BENGHAZI, Libya, (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi bombarded Misrata yesterday, a day after rebels celebrated the pullback of government troops from the western Libyan city, a rebel spokesman said.
“The situation is very dangerous,” rebel spokesman Abdelsalam said by telephone from Misrata. “Gaddafi’s brigades started random bombardment in the early hours of this morning. The bombardment is still going on.”
Captured government troops said on Saturday they had been ordered to retreat from Misrata — the only major rebel-held city in western Libya — after a siege of nearly two months, and rebels fighting to overthrow Gaddafi had claimed victory.
But the mood of victory was short-lived and the prospect of a turning point in the two-month conflict dimmed yesterday.
Government forces bombarded three residential areas and the city centre, including Tripoli Street, the thoroughfare that has been the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks, Abdelsalam said.
Rebel spokesman Safieddin said a large part of Tripoli Street was under the control of rebels, and that insurgents had launched an attack on the remaining Gaddafi forces after NATO air strikes on the city in the early hours.
Rebels have so far been unable to advance from eastern Libya as they fight with Gaddafi’s troops on the coastal road between the towns of Ajdabiyah and Brega, outgunned and lacking cash for equipment and state-building.
Rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil told a news conference in Kuwait yesterday that the oil state would contribute 50 million Kuwaiti dinar ($177 million) to Libya’s rebel council.
Fellow Gulf Arab state Qatar, which has joined the Western military operations in Libya, has been marketing Libyan oil on behalf of the rebels to help them generate income.
An arms embargo on Libya is being enforced by NATO, but the rebels also need money to try to create the infrastructure of a state from scratch and care for victims of the conflict as they pursue their two-month-old battle to shake off Gaddafi’s rule.
“This amount will help us a lot in paying the salaries of employees who did not receive their little salaries for two months,” Abdel Jalil said. “We are capable of only covering 40 percent of this amount. We are in need of urgent aid.”
DOUBTS OVER WITHDRAWAL
Hundreds have been killed in the fighting for Misrata, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis in the besieged city.
Safieddin said at least 36 people had been killed there by Gaddafi’s forces since Saturday: eight during yesterday’s bombardment and 28 on Saturday, many killed by booby-traps left behind by retreating forces.
