GADDIFI TOPPLED!!!!!TRIPOLI CELEBRATING!!!!!!!!

Apart from the ammunition business, are they hoping this can finally end without unneccessary further loss of life, or is this turning into a seige?

bb1 wrote:Apart from the ammunition business, are they hoping this can finally end without unneccessary further loss of life, or is this turning into a seige?

It's already as good as a siege. According to those fleeing from Sirte, the people have no gas, electricity, fresh water or food, it's all been taken by Gadaffi's soldiers and mercenaries. If nothing happens soon, I expect the civilians to start eating the cats and dogs, rats and, God forbid, possibly each other. It has happened like that before in long sieges. LL

I don't think I wanted to know that.

It's happened in seiges throughout history. It should not be happening in the 21st century, an hour or so's flight from Mediterranean holiday resorts.

Gaddafi truly is a monster, to be doing this to Libyans.

Sabot wrote:
I don't think I wanted to know that.

Pardon moi, ma petite, but war is a brutal thing. I don't expect it to go that far as I am quite sure NATO will bomb enough of the Gadaffi lot into oblivion before that happens. And I think most of the civilians have managed to get out, though I expect Gadaffi will be holding some as human shields. I am sure he is in Sirte, or why would the fighting there be so fierce? And he is such a nasty piece of work, if he had already fled he would be crowing over having got away. Here, have a and some to take away the nasty thoughts! LL

I wuz only wonderin if they could eat a whole one, LL.

Yuk. Norty me. But I am getting really pissed off with this idiot. He can't win.

Sabot wrote:
I wuz only wonderin if they could eat a whole one, LL.

Yuk. Norty me. But I am getting really pissed off with this idiot. He can't win.

No he can't, but like Hitler and other dictators he's set on sending as many of his own people into hell as he can. I do hope they catch him alive and let the Libyan people try him before sending him to The Hague. LL

I suspect the Libyan people may well send him somewhere beginning with 'H', LL....

bb1 wrote:I suspect the Libyan people may well send him somewhere beginning with 'H', LL....

But whoever deals with him, it must be first and foremost those he has tried to destroy, the parents of the dead children, the women raped and murdered, the people starving while he lived in his palaces, while his sons bought houses in rich countries, yachts, cars, BEFORE anyone else gets their hands on him. He deserves rthe 'Mussolini syndrome', a lamp-post and a length of rope. LL

Good morning!

Al Jazeera Live Blog:

14 hours 51 min ago

A captured general loyal to Muammar Gaddafi has said the fugitive Libyan leader was secretly moving around in the southern desert, a commander of the new regime told the AFP news agency on Friday.

"General Belgasem al-Abaaj, who we captured on Monday, said that Gaddafi had contacted him by phone about 10 days ago, and that he was moving secretly between (the oasis town of) Sabha and Ghat" on the Algerian border, said Mohammed Barka Wardugu.

Abaaj had said that Gaddafi "is helped by Nigerian and Chadian mercenaries who know the desert routes," added Wardugu, spokesperson for the Desert Shield Brigade attached to the National Transitional Council (NTC).

The general was Gaddafi's intelligence chief in the southern Khufra region, where he was wanted by the NTC for many crimes, Wardugu said.

"I think Gaddafi is hiding in the Sahara region between Libya and Algeria," he said, adding that dozens of dozens of mercenaries and soldiers loyal to Gaddafi had been arrested in the south.

"We have arrested 18 Gaddafi soldiers, 300 Chadian mercenaries and today we caught 60 people of different nationalities (Sudanese, Somalis and Eritreans) in the vicinity of Zouila" southeast of Sabha, Wardugu said.

He said the region was calm following the capture of Sabha on Wednesday.

Regarding the existence of concentrated uranium or yellow cake in the Sabha area, Wardugu said its existence had been known "for a long time."

"For many years, we knew that there were biological or radioactive materials stored in a military centre in the northeast of Sabha airport.

"We had talked to the Gaddafi regime about the danger to civilians. But they never did anything for the people of the south."

The UN atomic agency confirmed the existence of yellow cake in Libya after US news channel CNN reported that new regime forces had found potentially radioactive material. [AFP]

13 hours 48 min ago

Fighters of Libya's National Transitional Council have penetrated the eastern gate of Sirte, the hometown of Muammar Gaddafi, after entering it without any resistance from the former leader's forces, a commander told the AFP news agency on Friday.

"Our fighters are in control of the eastern gate of Sirte," Commander Ahmed Zlitni from the operations centre told AFP.

"They are two kilometres (1.2 miles) ahead of the gate and holding positions there. Technically we can say that we entered Sirte from the east," Zlitni said, adding that the fighters "did not face any resistance" when they crossed the gate.

Fighter Muatiz Saad, deployed near the town of Sultana, 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of Sirte, also told AFP that a large number of his comrades had entered Sirte from the eastern gate.

"I was at the frontline and I came to know that our troops have entered Sirte from the eastern gate," he told AFP at one of their bases near the town of Harawa, around 40 kilometres east of Sirte.

Earlier this week the fighters of the National Transitional Council, Libya's new ruling body, faced stiff resistance around six kilometres ahead of the town of Sultana from loyalists of Gaddafi.

For the past four days they had been unable to push ahead and from early Thursday there was also a drop in fighting after they faced shortages of ammunition.

1 hour 55 min ago

After weeks of stalemate, rebel fighters loyal to Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) have pushed back Gaddafi's forces and gained control of Sirte's eastern gate.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports from Sirte, Libya.

Al Jazeera:


Libya fighters push into Gaddafi bastion

Supported by tanks, heavy artillery and NATO bombing runs, NTC forces have reached the centre of Sirte.
Last Modified: 24 Sep 2011 14:20

Fighters aligned with Libya's National Transitional Council have launched a fierce two-pronged assault on Sirte with the support of heavy artillery, tanks and NATO warplanes.

Al Jazeera correspondents said NTC fighters on Saturday had pushed into the center of the city, overrunning positions that forces loyal to deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi had held for months.

Gaddafi's forces battled the attackers with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and snipers as explosions rocked Sirte and its outlying areas and plumes of smoke rose into the sky.

Ambulances have been carrying casualties from the fighting, with one medic estimating that one NTC fighter had been killed and 25 wounded.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from the battle in Sirte, said the momentum in the fighting has so far been behind the onrushing NTC troops.

"There is a feeling here, after talking to some commanders that if they are able to take Sirte, Bani Walid will fall," Khodr said, in reference to another Gaddafi stronghold that has withstood NTC assaults.

Battle rages

By Saturday afternoon, NTC fighters occupied a key roundabout called Zafaran west of Sirte's downtown area and said their goal was to occupy two neighborhoods on the western side of the city.

AL Jazeera correspondent Sue Turton, also reporting from the frontline, said the feeling among NTC forrces is that the "end game" for Sirte has begun.

"[The feeling is] that if pro-Gaddafi fighters don't surrender they will be trapped between two attacks from the east and west," Turton said.

The two sides have been locked in a standoff since former rebels tried to advance on the city a week ago but were repelled by fierce resistance.

Sirte, 400km southeast of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast, is Gaddafi's hometown and one of three strongholds that refused to surrender after revolutionary forces seized control of Tripoli late last month after a civil war against his 42-year rule.

Revolutionary fighters tried to push into the city last weekend but were driven back by fierce rocket and gunfire, with at least 25 former rebels killed and dozens wounded. They pulled back to regroup and let civilians leave the area, although the two sides exchanged fire daily.

Civilians threatened

Revolutionary forces said more than 1,300 families have left the city in the past week. A few dozen waiting at a checkpoint outside the city on Saturday described rapidly deteriorating conditions, with entire families hiding in basements and children suffering from illnesses and a lack of food and clean water.

A commander of one of the brigades fighting for Sirte, Mohammed al-Sugatri, said foot soldiers had gone past the roundabout and were heading toward the downtown area. He said Gaddafi's forces and snipers also were attacking from buildings on the outskirts of the city.

The former rebels had said they would wait until civilians could escape,but al-Sugatri said commanders decided to advance because several families from the rebel-held city of Misrata were in danger.

"There are lots of people from Misrata who are stuck in the city living in basements. They have no food or water and many of their children are sick so we had no choice but to attack," he said.

A field outside the city's western side was filled with trucks and ambulances filled with wounded men.

Munther Kareyem, a doctor at the field hospital, said one dead fighter and more than 25 wounded had been brought in with shrapnel wounds. One man lost a leg.

New government

In Benghazi on Saturday, the head of the NTC has said an interim government will be announced in the coming week.

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said Libyans must unite to form a new government. The NTC failed to seat a new cabinet last week amid disagreements over which cities should be represented and other issues.

Abdul-Jalil spoke to reporters after returning from New York where he and the NTC's premier Mahmoud Jibril represented Libya at the first post-Gaddafi meeting of the UN General Assembly.

Libya's interim rulers will hold an urgent meeting on Sunday to discuss the formation of a "crisis government", signaling a breakthrough in efforts to form a more inclusive administration after the war.

"We've agreed on a number of portfolios and who would hold the most important ones. There will be 22 portfolios and one vice-premier," Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, a spokesman for the NTC, said.

"It will be a compact government, a crisis government."

Earlier this month, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chief of Libya's revolutionary movement, called for the Libyan people to form a democratic state based on Islamic law.

