Libya rebels face last stand as Gaddafi forces zero in on Benghazi

"Libya's revolution was facing collapse as Muammar Gaddafi's forces broke through the last major line of resistance before Benghazi, the heart of the uprising and the seat of the rebel administration.

Pro-government forces pushed back the rebels in an air and land assault on the town of Ajdabiya, as the regime moved to crush the revolution once and for all before foreign powers could agree measures in support of the uprising, including a no-fly zone.

The rebels had pledged a vigorous defence of Ajdabiya but swiftly lost control of large parts of the town, including the strategically important coastal road, although pockets of fighting continued. The regime's advance leaves the road open to Benghazi, 90 miles away, where there was growing alarm as word of the latest military setback spread.

"The battle is lost. Gaddafi is throwing everything against us," a rebel officer who gave his name as General Suleiman told Reuters.

Last night the revolutionary council, which had promised a fight to the death claimed to be in full control of Ajdabiya, but some Benghazi residents were fleeing to the Egyptian border amid considerable bitterness at the failure of western countries to back vocal support for the rebels with practical help, including a no-fly zone and military equipment to fight Gaddafi's armed forces, some trained by the British army.

The assault came as the US finally joined the UK and France in supporting a draft UN resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. A vote on a draft motion is expected later this week or early next week, which is likely to be too late for the rebels.
Libyan state television declared: "The town of Ajdabiya has been cleansed of mercenaries and terrorists linked to the al-Qaida organisation."

The setback in Ajdabiya is the latest in a series of reverses that has seen the fortunes of the revolution set back after the initial successes that had many Libyans believing Gaddafi's regime was on the brink of collapse a fortnight ago.

Many in Benghazi are now fearful of retribution by the regime's agents and say they have no choice but to fight for their survival. But the rebel army does not appear to have made any significant preparations for the city's defence.

The assault on Ajdabiya took on a familiar pattern with Tripoli's forces first bombing then shelling the town. Gaddafi's army then came at the town from two sides. A call went out through mosques and rebel fighters moved to the front but they said they were outgunned and began pulling back.

No doubt they'll do nothing about Bahrain aswell...

Typical West, nothing in it for them so they just turn around and say they're "thinking about it"... They don't give two ****s about human rights aslong as they can still go and cuddle up to Gaddafi for some of his oil.

But if the West dosen't intervene and Gaddafi takes control of the country again, won't he give oil to Russia/China instead? For not intervening and "minding their own business" like some would say? The link between Gaddafi and the West is already broken, so all the West can do is intervene, no? Otherwise they will not get any oil...

Please correct me if I am wrong, I am just a noob in these things

Well it was the Russians and the Chinese fault for vetoing the resolution at the UN...

It hasn't even been voted on yet, France, Britain and the US have simply drafted and tabled the motion for discussion.

I don't see why we don't just have another Iraq tbh - we could go in there, somewhat legally this time, and actually come away with some oil...

Oh yeah sorry.. I must be thinking of ALL of the other times that they've vetoed UN resolutions like this. Burma and Zimbabwe spring to mind immediately....

But if the West dosen't intervene and Gaddafi takes control of the country again, won't he give oil to Russia/China instead? For not intervening and "minding their own business" like some would say? The link between Gaddafi and the West is already broken, so all the West can do is intervene, no? Otherwise they will not get any oil...

Please correct me if I am wrong, I am just a noob in these things

Do you realise that the amount invested in the war does not equate to the amount obtained from 'oil'; considering they stole barely anything.

I'm not saying they won't, I'm just saying that they haven't had a chance to yet.

If the resolution falls through as it probably will do, then **** the UN. It proved how useless it was in 1994 when a million Rwandans were murdered in cold blood, it will prove useless again now. We shouldn't be afraid to get stuck in on our own if it's what is right. The UN is powerless and we do not need it's consent to take what is obviously the right course of action.

But if the West dosen't intervene and Gaddafi takes control of the country again, won't he give oil to Russia/China instead? For not intervening and "minding their own business" like some would say? The link between Gaddafi and the West is already broken, so all the West can do is intervene, no? Otherwise they will not get any oil...

Please correct me if I am wrong, I am just a noob in these things

It's not like that, Gaddafi has always known the West only support him for his oil, he doesn't think they're good mates or anything. Same goes for any diplomacy. If Russia and China stumped up a good price and he refused to sell to the West, the West might turn against him in the future and he'd be wiped out.

Or vice versa, if he thinks the Chinese are going to overtake the US in power balance any time soon.

Same goes for any diplomatic operation, autocratic, democratic, good guys, bad guys, whatever...

I'm not saying they won't, I'm just saying that they haven't had a chance to yet.

If the resolution falls through as it probably will do, then **** the UN. It proved how useless it was in 1994 when a million Rwandans were murdered in cold blood, it will prove useless again now. We shouldn't be afraid to get stuck in on our own if it's what is right. The UN is powerless and we do not need it's consent to take what is obviously the right course of action.

Yea, lets pick a side in a civil war so we can be accused of being Western Imperialists trying to undermine the legitimacy of an internal revolution. That'll end well

But seriously, if we intervene it would be like declaring war on western Libya as Gaddafi has a lot of support there. We'd have to kill tonnes of civilians who picked up arms to support Gaddafi. Western international intervention would cause more problems than it would solve. The AU should be responsible for any international intervention, not NATO.