Libyan officials claim weapons from Qatar

Image by Abode of Chaos via Flickr
Libyan officials are claiming to have intercepted two boats carrying a cache of weapons from Qatar, reportedly intended for rebels fighting forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

On Monday, Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said 11 rebels were captured from the boats close to shore near the town of Janzour, just west of Tripoli.

"In the early hours of this morning around 4 o'clock our security forces intercepted the submission of many weapons from a ship that raises the Tunisian flag to two small Libyan boats with some Libyan rebels on board the boats," he said.

"I was told that this was the load of one major container, so this would be something like one out of ten or something like that," Ibrahim added.

Foreign reporters were later taken to Tripoli's port where they were shown a cache of rifles and ammunition displayed in a tent, but not the captured boats.


The weapons included about 100 Belgian-made FN assault rifles, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition of the same calibre used in the guns.

Several of the ammunition boxes were marked in English as coming from the armed forces of Qatar.

Qatar has emerged as one of the main supporters of the rebels. And its involvement in the country's civil war has enraged Libyan officials.

Mahmoud Jibril, of Libya's Transitional National Council, said on Thursday that foreign deliveries of military hardware would give the rebels a chance to win the battle against Gaddafi quickly and with the least amount of blood spilt.

Related articles

• Libyan official: Talks with rebels stretch back 2 months (ctv.ca)
• Libya:Gaddafi urges supporters to seize French weapons supplied to rebels (laaska.wordpress.com)
• France provided weapons, food to Libya rebels (bigbluerock.wordpress.com)

Has Gadaffi's wife deserted him?

The wife and daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi crossed over the border into Tunisia several days ago, a Tunisian security source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Gadhafi's wife Safia and his daughter Aisha came to Tunisia with a Libyan delegation on May 14 and are on the island of Djerba in the south, the source said.

"It was expected that they would leave yesterday but they are still at Djerba," the source added.

It did not appear that the two women had been travelling with Shokri Ghanem, Libya's top oil official, who is believed to have also crossed into Tunisia and appears to have defected.

Libyan officials in Tripoli were not immediately available for comment.

Libya's oil minister defects

Libya's oil minister has reportedly defected and fled to Tunisia.

Shokri Ghanem, who also chaired the National Oil Corporation, is said to be on his way to the Tunisian capital, Tunis.

Hoda Abdel Hamid, one of Al Jazeera's correspondents in Libya, said a border guard confirmed the defection.

"He told us the minister had crossed into Tunisia two days ago and that he was alone, not with his family," she said.

"He mentioned he had tried to cross before but was held in Libya. We cannot confirm this."

Rebels fighting to end the 41-year-old rule of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's embattled leader, also said they had information that Ghanem, 68, had defected.

However, rebels and Arab media reported on a previous occasion that Ghanem had stepped down, but he later re-appeared and said he was in his office and working as usual.

If confirmed, Ghanem would be the latest high profile Libyan official to leave the Gaddafi government. In March, Gaddafi's foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, defected.

Ghanem has been in charge of the oil ministry since 2006 and was previously prime minister. His oil ministry is the biggest income generater for the country. Libya has Africa's largest oil reserves, at 41.5 billion barrels.

War crimes prosecutor seeks Gaddafi warrant

"I am a master of disguise. You will never find me"

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has asked a three-judge panel to issue arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his second-eldest son, Saif al-Islam, and his intelligence chief, Abdullah Senussi.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo described the evidence against the three men as "very strong" in a press conference on Monday and said he believed Libyans eventually would turn them over to the court.

The filing against Gaddafi comes just three months into the uprising against his 41-year rule, which evolved from peaceful protests in major cities to an armed rebellion based out of the east. Gaddafi's regime has brutally attempted to suppress the opposition movement by shelling rebellious cities, and imprisoning and torturing those who speak out.

Ocampo was due to present a 74-page dossier of evidence to the court in the Hague, the Netherlands, on Monday. The judges will decide whether to reject the petition, ask for more evidence or confirm crimes against humanity charges and issue international arrest warrants.

"The evidence shows Muammar Gaddafi personally ordered attacks on unarmed civilians," Ocampo said at the press conference. "[He] committed the crimes with the goal of preserving his authority, his absolute authority."

Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam and Abdullah Senussi held meetings to plan the crackdown, Ocampo said. Security forces loyal to the government then attacked civilians in their homes, used heavy weaponry on funeral processions, and set up snipers to shoot at people as they left prayers at mosques, he said.
Activists were imprisoned, held incommunicado and tortured, he said.

