Libyans in Benghazi mourn a rebel fighter killed during recent clashes with forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi near Port Brega. (Sergey Ponomarev, Associated Press / July 19, 2011)
Libyan rebels refuse to negotiate with Moammar Kadafi
Convinced that their battlefield strategy will work, the rebel forces are refusing France's demands that they negotiate with the Libyan leader to peacefully end their uprising.
Πηγή: Los Angeles times
By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times
July 19, 2011
Reporting from Benghazi, Libya— As the Libyan war grinds on across three fronts and rebel forces find themselves pinned down on their own territory outside two strategic eastern oil cities, the rebels' most resolute European ally, France, is insisting that they negotiate with Moammar Kadafi to peacefully end their 5-month-old uprising.
Yet the rebels are sticking to their guns — literally.
They're convinced that victory is inevitable and adamantly refuse to negotiate directly with Kadafi even as the French government contends that the Libyan leader is seeking ways to relinquish power.
After the United States formally recognized the rebel Transitional National Council on Friday as the country's legitimate government body, the rebels again insisted that Kadafi must go before negotiations begin.
"Our position remains: no negotiations until Kadafi, his sons and his inner circle are gone," said Habib Ben Ali, media liaison for the council.
In the rebels' de facto capital, Benghazi, commanders lay out a battlefield strategy that seeks to allay concerns in Western capitals over the failure of the four-month NATO air campaign to topple the Kadafi regime. But the unorthodox approach relies more on faith and bluster than proven military tactics, and raises the prospect of a prolonged conflict.
Rebel commanders say they plan to strangle Kadafi by cutting off Tripoli, the capital, from three directions. They predict that government troop defections and low morale, combined with fuel and supply shortages, will open the way to the city soon.
But rebels on each front are devising their own strategies, with only limited direction from headquarters in Benghazi, said Abdul Jawad, a senior rebel commander.
"We are not a traditionally structured military organization," Jawad said, a profound understatement given the rebels' haphazard formations.
Rebel forces are poorly trained and equipped, with little central command and scant grasp of military tactics. For months, their commanders have promised the imminent "liberation" of Tripoli, only to find themselves mired in a protracted battlefield stalemate.
Convinced that their battlefield strategy will work, the rebel forces are refusing France's demands that they negotiate with the Libyan leader to peacefully end their uprising.
Πηγή: Los Angeles times
By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times
July 19, 2011
Reporting from Benghazi, Libya— As the Libyan war grinds on across three fronts and rebel forces find themselves pinned down on their own territory outside two strategic eastern oil cities, the rebels' most resolute European ally, France, is insisting that they negotiate with Moammar Kadafi to peacefully end their 5-month-old uprising.
Yet the rebels are sticking to their guns — literally.
They're convinced that victory is inevitable and adamantly refuse to negotiate directly with Kadafi even as the French government contends that the Libyan leader is seeking ways to relinquish power.
After the United States formally recognized the rebel Transitional National Council on Friday as the country's legitimate government body, the rebels again insisted that Kadafi must go before negotiations begin.
"Our position remains: no negotiations until Kadafi, his sons and his inner circle are gone," said Habib Ben Ali, media liaison for the council.
In the rebels' de facto capital, Benghazi, commanders lay out a battlefield strategy that seeks to allay concerns in Western capitals over the failure of the four-month NATO air campaign to topple the Kadafi regime. But the unorthodox approach relies more on faith and bluster than proven military tactics, and raises the prospect of a prolonged conflict.
Rebel commanders say they plan to strangle Kadafi by cutting off Tripoli, the capital, from three directions. They predict that government troop defections and low morale, combined with fuel and supply shortages, will open the way to the city soon.
But rebels on each front are devising their own strategies, with only limited direction from headquarters in Benghazi, said Abdul Jawad, a senior rebel commander.
"We are not a traditionally structured military organization," Jawad said, a profound understatement given the rebels' haphazard formations.
Rebel forces are poorly trained and equipped, with little central command and scant grasp of military tactics. For months, their commanders have promised the imminent "liberation" of Tripoli, only to find themselves mired in a protracted battlefield stalemate.
