Tag Archives: rebellion

Photos from Libya: Rebellion, life, and the children Reply

All, News: International, Photo Gallery • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Libya is entering the third month of fighting since a rebellion began in February. Today prosecutors from the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy, his son Saif al-Islam Khadafy, and his brother-in-law Abdullah Al-Sanousi for organizing attacks on civilians during the uprising. Last week, rebels pushed out government troops from the Misrata airport, ending the shelling of that city. Despite air support from NATO, a grinding stalemate endures. Collected here are pictures of the rebellion and daily life in the country of over six million. — Lane Turner
_________________________________

Artist Salhen Obaidi cleans his hands after painting a mural in downtown Benghazi on May 15. Hundreds of new paintings and graffiti decorate the city of Benghazi since the rebels took control of the city. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

_________________________________

A boy jumps from the seaside boulevard to the beach in Benghazi on May 14. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

_________________________________

Women observe an anti-Moammar Khadafy demonstration from a burnt building in central Benghazi on May 14. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

_________________________________

A boy attends a rally near the courthouse in Benghazi May 14. The protesters were calling on the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Libya’s leader Moammar Khadafy. They got their wish. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

_________________________________

Tribesmen in traditional garb ride their horses into town to declare allegiance to the rebels in Revolution Square in Benghazi on May 4. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

_________________________________

A wounded rebel fighter is given aid in an ambulance at the Libyan and Tunisian border crossing of Wazin May 8. (Zohra Bensemra/AP)

_________________________________

Libyan rebels walk in a stairwell after firing a rocket-propelled grenade towards pro-Khadafy forces from a high vantage point in Misrata on May 8. (Ricardo Garcia Vilanova/AP)

_________________________________

People stand next to caricatures of Moammar Khadafy in Benghazi May 8. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

_________________________________

Libyan men react as the main fuel depot in Misrata burns after a bombing by government forces on May 7. (Ricardo Garcia Vilanova/AP)

_________________________________

Ramzy Elshahiebi smokes a cigarette while assembling homemade bombs in Benghazi. Elshahiebi used to fish with dynamite and now makes bombs that serve the rebel army. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

_________________________________

A rebel fighter stands guard outside Kabaw in the Western Mountain region of Libya on May 11. Fighting in the Western Mountain region, home to the Berber ethnic minority, has intensified since the rebels seized the Dehiba border crossing into Tunisia last month, opening a key artery for supplies. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

_________________________________

A man waves a national flag from the pre-Moammar Khadafy era on the seafront in Benghazi on May 11. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

_________________________________

A Libyan teenager salutes as he controls traffic at a busy junction in Benghazi on May 9. Children in Benghazi are not being sent to fight on the frontline, but they are helping Libya’s revolution by cleaning streets, working as traffic cops, and dishing up rations to rebel soldiers. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

_________________________________

In this photo taken on a government-organized tour, the Marriott hotel is seen in the background as youths enjoy the beach in Tripoli on May 3. The Tripoli Marriott closed 10 days after it opened, as an armed uprising swept the country. (Darko Bandic/AP)

_________________________________

A Libyan rebel fighter walks near a checkpoint outside Ajdabiya on May 10, where fighting between rebels and forces loyal to leader Moammar Khadafy was ongoing. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

_________________________________

Rebel fighter Abdel Rahaman Faraj, 15, grimaces as he is treated by a nurse in a public hospital in Benghazi on May 10. Faraj was injured two months ago in Bisher during fighting against Moammar Khadafy’s troops. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

_________________________________

Libyan youths sing near a courthouse in Benghazi May 12. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

_________________________________

An injured Libyan rebel fighter flashes a victory sign from an ambulance after being evacuated from Misrata at the port in Benghazi on May 12. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

_________________________________

A wounded girl evacuated from the besieged Libyan city of Misrata waits to be transported to an ambulance at the port in Benghazi on May 12. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

_________________________________

A rebel fighter patrols in the desert south of the Libyan rebel-held town of Zintan in the Western Mountains on May 12. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

_________________________________

A boy rests on a street light pole in downtown in Benghazi on May 5. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

_________________________________

A Libyan girl looks at pictures of people killed or missing since the uprising began three months ago on the wall of court house in Benghazi’s Revolution Square on May 15. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

_________________________________

Libyan volunteers prepare food for rebel fighters and internally displaced people at a kitchen in Benghazi on May 15. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

_________________________________

Libyan rebels surround a house where a soldier loyal to Moammar Khadafy took refuge after killing a rebel during a battle in the town of Tamina, Libya on May 13. (Ricardo Garcia Vilanova/AFP/Getty Images)

_________________________________

A Libyan rebel stands guard on top of a roof overlooking thousands performing noon prayers in Revolution Square in Benghazi on May 13. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

_________________________________

A Libyan woman walks on a street of Benghazi May 9 holding a picture of her late son, who allegedly died in a Libyan prison in 1996. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

_________________________________

Volunteers work to recover and bury dead bodies for health and religious reasons in Misrata on May 4. Misrata doctors estimate that more than 1,000 people have been killed in their city in two months of fighting. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

_________________________________

Relatives mourn during the funeral of Abdul-Gader Al-Faitori, a rebel fighter who died after being injured a month ago during combat in Benghazi on May 4. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

About these ads

Libya’s Gaddafi survives air strikes, son & 3 grandchildren killed (video) Reply

All, News: International • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

TRIPOLI, May 1 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a NATO air strike on a Tripoli house that killed his youngest son and three grandchildren, a government spokesman said on Sunday.

