World

Libyan Rebels Storm Gadhafi Compound

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan rebels stormed Moammar Gadhafi’s main military compound in Tripoli Tuesday after fierce fighting with forces loyal to his regime that rocked the capital as the longtime leader refused to surrender despite the stunning advances by opposition forces.

Fighters poured into the area by the hundreds, carting off boxes of ammunition and firing weapons in the air in celebration. Several young men placed a head seized from a statue of Gadhafi under their feet and kicked it. One happily lifted it above his head while his comrades danced and yelled joyfully around him.

There was heavy fighting before the rebels broke through the green gates of the compound and shooting broke out from other parts of the large, sprawling complex. The body of a slain Gadhafi fighter with a gaping head wound was sprawled on the floor of one of two tents that had been used for pro-regime protests. The other tent was partially on fire.

Despite the euphoria, Gadhafi’s whereabouts remained unknown.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Russian head of the World Chess Federation who has known Gadhafi for year, said he spoke Tuesday by telephone with the Libyan leader who told him that he was “alive and well and still in Tripoli.” The report couldn’t be independently confirmed.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday that it was clear the rebels were winning “important successes … but this is not yet an ordered or secure situation.”

“They have fought their way to the gates of Gadhafi’s compound, that is a historic achievement,” Hague told Britain’s Sky News. “It’s not over yet, but we are in the death throes of a despicable regime.”

The heavily fortified complex, which has been heavily damaged by NATO airstrikes for five of the six months since the anti-regime uprising began, is the most defining symbol of Gadhafi’s nearly 42-year rule and its occupation, a day after the rebels swept into the Libyan capital with stunning speed, comes as the opposition faced pockets of resistance and fighting rocked the capital.

Ayman Coumi, 21, joined a crowd walking out with boxes of weapons and ammunition; others drove out with trucks mounted with anti-aircraft weapons.

Other rebels swarmed around Gadhafi’s former residence, which had been hit by a 1986 U.S. airstrike in retaliation for a bombing attack on a German disco in which two U.S. servicemen were killed. One man climbed onto a sculpture of a clenched fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet that had been erected after the strike.

Wael Abu Khris, 35, a shipping agent turned rebel fighter from Tripoli, was walking around the compound after the battle, carrying his Kalashnikov.

“I feel great satisfaction. We are at least free of this dictator. Libya is free at last. No more Gadhafi! It is time for a new Libya that will shine and go forth.”

Libyan Rebels Storm Gadhafi Compound

Abdel-Aziz Shafiya, 19, walked down one of the main roads of the compound with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in one hand and a Kalashnikov in the other. The teenager, who is from the embattled city of Misrata, said he felt “an explosion of joy inside.”

“I lost friends and relatives and now I can walk into Gadhafi’s house,” he said. “Many of my friends have died and now all of that meant something.”

It was not immediately clear whether Gadhafi or members of his immediate family were in the compound when it was breached, but the ferocity of the battle led many to speculate that the maverick leader may have been inside.

Gadhafi’s former right-hand man Abdel-Salam Jalloud, who defected earlier this month, told Al-Jazeera television that he thought the Libyan leader was moving around the outskirts of Tripoli, taking shelter at private homes, small hotels and mosques. Jalloud defected this month.

The battle for Bab al-Azizya, in which mortars, heavy machine-guns and anti-aircraft guns were used, came hours after Gadhafi’s son and heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, made a dramatic appearance in Tripoli as a free man, thwarting Libyan rebel claims he had been captured and rallying supporters.

His surprise appearance underlined the potential for Gadhafi to strike back even as his grip on power seemed to be slipping fast.

The fighting began hours after Seif al-Islam, with a full beard and wearing an olive-green T-shirt and camouflage trousers, took a group of foreign journalists Bab al-Aziziya as part of a tour aimed at showing the regime still has support. At least a hundred men were waiting in lines for guns being distributed to volunteers to defend the regime. Seif al-Islam shook hands with supporters, beaming and flashing the “V” for victory sign.

“We are here. This is our country. This is our people, and we live here, and we die here,” he told AP Television News. “And we are going to win, because the people are with us. That’s why were are going to win. Look at them – look at them, in the streets, everywhere!”

It was not clear whether Gadhafi’s son, who turned up at the Rixos hotel, where about 30 foreign journalists have been staying under the close watch of regime minders, had escaped from rebel custody or never been captured in the first place.

His arrest had been announced on Monday by both the rebels and the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court, which has indicted him and his father. ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said the court never received official confirmation from Libya’s rebel authorities about the arrest.

The rebel leadership – which had said Seif al-Islam was captured without giving details on where he was held – seemed stunned. A rebel spokesman, Sadeq al-Kabir, had no explanation and could only say, “This could be all lies.”

