More Zawiyah fighting, Gaddafi forces use tanks: TV

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

More Zawiyah fighting, Gaddafi forces use tanks: TV
Sat Mar 5, 2011 8:02am GMT
(Reuters) - Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi fired from tanks at residential areas in the western Libyan town of Zawiyah on Saturday, as fighting in the town continued, Arabic satellite channels reported.

"Now with all the artillery, tanks and armored vehicles, we're seeing battles and killings we haven't seen in Iraq. I consider it total genocide," said one witness who spoke to Al Arabiya television.



Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE72400920110305

---

¬snip¬

Special correspondent Alex Crawford has seen ongoing battles where people have been forced to shelter in mosques.

"There is a lot of shelling by tanks and machine guns being used on the streets outside," Crawford said.

"At least two of the attacking tanks have been destroyed and some troops have been captured.

¬snip¬

"There are too many injuries for the doctors to cope with and there are reports that a hospital has been besieged," she added.

more:http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Gaddafi-Forces-Fight-On-Two-Fronts-As-Opposition-Fighters-Vow-To-Take-Control/Article/201103115946027?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15946027_Gaddafi_Forces_Fight_On_Two_Fronts_As_Opposition_Fighters_Vow_To_Take_Control

[maddezmom]

1. NYT: Qaddafi’s Militia Storms Key Town Controlled by Rebels

TRIPOLI, Libya — Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s militia stormed the rebels controlling the town of Zawiyah on Saturday morning in what two residents described as a “massacre.”

“I am watching neighbors dying unarmed in front of their homes,” one resident said in a telephone interview, with the sounds of heavy weapons and machine-gun fire in the background. The resident said the militias were using tanks and heavy artillery, attacking from both the east and west gates of the town. “I don’t know how many are being killed, but I know my neighborhood is being killed,” the resident said.

In a telephone interview a little more than three hours after the attack began, another resident said: “Everything is burning. We don’t know from which side they are shooting us — from the buildings or from the streets. People are falling everywhere.”

It was impossible to determine the number of casualties in the latest fighting. The attack started about 6 a.m., a night after Colonel Qaddafi’s government promised to bring a group of foreign journalists to see that Zawiyah, just 30 miles outside the capital, was again secure in government control.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/world/africa/06libya.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[pinboy3niner]

2. Battle was fierce and bloody, situation dire, but opposition repelled the attack

Al Jazeera English provided updates during the battle in its Live Blogs, including telephone reports from residents of the city:


(All times are local in Libya GMT+2) < (USA EST +7, PST +10) >


10:14am Conflicting reports coming in from Az Zawiyah - we're hearing just three of Gaddafi's tanks were set on fire - but that troops have now pulled out of the city, and are shelling the city of 100,000 from outside.

9:45am Gaddafi forces are shelling the town of Az Zawiyah, 40km west of Tripoli, from tanks and the sea, eyewitnesses tell Al Jazeera. One resident tells us:

With all the artillery, tanks and armoured vehicles, fierce fighting is ongoing and people are being massacred in a way that we haven't seen - even in Iraq.

I consider it a total genocide.


9:42am Hospital medics tell Al Jazeera that those injured in the streets of Az Zawiyah are being executed in front of their eyes.

Ambulances are being attacked and doctors threatened with death, we are told.


9:30am Ahmed, a resident of Az Zawiyah speaks to Al Jazeera ont he phone from the middle of the ongoing battle. Shouting to be heard over the sound of artillery and small arms fire, he tells us:

There is heavy bombing of the city by tanks and heavy weapons and mortars - the rebels are struggling to resist with very primitive means. They <invading forces> have no mercy and are very brutal. There is a large number of injured and a lot of people killed on the streets.

There is no mercy to civilians. The tanks belonging to to the regime are attacking everything indiscriminately and we have no means of defending ourselves.

There is a very tragic situation happening right now. It's a very serious situation. We were expecting the world to intervene, but they have let us down. Shelling is now coming in from all sides.

They are shooting at the Libyan citizens and we have made up our mid that we will die here. I am really sorry, we are in the middle of a battle and the shelling is very heavy - the <phone line> could break at any moment.

We have taken prisoners out of two vehicles, and we are treating them with respect. But they are shelling us, they are kiling us.

Where is the United Nations or the Arab League or the international community who have spoken about our rights or protecting us? I don't think they meant what they have said.

I am in the middle of Martyrs' Square, and we are conducting a battle. The tanks have surrounded us and they are shelling all the buildings - whether they are residential or business properties. The shelling and destruction is indiscriminate and the civilians are taking shelter in the buildings surrouding the square - but they have not given up yet.

All parts of society - all parts - whether they are professionals and farmers - are all together, supporting each other, hoping that they will be able to survive.

