Monday, August 8, 2011

Fighting rages on several Libyan fronts

At least three Libyan opposition fighters have been killed in clashes near the northern town of Zlitan, just 160km from Tripoli, the capital, as government troops fought rebel forces for control of the town.
Several other opposition forces were injured in the fighting on Sunday, Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reported, as troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi continued an assault against anti-government fighters.
Opposition forces were also under attack in the newly captured town of Bir al-Ghanam, a strategic location in western Libya 85km from Tripoli, where Gaddafi forces launched an offensive to regain control of the town.
The opposition forces are attempting to get closer to Tripoli, and they expressed hope earlier this week that they would reach the capital before the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Opposition 'better trained'
Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Bir al-Ghanam just after rockets began falling on the frontline, said that there was a sense that the opposition fighters were better organised and better trained than earlier in their campaign to topple Gaddafi.

"Volunteers from all over the country are joining the fight. Not just people from the western mountains, rebels from Az Zawiyah and rebels from Tripoli."There is a sense that they know what they lack," she said.
"Bir Ghanem is such a strategic town that when they take that town they [will] have access to the main highway that reaches to Az Zawiyah, which is just west of Tripoli."

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