He also said another captured Gadhafi son, Mohammed, had escaped house arrest. Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, head of the rebel National Transitional Council, announced the detention of a third Gadhafi son, al-Saadi, on Monday.

Riding in a white limousine amid a convoy of armored SUVs, Seif al-Islam took reporters on a drive through parts of the city still under the regime’s control, including Bab al-Aziziya, saying, “We are going to hit the hottest spots in Tripoli.” AP reporters were among the journalists who saw him and went on the tour.

The tour also covered the district around the Rixos hotel and streets full of armed Gadhafi backers, controlled by roadblocks, and into the Gadhafi stronghold neighborhood Bu Slim.

When asked about the ICC’s claim that he was arrested by rebels, he told reporters: “The ICC can go to hell,“ and added ”We are going to break the backbone of the rebels.”

Rebels said Monday that they controlled most of Tripoli, but they faced pockets of fierce resistance from regime loyalists firing mortars and anti-aircraft guns. Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman, who was in Tripoli, said the “danger is still there” as long as the longtime Libyan leader remains on the run.

He warned that pro-Gadhafi brigades are positioned on Tripoli’s outskirts and could “be in the middle of the city in half an hour.”

An hourlong battle also erupted close to the Rixos Hotel on Tuesday morning, according to AP reporters staying there. The hotel and the area around it are under tight regime control, with scores of heavily armed soldiers stationed just outside it.

A new bout of fighting around the Rixos took place in the afternoon, with the AP reporters saying the sound of explosions and heavy machine-gun fire was much closer than during the morning fighting. A few stray bullets hit the hotel, they said.

It was not immediately clear whether the rebel attack was aimed at capturing the hotel.

The rebels have claimed control of much of the rest of the country outside Tripoli, and the city of Sirte, Gadhafi’s hometown to the east of Tripoli, was the most important loyalist bastion to remain fully under his control.

Gadhafi’s forces fired off a short-range Scud missile Monday near Sirte – the second one fired during the six-month civil war. On Aug. 15, Libyan government forces launched one near Sirte that landed in the desert outside Brega, injuring no one.

A representative from Sirte on the rebels’ National Transitional Council told the AP on Tuesday that the situation in the city was extremely volatile because Gadhafi brigades had retreated to the city after fleeing the Brega oil terminal.

“There is no power in Sirte, we are getting in touch with the people inside only through satellite phones,” Hassan al-Daroui told the Associated Press in Benghazi.

He said that many people in Sirte had not even heard about the rebel advance into Tripoli and residents had told him that there were heavily guarded checkpoints all over the city and people were too scared to leave their homes.

“We are worried that Gadhafi wants to just kill as many people as he can before his demise,” al-Daroui said. “He knows he is finished, now he wants to bring Sirte down with him.”

Farther east from Tripoli, the rebels reported territorial gains at the expense of the regime forces. Mohammed al-Rijail, a rebel spokesman in Benghazi, said rebel fighters have advanced to al-Aqaila, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the oil port city of Ras Lanouf.

“There was no resistance and no fighting as Gadhafi forces retreated to Ras Lanouf,” he said.

The International Organization for Migration, meanwhile, said that a rescue mission to pluck 300 foreign nationals from the Libyan capital has been delayed by fighting. The Geneva-based group says an IOM-chartered ship will remain off the coast of Tripoli “until security conditions have improved and the safety of staff and migrants can be guaranteed.”

—

Associated Press writers Rami al-Shaheibi in Benghazi, Maggie Michael in Cairo and Mike Corder at The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

Comments (35)

  • tower7femacamp
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:58pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opVZJeGaWlg

    Report Post » tower7femacamp  
  • delta1776
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:23pm

    What a handy diversion ….. I really could care less !
    Just another way for NATO to waste money we don’t have.
    Let the ********** freaks thin themselves out !

    Report Post »  
  • uvgtafrnd2
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 5:59pm

    Has Gadhafi evaded capture because he shaved, showered and ditched his bathrobe???

    Report Post » uvgtafrnd2  
  • andyingle08
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 5:47pm

    So are we going to go middle eastern country hopping now and go to Syria? When does this all end? NEVER. We are being sucked in to a War against Muslims because these people hate us, it’s going to be a Perfect Storm unless we stop picking and choosing the countries we say we are helping. We just need to stop, and cut them off, drill our own damn oil so we don’t need these countries that want us dead. There is only one country that we should defend, and that is Israel, the rest hate us.
    http://www.andysrantroom.blogspot.com

    Report Post » andyingle08  
  • Carefreeflyer
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 4:37pm

    Whose government will be put in place when Libya falls? Islamic radicals have the upper hand with Sharia law. An era of darkness will take hold as instability dominates and spreads throughout the region.
    As Obama’s war drags on, he continues hiding out at his Martha’s Vineyard compound.