Blogger sleeps: Gadaffi lives

Whist rocked on our heels and forced to some attempt at original thought due to our inability to post to our blogs, speculation drove me to the conclusion that perhaps Gadaffi had bought it and Assad had fled to London.

But no. What is this? The leader has emerged - well a voice saying it is him - to tell us the Catholic bishop (the same bishop Gadaffi had  used to weep over his dead son?) was far too generous with the truth.

Because the Blessed One was not dead. He was not even injured. His cunning and guile had evaded the Crusader attacks. He was still able to bomb and kill his own people freely and at will.

Furthermore he was “in a place where you can't get to and kill me." 

As the only place he will never be caught in (but will most certainly end) begins with “H” and ends in “L”, for a short while my speculation resumed. But it is all in the mind.

All in the mind, Oh hidden one, all in the mind.

Loosing the war against Gadaffi

Shaken early Tuesday, May 10, by five huge blasts which flattened another set of mostly empty government buildings in Muammar Qaddafi's capital, but aroused little interest, even among Western journalists.It is common knowledge that the ruler, his family and top lieutenants abandoned the city after May 1 when NATO missiles struck a Qaddafi family residence, missing him but killing his son and grandchildren.

It is now suspected in Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels that advanced electronic counter-measures imported recently to one of the foreign embassies in Tripoli tipped him off to the incoming missile attack and gave him just enough time to get away.

DEBKAfile's intelligence sources report that since those devices were activated two weeks ago, NATO finds itself increasingly targeting empty government buildings and abandoned military installations.

Hence the comment by NATO Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen Sunday, May 8: After repeating, "The game is over for Qaddafi" and denying the war had reached a stalemate, he added there was "no military solution for the civil war in Libya."

Our military sources sum up the balance of the two-month NATO operation backing the Libyan rebellion:

The combined coalition campaign has failed to loosen Qaddafi's grip on power, dent his army's fighting spirit and combat ability, divide Libya's main tribes against him or shake the loyalty of his high commanders and government heads.

The fundamental fact that without substantial American military intervention, NATO powers lack the air, sea and missile resources for overcoming Qaddafi has remained unchanged ever since the US handed the campaign's command role over the NATO on April 4.

Theoretically, if the current military stalemate goes on, NATO bombardment would be able to destroy the pro-Qaddafi army in the course of time - but only if no other factors are taken into account. At the present intensity of its air and sea strikes, NATO would need five years - not months - to bring that army to breaking point. And in the meantime, Qaddafi and its external backers - Russia, China, most African and some Balkan countries - are not idle – witness the arrival of advanced electronic gear for helping to tipping the balance in his favor. According to intelligence updates, the Libyan ruler continues to take in a steady supply of ammunition, missiles and advanced weapons to replenish the stocks NATO airstrikes have destroyed.

The situation in which NATO finds itself in Libya has wider military implications. If the Atlantic Alliance, and especially Britain and France which are spearheading the Libya campaign, are short of the resources they need for overcoming a Libyan army consisting essentially of four to five brigade-strength military frameworks fighting without air cover, hard questions must be asked about the alliance and its 26 members' real military worth.

Those questions apply in particular to Europe and bear on its political strength.

Syria's Bashar Assad has gathered from NATO's shortcomings in the Libyan arena that he has a free hand to set his army, tanks, artillery and live ammunition on protesters and suppress the uprising against him with an iron hand without fearing that the European UNIFIL contingents from France, Italy and Spain in Lebanon may turn their guns on him. Iran is also watching intently. And Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are showing diminishing interest in taking up NATO's invitation to associate themselves with the alliance by military pacts.

The coalition's limitations have reduced the fighting in Libya to two battle arenas, with NATO involved directly in only one:

1. Misrata, 185 kilometers west of Tripoli, the only rebel stronghold in western Libya: Were it not for NATO's air support, pro-government forces would have recaptured the town in the third week of the April.

Although Monday, May 9, the rebels repulsed a government assault on their positions, they have not managed even with NATO help to break the pro-Qaddafi forces' siege of the town or halt the Grad missile and artillery bombardment.

Neither have the rebels been able to dislodge Qaddafi's forces from Misrata airport, where light planes and helicopters flying beneath the no-fly zone are able to land bringing fresh reinforcements, supplies and ammo for Qaddafi's forces and take off with the wounded.

2.  The Nafusa Mountains which cut through the center of western Libya. The Berber tribes which populate the mountain towns of Gharyan, Yifrin, Kabaw, Nalut and Ziztan are in revolt against the Qaddafi regime.

Their cause is quite separate from the Benghazi-based rebels' goal to overthrow the Qaddafi regime. The Berbers are fighting for an independent state. If they succeed, they hope to be joined by fellow tribesmen in Algeria and Morocco in a state spanning much of North Africa.