Libyan officials took journalists to the house, which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely caved in places, leaving mangled rods of reinforcing steel hanging down among splintered chunks of concrete.

“What we have now is the law of the jungle,” government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a news conference. “We think now it is clear to everyone that what is happening in Libya has nothing to do with the protection of civilians.”

NATO denied targeting Gaddafi, or his family, but said it had launched air strikes on military targets in the same area of Tripoli as the bombed site seen by reporters.

“NATO continued its precision strikes against regime military installations in Tripoli overnight, including striking a known command and control building in the Bab al-Aziziyah neighborhood shortly after 1800 GMT Saturday evening,” the alliance said in a statement.

NATO’s commander of Libya operations, Canadian Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, said the target was part of a strategy to hit command centers that threaten civilians.

“All NATO’s targets are military in nature … We do not target individuals,” he said in a statement.

Ibrahim said Gaddafi’s youngest son, Saif Al-Arab, had been killed in the attack. Saif al-Arab, 29, is one of Gaddafi’s less prominent sons, with a limited role in the power structure. Ibrahim described him as a student who had studied in Germany.

The grandchildren killed were pre-teens, Ibrahim said.

The appearance of an assassination attempt against Gaddafi is likely to lead to accusations that the British- and French-led strikes are overstepping the U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

“I am aware of unconfirmed media reports that some of Gaddafi’s family members may have been killed,” said Bouchard. “We regret all loss of life.”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a long-time ally of Gaddafi, called it attempted murder.

“There is no doubt the order was given to kill Gaddafi. It doesn’t matter who else is killed, kill Gaddafi … a murder, this is a murder,” he said in Caracas.

SECOND CLOSE CALL IN 24 HOURS

Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, is fighting an uprising by rebels who have seized much of eastern Libya. He describes the rebels as religious extremists and Western agents who seek to control Libya’s oil.

Inside part of the villa hit late on Saturday, a beige sofa was virtually untouched, but debris had caved in on other striped upholstered chairs. The blasts were heard across the city.

A table football machine stood outside in the garden in a wealthy residential area. Glass and debris covered the lawns and what appeared to be an unexploded missile lay in one corner.

It appeared to be the second NATO strike near to Gaddafi in 24 hours. A missile struck near a television station early on Saturday when the Libyan leader was making an address in which he said he would never step down and offered talks to rebels.

The rebels insist they cannot trust Gaddafi. The last few days have seen fierce shelling of rebel outposts in the west. A rebel spokesman in the mountain town of Zintan said government forces has showered the city with up to 30 powerful Grad missiles late in the evening.

Tripoli has also declared a sea blockade on the western outpost of Misrata, potentially robbing the rebels of a vital aid link to their eastern heartland.

“FIGHT AND FIGHT”

Celebratory rifle fire and car horns rang out in the rebels’ eastern capital of Benghazi as news of the attack spread.

“The leader himself is in good health. He wasn’t harmed,” Ibrahim said. “His wife is also in good health.

“This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country. This is not permitted by international law. It is not permitted by any moral code or principle.”

The announcement of the attack was made live on state television which later showed Tripoli residents marching on the streets, chanting “the martyr is the beloved of God”. Some fired guns into the air.

U.S. White House press secretary Jay Carney said the White House was aware of Libyan media reports Gaddafi’s son had been killed and was monitoring the situation.

Gaddafi’s daughter was killed in a U.S. air strike in 1986, ordered after a bomb attack on a West Berlin discotheque killed two U.S. servicemen. Washington linked Tripoli to the attack.

“We will fight and fight if we have to,” Ibrahim said. “The leader offered peace to NATO yesterday and NATO rejected it.”

Fighting in Libya’s civil war, which grew from protests for greater political freedom that have spread across the Arab world, has reached stalemate in recent weeks with neither side capable of achieving a decisive blow.

Libyan forces had reached the gates of Benghazi last month when Gaddafi appeared on television declaring he would crush the rebellion, showing “no pity, no mercy”. Days later the United Nations passed its resolution allowing the air strikes and saving the rebels from defeat.

(Additional reporting by Tarek Amara and Abdelaziz Boumzar in Dehiba, Deepa Babington and Michael Georgy in Benghazi, Matthew Tostevin in Tunis, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Writing by Ralph Boulton; Editing by Jon Hemming and Robert Birsel)
_________________________

PERSONAL NOTE: The death of the grandchilden is tragic, and they have become victims of Gaddafi’s murder upon his own people and country. In no way, shape, form or manner do I condone the killing of children for any reason. Yet, lest we forget what he has done in this video: