The BBC's Nick Springate reports from Libya's eastern town of Brega that for the first time, rag-tag rebel forces have been bolstered by a number of well-armed, seemingly well-trained soldiers in full military attire. It's not clear where they've come from, our correspondent says, but their very presence has boosted morale on the front line. "
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Our correspondent says the rebels are now starting a major onslaught on Brega, having given a boisterous reception to two key rebel figures - the former interior minister and the former head of the armed forces. Brega’s significance is as one of the major oil towns on the route to Col Gaddafi’s birthplace of Sirte, our correspondent adds.
Could you expand on this, E-Sabbath? I can’t find any mention outside the BBC report. Are you basing the “nope” on guesswork, or on a bit of knowledge you can share with us?
Maybe they’re Libyan regular army, defected. This seems likely to me, although I’ve been expecting the Egyptians to start “walking” in more boldly if the rebels continued to hold the eastern part of the country.
If they took all the defecting privates from the Libyan Armed Forces, and made them noncoms in the Libyan People’s Army for the duration, and let the civilian volunteers be the privates under them, would that work, I wonder? Are there enough to go around?
Dude, think twice here. Yes, you’re winning . . . but the whole world is against you. Even Tripoli is full of people who want you dead. You can only enforce order through the military, and your military is crap. The rebellion is not going away. How long do you think you can run a viable state under these conditions? How is the economy going to work? And if it doesn’t, how long can you pay your troops? Your assets abroad are frozen.
Shouldn’t we already be seeing those effects then? Where is the effect of the experienced military leadership from the defectors showing up in the rebel army?
An interesting bit to me is that the same cities they are fighting over changed hands 6 times among the Germans and the British forces in WWII.
Back then the availability of material and the problems with supply lines in the desert meant that armies many times overstretched their advances and counter attracts succeeded many times, I can see this happening again but on a smaller scale.
Could it? The forces are now fighting back and forth along an urbanized coastal strip. Seems to me supplies could always be found near to hand. Except for ammunition.
I wonder if Libya’s example is going to encourage or discourage dissidents elsewhere in the MENA? You have to really hate your government, to want to risk full-blown civil war as a solution. No matter who wins, your country gets damaged and your fellowcountrymen get killed.
The crusaders are certainly keeping busy. After a highly successful sorty that left a handful of Libyan children very much dead, the brave assault dogs of imperialism decided to wrap up by using a rebel convoy for target practice:
The message to Libyans is clear: “We’re bringing freedom to your doorstep! Unfortunately, you will probably need to die in the process.”
I have been resisting the calls to have you banned as a troll, but this sort of BBQ Pit rant is not helping your case. The next time you post one of these Pravda-like screeds, you will be Warned. Stick to a genuine discussion or get out.