    Report Post » Carefreeflyer  
  • HippoNips
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:34pm

    Gaddafi is winning, that portion of the compound was bombed heavily by the US,

    There was no fight there, as you can see from the CBS propagnda interviews with “rebels that just stormed in”

    they are all standing around , most rather clean looking without any dead bodies around and not even dirty clothes, and with no weapons. A British female reporter just standing there seemingly unaffraid as if she was interviewing people at a mall instead of a spot of heavy fighting

    Gaddafi’s son, after showing the world he wasn’t captured despite the claims of ALL the MSM and confirmation from the Rebels leadership that he was, described the reality of the trap they put the rebels in.
    Gaddafi has supporters inbedded with the rebels that’s how he convinced the MSM of an alledged capture of his sons. It was all a ruse.

    Report Post »  
    • republapig
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 3:27pm

      Now we’ve got us where we want them!

      Report Post » republapig  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 3:58pm

      Funny to see all those rebels shooting into the air. Where do those bullets go when shot skyward???

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
  • matagordagreg
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:24pm

    On the FOX front page they show a rebel with an AK 47 wearing a UNICEF t-shirt.
    Makes me think the UN sent the troops in to “save the children”
    Problem is when the UN needs to save our children we will be shot at by the same UNICEF troops.

    Report Post »  
  • temple62
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:15pm

    LMFAO – All news media sources get “punked” by a third world squalor dictator! First we have him and then we don’t and it was so believable that the elusive American president wants to come out of hiding and start taking credit for an accomplishment that was not complete!

    Report Post » temple62  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:09pm

    Obama is a two- bit little radical muslim.
    Carter….betrayed the Shah and the result was a radicalized, dangerous, Iran.
    Obama betrayed Moubarrak and we are getting the Muslim brotherhood which is nothing more than a
    bunch of radical muslims like Iran.
    Obama betrays Ghadify and is getting the Muslime brotherhood radicals again.
    Obama is setting up “Irans” evrerywhere.
    Obama is dangerous and needs to be impeached now.

    Report Post »  
    • JUSTDOUGIE
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:48pm

      Muslims like to kill muslims, just like they like to kill christians & jews. Gadhafi hasn’t been found in his compound after being back stabbed by Obama, and Obama isn’t currently resting himself in the White House either, he’s on another vacation away from the place where he belongs. All just coincidence. “This mosque isn’t big enough for the two us…”

      Report Post »  
  • NotPoliticallyCorrect
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:08pm

    Wow, vacationer in cheif, you look pretty hawkish for all that dovey mouthin’ off you did during the campaign…just sayin’.

    Report Post » NotPoliticallyCorrect  
    • Rice Water
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 3:39pm

      Right on. Today’s lesson: Don’t send in a Reagan to do an Obama-sized job.

      Report Post » Rice Water  
  • daddy warbucks
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:06pm

    Original story at http://thecomingdepression.net
    Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial

    Feeling a little ‘spoon fed’? getting a little angry?

    -

    did I say NATO air strikes? how many sorties do you think the USA military was involved in? (shhhh, Obama didn’t bother with Congress on this)

    This ‘NATO’ crap sure is handy in diverting attention away from Obama and Hillary

    Report Post »  
  • daddy warbucks
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:04pm

    The simple fact is that we are now under the governance of the NEW WORLD ORDER, the UN, who it would appear to have the ability to take the U.S. and Canada to war, and without the peoples consent, who will of course have to pay for it all, again.

    Again, no rebel force against their own nation has created a central bank in the middle of a rebellion or revolution. To do so in 2 weeks time, gives STRONG credence that the rebellion was originated, and backed by foreign powers for the express effort to do so, and control the oil.

    Libya is one of the last 4 nations without a private central bank: MSNBC
    Libya has been one of the last nations in the world that had its own state run banking system, and control over its own money supply. By having this system in place, they could demand oil purchases from their oil fields to be made in Lybyan Dinar, and not the US Dollar. It also means that Libya has ensured themselves a stable economy, with little inflation and currency devaluing as most of the industrialized world has under private central banks. Source: Examiner (2)

    So a who’s who of profiteers of the – in theory – UN-sanctioned US/North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)/Arab League military operation in Libya has got to include European Union and Anglo-American Big Oil. Not to mention Wall Street – think about those billions of dollars of Libyan financial assets deposited in Western banks, and now confiscated; and of course US/EU weapons producers.

    Report Post »  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:23pm

      I agree that the whole thing was instigated and controlled by people other than Libyans, but the central bank thing isn’t why.

      It’s fairly common for rebels/revolutionaries to create their own currency and banking systems. It’s usually one of the first things done. The intention of a rebellion or revolution by definition is to overthrow the government or break off and form their own government. You don’t just wake up one day and decide to overthrow the government. There is a lot of planning and considerations that go into such a thing. One of the biggest and usually the first thing considered is what they are going to do as far as currency, banking, etc.