Gaddafi seems to be determined to get as many Libyans killed as possible before this is over, LL.

A couple of striking photos from Sky:

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16076397



A multiple rocket launcher fires near Sirte.



Anti-Gaddafi fighters drive towards Sirte.

PS - congrats, LL, you've passed the 3,000 view mark

Well done to LL, our roving reporter.

P.S. This isn't really champers it's JD in disguise.

So I have! Why, I didn't even notice! Thank you dear ladies and especially for the JD! HIC!!!! LL

You're so welcome, LL.

PS. Do you forgive me yet?

lily wrote:You're so welcome, LL.

PS. Do you forgive me yet?

For what? What mess have you got me into? LL

Is this to do with budgies wearing sheepskin jackets? Or cats being chauffered

bb1 wrote:Is this to do with budgies wearing sheepskin jackets? Or cats being chauffered

What? LL

That's it, Bonny.

lily wrote:That's it, Bonny.

I'm gonna sulk .... LL

Lamplighter wrote:

lily wrote:That's it, Bonny.

I'm gonna sulk .... LL

No, please, LL - it will go full circle.

lily wrote:

Lamplighter wrote:

lily wrote:That's it, Bonny.

I'm gonna sulk .... LL

No, please, LL - it will go full circle.

Sorry, wehat will? confused.com LL

Sulking, LL. In the other thread..........

Don't ask me, I'm lost too

Boy, 15, is one of first Libyan conflict victims to arrive in Britain for NHS treatment

By ANNA EDWARDS
Last updated at 5:16 PM on 23rd September 2011

Comments (34)
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A teenager who has been injured in war torn Libya is the first of the conflict victims who have arrived in Britain to have potentially life-saving medical help.
Abdul Malek El Hamdi, 15, went into surgery at St Mary's Hospital in London upon arrival last night after sustaining wounds to his leg during the North African country's civil war.
Abdul was injured when he and a friend found a grenade among weapons stashed at their school by forces loyal to deposed dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
His friend was killed and Abdul sustained lower limb injuries to his left leg, which led to infection and the risk of amputation.




In safe hands: Abdul, who was injured when he and a friend found a grenade among weapons stashed at their school by forces loyal to deposed dictator Colonel Gaddafi, arrives in the UK

Shehan Hettiaratchy, lead clinician for plastic and reconstructive surgery at St Mary's Hospital, described Abdul as a 'robust little kid' and said he was doing well following last night's operation.
He said: 'When Abdul arrived last night he had a low temperature and there was malodour coming from his left leg, which we found to be infected.
'Such infections are potentially life-threatening so we took the decision to take him straight to the operating theatre to clean up the leg.
'He has responded incredibly well to the operation and this morning was sitting up and had a big grin on his face.
'Abdul is a very robust little kid and has a strong relationship with his father, who has pushed to get him into the kind of place where he would receive the right treatment.'
Some 50 other wounded Libyans are currently being assessed by their country's health department, which will decide who should be sent to hospitals in this country.
A Department of Health spokesman said: 'The Libyan government has asked the NHS to provide care for 50 patients who have been injured as a result of the recent conflict. Their care will be funded by the Libyan government.

'Careful attention is being paid in planning this treatment to ensure that no NHS patient is adversely affected.
'The patients will be treated in specialist NHS hospitals around the country on the basis of their clinical need and requirements.'
The Department of Health is working in co-ordination with the London Ambulance Service and other ambulance services around the country, the UK Border Agency and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to assist the wounded Libyans.
Richard Webber, director of operations at the London Ambulance Service, said: 'We are working to arrange for each patient to be met from the airport and transferred to a clinically appropriate hospital.
'Our highly trained clinicians will meet victims of the recent conflict from British airports and manage their care during their onward journey to a UK hospital.
'Additional resources are being brought in to facilitate the transfer and will not impact on our service to Londoners.'
The arrival of Abdul in the UK for treatment follows a commitment made by the Prime Minister during his visit to Libya last week
Alistair Burt, minister for the Middle East and North Africa, praised Abdul for the 'courage' he had shown and said that the treatment of wounded Libyans was further proof that Britain 'stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Libyan people' after the collapse of the Gaddafi regime.
He said: 'The courage Abdul Malek El Hamdi has shown in the face of horrific injuries symbolises both the great sacrifices made by the Libyan people but also the hope and optimism with which they are facing the future.

'Last week in Tripoli the Prime Minister committed to help the extraordinary efforts being made in Libyan hospitals to aid those wounded in the struggle for freedom.
'The UK will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Libyan people as they recover from Gaddafi's tyranny and do all that we can to help them.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2041034/Abdul-Malek-El-Hamdi-Libyan-conflict-victim-arrives-UK-NHS-treatment.html#ixzz1YuuEUf3H