripts in Zawiyah. Do you think those conscripts actually have any say in there being there, and what is the penalty for desertion? Perhaps not only their deaths, but the murder of their families in Tripoli. Wouldn't surprise me.