      A country can’t survive for five minutes in the modern world without some kind of currency and banking system.

      Report Post »  
  • KJTrail
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:04pm

    So now we have given the Muslim brotherhood and Humas legitimacy with a real country and government to run. Oh Joy! The Muslim Obama is happy, but Egypt should be afraid!!! How long will it take them to bring in sharia law?

    Report Post »  
  • KangarooJack
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:03pm

    Earthquake in VA-Washington buildings being evacuated, People out in Times Square in NY….hmmm

    Report Post » KangarooJack  
  • THREE LEFTS
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:03pm

    I cant believe we help over throw a government, but leave syria and the rest of the ditatorships in tact……i guess we only help over throw the weakest and the ones that have no natural resources to exploit…….

    Report Post »  
  • Rowgue
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:03pm

    This whole thing has been a joke from the start. The rebels don’t exist. It’s a phony group riled up trained and paid by the U.S. in order to get somebody out of power they don’t like. It‘s a sad pathetic attempt to conceal the fact that we are behind the whole thing because our spineless president doesn’t have the courage to stand up for what he believes.

    Besides our air support has done most of the work there anyway. The news just likes to cover it as if the “rebels” are doing something because they always love a heart warming story of a dictator being overthrown in a revolution.

    Report Post »  
  • carbonyes
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 1:45pm

    Obama: “They love me! They love me not! They love me! They love me not! They love me! They love me not! Gee, I wish they would get it right!” Be careful what you wish here!

    Report Post »  
  • rushyoungberg
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 1:26pm

    You do not want to make a toast in the middle of the Queen’s song. Time to put the champaign back in the fridge.

    Report Post » rushyoungberg  
  • KangarooJack
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 1:22pm

    Turn on CNN ! Those execs at CNN better PULL THAT WOMAN REPORTER OUT NOW!!!

    Report Post » KangarooJack  
  • daddy warbucks
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 1:06pm

    Watch CNN, ABC & NBC, they make it look like street dressed angry citizens are taking over Tripoli.
    Since Obama did not go to Congress for this war, the Bilderbergs are hiding things from you
    Except for the occasional tank, they show not one scene of over seven thousand NATO air sortie strikes and Special Ops on the ground ‘softening’ Gaddafi‘s defenders and opening the way for the citizen ’rebels’ to run around and get filmed for a very naive world.

    Gaddafi was also in process of going on a gold standard (a huge no no to central banks), think of other ‘regime changes’ in that region.

    Excerpt:

    Since many do not know the difference between a state central bank, and a private central bank, we are doing that research first here. Indeed, the US had a state central bank until 1913, when it transferred power to a private cabal of banks which became the Federal Reserve. Libya has a state run central bank, which has complete control over its currency. The new central bank, created by the ‘rebels’ in Benghazi, is controlled by private banks, particularly European ones.

    Why central banking in Libya?

    The rebel group known as the Transitional National Council released a statement last week announcing that they have designated the Central Bank of Benghazi as a monetary authority competent in monetary policies in Libya, and that they have appointed a governor to the Central Bank of Libya, with a temporary headquarters in Benghazi, according to Bloomberg.

    Robe

    Report Post »  
  • FLyoverman
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 12:20pm

    Islamofacism is on the march with the assistance of American military power. Billiant!

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 11:59am

    Well, now we see what the future unfolds in the way of a new despotic govenrment of terrorists backed by petro-dollars and Sharia constitution within Libya.

    Congradulations Mr Obama, you have gotten your goal achieved there; now the whirlwind will come home to America for your darkened deeds.
    http://artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm (cat folk gallery)

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • MODEL82A1
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 11:54am

    See, that nice young “rebel” just loves God, just like most of you fine, upstanding Blazers do. What’s the worst that could happen?………..

    Report Post » MODEL82A1  
  • biohazard23
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 11:54am

    Obumbler will probably claim this as his own personal victory and get another Nobel for it.

    Meanwhile, Mr Frizzy Head is probably at Martha’s Vineyard…..

    Report Post » biohazard23  
    • Lloyd Drako
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 12:01pm

      I’m quite sure Obama will hail this as a “victory for the Libyan people.”

      Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
    • I.Gaspar
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 12:15pm

      Maybe alibama isn‘t actually on Martha’s Vineyard with the family.
      Perhaps they have a standin posing for pictures and the real leader of the free world is in Tripoli as we speak, leading the rebels into kadafi’s compound…machine gun blazing and a commando knife in his mouth…
      Barrack Hussien Rambama!!!!
      And we criticize him…

      Report Post »  
    • biohazard23
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 12:30pm

      @Lloyd, right after he breaks his own arm patting himself on the back……

      @I.Gaspar, LMAO!!

      Report Post » biohazard23  

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