But it is violent, it is indiscriminate - and the number of dead and injured? I cannot count it yet. We need the world here, we need them to intervene - words are not enough. It's not a matter of oil and gas that you need you of our country - it is human lives and blood being shed - right now.

9:15am Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, speaking from Benghazi, tells us Az Zawiyah is in the hands of Gaddafi's forces - but fighting continues, we understand.


9:10am Six tanks - each carrying four Gaddafi-loyalist soldiers - have been set on fire in central Az Zawiyah, eyewitnesses tell us.

Several have been arrested, we are told.

"Most of those attacking us are mercenaries," Lufti Az-Zawi tells Al Jazeera.


9:08am Fierce fighting reported in central Az Zawiyah - with two tanks reported blown up in Suhada <Martyr's> Square.

Some security personnel from al-Gaddafi brigades have been arrested, Al Jazeera reports.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/live-blog-libya-march-5


Throughout the battle, our own Catherina provided a bird's-eye view of developments in her live thread relaying Twitter reports here:

Libyan Revolution Tweets, Day 17 (or 19*), Part 1
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x562710

[dipsydoodle]

3. battles and killings we haven't seen in Iraq ?

:sarcasm:

Toxic legacy of US assault on Fallujah 'worse than Hiroshima'

Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.

>

US Marines first besieged and bombarded Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, in April 2004 after four employees of the American security company Blackwater were killed and their bodies burned. After an eight-month stand-off, the Marines stormed the city in November using artillery and aerial bombing against rebel positions. US forces later admitted that they had employed white phosphorus as well as other munitions.

In the assault US commanders largely treated Fallujah as a free-fire zone to try to reduce casualties among their own troops. British officers were appalled by the lack of concern for civilian casualties. "During preparatory operations in the November 2004 Fallujah clearance operation, on one night over 40 155mm artillery rounds were fired into a small sector of the city," recalled Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, a British commander serving with the American forces in Baghdad.

He added that the US commander who ordered this devastating use of firepower did not consider it significant enough to mention it in his daily report to the US general in command. Dr Busby says that while he cannot identify the type of armaments used by the Marines, the extent of genetic damage suffered by inhabitants suggests the use of uranium in some form. He said: "My guess is that they used a new weapon against buildings to break through walls and kill those inside."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/toxic-legacy-of-us-assault-on-fallujah-worse-than-hiroshima-2034065.html

[maddezmom]

4. Gaddafi forces pull out of Zawiyah-rebel spokesman

Gaddafi forces pull out of Zawiyah-rebel spokesman
Sat Mar 5, 2011 9:30am GMT
Print | Single Page<-> Text <+> * Gaddafi forces flee centre of town - rebel spokesman
* Says government forces earlier fired high explosive rounds

* Says "many" killed, rebels capture two tanks

(Releads with rebels saying Gaddafi forces flee, pvs CAIRO)

By Maria Golovnina

TRIPOLI, March 5 (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi withdrew from the centre of the western town of Zawiyah on Saturday after a fierce battle with rebels, a rebel spokesman said. "They entered Zawiyah at six in the morning with heavy forces, hundreds of soldiers with tanks. Our people fought back ...We have won for now and civilians are gathering in the square," Youssef Shagan told Reuters.

Shagan said earlier Gaddafi forces had fired high explosive rounds in the centre of the town, 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital Tripoli, and rebel forces had captured two tanks.

"We see many people, many residents fleeing. There is heavy fighting right now," Youssef Shagan said by telephone.

Rebel forces still controlled pockets of the city and captured two tanks from the army in a shootout on Saturday morning, he said. Continued...

more:http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE72402K20110305

[maddezmom]

5. 1116: A Reuters correspondent in Zawiya reports that the western city has been "encircled" by pro-Ga

1116: A Reuters correspondent in Zawiya reports that the western city has been "encircled" by pro-Gaddafi forces. "There are a lot of checkpoints. They are tightening their grip on the centre," she says, adding that the troops are about 3km (1.8 miles) from the city gates. "Access to central Zawiyah is completely blocked." Rebels holding the city managed to repel an attack on Saturday morning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[pampango]

6. Zawiya, Libyan town close to Tripoli, stormed by Gaddafi's forces

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/110305/zawiyah-libya-tripoli-gaddafi

Embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi stepped up his offensive against rebel forces Saturday, attacking towns close to the capital with tanks and heavy artillery.

Gaddafi's militia stormed the town of Zawiya, roughly 30 miles west of Tripoli, at about 6 a.m. on Saturday and attacked from both the east and west. Residents said Gaddafi's forces broke through rebel lines using heavy mortar shelling and machine guns.

“I am watching neighbors dying unarmed in front of their homes,” a resident told The New York Times. “I don’t know how many are being killed, but I know my neighborhood is being killed."

Another said: “Everything is burning. We don’t know from which side they are shooting us — from the buildings or from the streets. People are falling everywhere.”