This battlefield is small in scope with little impact on the main thrust of the war. The Berbers are a small, scantily armed fighting force and government forces avoid taking them on, except for desultory rocket and artillery fire on their towns. Those towns can only be reached through rough, unpaved, mountain trails.

Qaddafi has split his ground forces into armored columns of 60 tanks and armored vehicles each to enhance their speed of movement and make them tougher targets for NATO jets to strike.

He is taking care to keep them away from the Berber mountain trails where they would be easy prey.

What "no-fly-zone" in Misurata?

Libyan government forces have dropped bombs on four large oil-storage tanks in the contested western city of Misurata, destroying the facilities and sparking a fire that spread to four more, according to a rebel spokesman.

Government forces used small, pesticide-spraying planes for the overnight attack in Qasr Ahmed close to the port, Ahmed Hassan, the spokesman, said on Saturday.

Misurata is the last remaining city in the west under rebel control. It has been under siege for more than two months and has been the scene of some of the war's fiercest fighting between the rebels and loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's long-time ruler.

"Four tanks were totally destroyed and huge fire erupted which spread now to the other four. We cannot extinguish it because we do not have the right tools," he said.Hassan said the rebels notified NATO about the aircraft before the attack but there was no response.

"Now the city will face a major problem. Those were the only source of fuel for the city. These tanks could have kept the city for three months with enough fuel."
Gaddafi's forces flew at least one helicopter reconnaissance mission over Misurata last month, according to the rebels.

Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting on Saturday from Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in eastern Libya, said that the reported attack in Misurata was very disconcerting for the people who rely on the stored fuel.
"People are raising questions because NATO patrols the skies 24 hours a day," he said.
"This incident, together with the mines in the harbour, are very worrying for the locals."
Separately, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tunisia reported that shells fired by Gaddafi's forces landed inside Tunisian territory near the town of Dhaiba, on the border with Libya.

Helicopter attacks

The rebels have also accused Gaddafi of using helicopters bearing the Red Cross emblem of dropping mines into Misurata's harbour.

Suleiman Fortiya, who represents Misurata on the rebel interim National Transitional Council, said small helicopters flew over Misurata on Thursday and Friday to drop mines.
"They had Red Crescent and Red Cross markers so that anyone who sees them thinks it is for humanitarian aid," he said.

An aid worker said he saw helicopters on Friday marked with the Red Crescent circling above the port and dropping mines into the sea.

NATO confirmed that helicopters had flown over Misurata on Thursday in breach of the no-fly zone that its jets are supposed to enforce. However, it could not confirm that the helicopters were marked with the Red Cross sign.

NATO official told the AFP news agency a ship involved in the the coalition's operations had observed a number of helicopters over Misurata on Thursday, which came under fire from rebel forces.

"We are aware of reports that the helicopters were marked with the Red Cross," the official said.
He said no humanitarian flights had been notified for the Misurata area on that day.
"Any use of the Red Cross to disguise combat forces would be a breach of international law," he said.

Libya blog disappears?

What has happened to Aljazeera's live Libya blog? It would appear it died on May 2nd. There is not a connection between this event and the death of some old terrorist is there?

Get your fingers out Aljazeera, that old bin "what's-his-name?" is getting his leg over with all those virgins he promised all the mugs who offered their lives to kill God's creatures - NOT!

The only hot women he (and they) will be meeting are those burning in that other place driven by the man with cloven feet and pointed tail.

UPDATE:-

Well the boys appear to have woken up after their "death of the bearded one's party" and posted at last (7pm Libya time) - he wasn't worth it, believe me.

A Holy week in Libya

So what's happened this week:

* hundreds have been killed
* thousands of refugees have been created
* western "military advisers" are on the ground
* drones are flying
* Gaddaffi's compound has been bombarded
* the Pope asks for a diplomatic solution
* the relentless fighting continues in Misrata
* and more...

You could say, as some invariably do (probably because they like the sound of the words) that "mission creep" is taking place. But what is happening is war. And unless anyone successfully takes up the Pope's advice, war is being fought with all its terrible consequences.

What NATO and the UN must do now is choose between loosing this war and loosing the diplomatic road as well. It would appear that the present strategy does not allow success in either of these ways.

There needs to be a radical revision: either total full out war and get Gadaffi, his supporters and hold them to account, or declare a pause in all military activity to allow diplomatic discussions to take place with all parties without the threat of violence.

