News / Africa
Gaddafi's forces pushes rebel fighters off oil port
10 Mar 2011 at 19:52hrs | Views
Muammar Gaddafi's forces pushed rebel fighters from the strategic oil port of Ras Lanouf today, driving the opposition from the city with a withering rain of artillery fire.
The lightly armed rebel forces sped back to opposition territory by the hundreds, fleeing eastward in cars and pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns. One said government forces were showering rockets or tank shells on the city in what appeared to be preparation for a full-scale advance.
Shells hit a series of buildings as Gaddafi's tanks moved further along Libya's main Mediterranean coastal road than they have been since the rebels seized most of the country's east.
The main hospital in Ras Lanouf was hit by artillery or an airstrike and the rebels are pulling their staff out and evacuating patients to the towns of Brega and Ajdabiya, said Gebril Hewada, a doctor on the opposition's health committee in the main eastern city of Benghazi. He said no staffers were hurt but he didn't know about patients.
The retreat was a major setback on a day of rebel victory on the diplomatic front. France became the first country to formally recognise the rebels' newly created Interim Governing Council, saying it planned to exchange ambassadors after President Nicolas Sarkozy met two representatives of the group based in Benghazi.
"It breaks the ice," said Mustafa Gheriani, an Opposition spokesman. "We expect Italy to do it, and we expect England to do it."
Germany said it froze billions in assets of the Libyan Central Bank and other state-run agencies. The US, UK, Switzerland, Austria and other countries have also frozen Gaddafi's assets.
"The brutal suppression of the Libyan freedom movement can now no longer be financed from funds that are in German banks," economy minister Rainer Bruederle said.
Both sides in Libya are lobbying for support from western countries as their leaders debate whether to protect the rebels from Gaddafi's air force by putting a no-fly zone over some or all of the country.
The lightly armed rebel forces sped back to opposition territory by the hundreds, fleeing eastward in cars and pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns. One said government forces were showering rockets or tank shells on the city in what appeared to be preparation for a full-scale advance.
Shells hit a series of buildings as Gaddafi's tanks moved further along Libya's main Mediterranean coastal road than they have been since the rebels seized most of the country's east.
The main hospital in Ras Lanouf was hit by artillery or an airstrike and the rebels are pulling their staff out and evacuating patients to the towns of Brega and Ajdabiya, said Gebril Hewada, a doctor on the opposition's health committee in the main eastern city of Benghazi. He said no staffers were hurt but he didn't know about patients.
"It breaks the ice," said Mustafa Gheriani, an Opposition spokesman. "We expect Italy to do it, and we expect England to do it."
Germany said it froze billions in assets of the Libyan Central Bank and other state-run agencies. The US, UK, Switzerland, Austria and other countries have also frozen Gaddafi's assets.
"The brutal suppression of the Libyan freedom movement can now no longer be financed from funds that are in German banks," economy minister Rainer Bruederle said.
Both sides in Libya are lobbying for support from western countries as their leaders debate whether to protect the rebels from Gaddafi's air force by putting a no-fly zone over some or all of the country.
Source - Byo24News