Status for NATO and Libya

Since 31 March 2011 NATO has been in charge of implementing UN Security Council resolution 1973 which demands:

"an immediate ceasefire" and authorizes the international community to establish a no-fly zone over Libya and to use all means necessary short of foreign occupation to protect civilians

Information about the casualties in this war is understandably very unreliable, but prior to NATO's involvement there were these assessments of the number deaths caused by Gadaffi Loyalist forces:

• On February 22, the International Coalition Against War Criminals gave an estimate that 519 people had died, 3,980 were wounded and over 1,500 were missing.
• Human Rights Watch have estimated that at least 233 people had been killed by February 22.
• On February 23, Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini stated that according to his information 1,000 people had died so far.
• On February 24, the IFHR said that 130 soldiers had been executed in Benghazi and al-Baida, after they mutinied and sided with the protesters.
• On February 25, Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, said that reports indicated that "thousands may have been killed or injured".
• On March 20, Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, spokesman for the National Transitional Council, stated that "more than 8,000" people are killed as a result of the uprising.

NATO's response has been the following missions:

1. 1 April 2011 - A coalition air strike near Brega killed at least thirteen people after a rebel convoy was fired upon. An A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft was believed to attacked after an anti-aircraft gun was fired from the convoy. In the same region, up to seven civilians were reported to have been killed and 25 injured after an attack on an ammunition truck triggered an explosion that destroyed several buildings. French patrol Mirage 2000D and Super Etendard a strike on a car was conducted in the Al Khums, located west of Misrata.
2. 2 April 2011 - French Navy Rafale fighter jets destroyed five tanks in Sirte.
3. 3 April 2011 - French Air Force destroyed several armoured vehicles in Ras Lanuf.
4. 4 April 2011 - A US Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier and a US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II flew missions near Serta and Brega respectively. 4 April also marked the last day of US armed forces taking an active role in military action, as all American forces were placed in reserve that evening, to be used only if requested by NATO.
5. 5 April 2011 - Fighter jets from Jordan flew missions from an unidentified European airbase to escort transport aircraft delivering humanitarian aid in eastern Libya. NATO aircraft flew fourteen sorties near Misrata, attacking anti-aircraft installations and ground vehicles.
6. 6 April 2011 - RAF Tornados flew missions around rebel-held Misrata and Sirte. The targets were six armoured fighting vehicles and six battle tanks. Two Typhoon aircraft had flown from Gioia del Colle air base, southern Italy, to police the no-fly zone, while two RAF VC10 aircraft provided air-to-air refuelling. The RAF announced four Typhoon jets will join 16 RAF ground-attack aircraft already under NATO command.
7. 8 April 2011 - NATO aircraft attack a column of rebel tanks, killing five rebels. Earlier the same week in another incident, a NATO air-strike killed 13 rebel fighters.
8. 9 April - NATO war-planes force a rebel MiG-23 to land. The fighter jet took off from an airfield east of Benghazi and was detected by an airborne early-warning air-plane. This is the first no-fly zone violation by any aircraft since NATO took command. Also, an anonymous NATO official claimed that they had destroyed 17 and damaged nine loyalist tanks in and around Misrata and Brega in the previous two days, of which five were destroyed by British planes. However, there was no independent confirmation of the claims, though footage of three tanks destroyed had surfaced.
9. 10 April - NATO claimed to have hit 11 tanks or armoured vehicles in the early part of the day outside Ajdabiya. A Reuters correspondent saw 15 charred corpses of Gaddafi's forces near several destroyed armoured vehicles.
10. 15 April - NATO has launched three new air-strikes in and around Tripoli. They struck a missile battery and two other targets.

But there is disagreement within NATO about the nature and degree of operations. This also extends to the amount of effort and resources made available by the individual countries.

So where do NATO countries stand?

Would escalate military action

UK

France

Conducting air-strikes

US

Canada

Belgium

Norway

Denmark

Reconnaissance missions only

Italy

Spain

Netherlands

Offering some military support

Albania

Bulgaria

Greece

Romania

No military support

Croatia

Czech Rep

Estonia

Germany

Hungary

Iceland

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Poland

Portugal

Slovakia

Slovenia

Turkey

Source: NATO, news agencies, BBC Analysis and Research 

Meanwhile...

Many evacuees fleeing the fighting along Libya's coast have been left without access to all the medical facilities and support they desperately need
Misurata remains besieged, with Gaddafi's forces shelling the city in western Libya overnight, battling their way into the centre of town. More than 100 rockets pounded the city yesterday.

Moussa Koussa's reward

Tut, tut.

3.24pm: Libyan state TV is reporting casualties from the air strikes in Tripoli, according to Reuters.


Meanwhile, in Britain the Treasury has removed former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa from an EU sanctions list, removing a freeze on his assets.


Far be it from me to allege any connection.