THE DOMINO EFFECT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

carmen wrote:Not looking good at the moment (this is a French journalist)

@ PhilipinParis

If troop advances aren't stopped, eiher by airstrikes or rebel defences, the town of #Brega would be next in line.
11 minutes ago via web

People now fleeing the oil town of Ras Lanuf. Gaddafi troops advancing very fast. Armed rebels also fleeing.
13 minutes ago via web

Without further air strikes you cannot see the rebels advancing much further. They are asking for more help from the air.
1 day ago via web

Panda wrote:

carmen wrote:Not looking good at the moment (this is a French journalist)

@ PhilipinParis

If troop advances aren't stopped, eiher by airstrikes or rebel defences, the town of #Brega would be next in line.
11 minutes ago via web

People now fleeing the oil town of Ras Lanuf. Gaddafi troops advancing very fast. Armed rebels also fleeing.
13 minutes ago via web

Without further air strikes you cannot see the rebels advancing much further. They are asking for more help from the air.
1 day ago via web

Discussions are going on in London with the major participants and they are trying to get Gaddafi to leave Libya suggesting he would not be tried as a War Criminal, as if!!!! In fact, the No Fly Zone is turning out to be too difficult to maintain , the Rebels in Brega have been crying out for protection and none forthcoming.

carmen wrote:

Panda wrote:

carmen wrote:Not looking good at the moment (this is a French journalist)

@ PhilipinParis

If troop advances aren't stopped, eiher by airstrikes or rebel defences, the town of #Brega would be next in line.
11 minutes ago via web

People now fleeing the oil town of Ras Lanuf. Gaddafi troops advancing very fast. Armed rebels also fleeing.
13 minutes ago via web

Without further air strikes you cannot see the rebels advancing much further. They are asking for more help from the air.
1 day ago via web

Discussions are going on in London with the major participants and they are trying to get Gaddafi to leave Libya suggesting he would not be tried as a War Criminal, as if!!!! In fact, the No Fly Zone is turning out to be too difficult to maintain , the Rebels in Brega have been crying out for protection and none forthcoming.

The no fly zone isn't a problem, as Gaddafi doesn't have an air force at the moment. And the coalition do have a remit for air-to-ground intervention in order to protect civilians - but I suspect Gaddafi is manoeuvering to put civilians in jeopardy if the coalition plan another air strike. We'll have to wait and see

Coalition strikes Tripoli missile dumps
As rebels flee front lines amid lack of air support, coalition forces bomb Qaddafi's missile storage sites in the capital

Smoke billows as seven explosions rocked the Libyan capital Tripoli, some in the vicinity of the tightly-guarded residence of leader Muammar Qaddafi and military targets, on March 29, 2011. (MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty Images)

(CBS/AP) A U.S. defense official says U.S. ships and submarines unleashed a barrage of cruise missiles at Libyan missile storage facilities in the Tripoli area late Monday and early Tuesday, while strongman Muammar Qaddafi's troops sent rebels into a panicked flight from his hometown outside of the capital amid a lack of localized air support for the opposition.

The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military details, said 22 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from the Mediterranean - the most in at least several days.

The latest barrage raised to well over 200 the number of Tomahawks that have been fired at Libya since the Western military intervention began March 19.

The bulk of U.S. and NATO missile and bomb attacks on Libya have targeted air defenses, ammunition bunkers and other facilities that support Libyan ground forces and enable NATO to maintain a no-fly zone over the country.

Meanwhile, rockets and tank fire from Qaddafi's forces sent Libya's rebels in a panicked scramble away from the front lines near Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte, where coalition airstrikes against Qaddafi's troops had eased. The opposition was able to bring up truck-mounted rocket launchers of their own and return fire, but they went into full retreat after government shelling resumed.

The two sides traded salvos over the hamlet of Bin Jawwad, now pockmarked with shrapnel and small arms fire. Rockets and artillery shells crashed thunderously as plumes of smoke erupted in the town. The steady drum of heavy machine gun fire and the pop of small arms could be heard above the din as people less than a mile outside the village scaled mounds of dirt to watch the fighting.

Leaders weigh Qaddafi's exit, Libya's future
Obama: We should not be afraid to act
Video: Watch Obama's full speech on Libya

"This today is a loss, but hopefully we'll get it back," said Mohammed Bujildein, a 27-year-old from Darna. He was gnawing on a loaf of bread in a pickup truck with a mounted anti-aircraft, waiting to fill up from an abandoned gas tanker truck on the eastern side of Ras Lanouf.

Even in Ras Lanouf, roughly 25 miles east of Bin Jawwad, there appeared to be shelling -- there were thuds in the distance and black smoke rising from buildings. Some rebels pushed farther east.

"If they keep shelling like this, we'll need airstrikes," Bujildein said. It makes it easier to go to Sirte. If there's air cover, we'll be in Sirte tomorrow evening."

World powers agreed Tuesday to consider further sanctions on Moammar Gadhafi's regime but did not discuss arming the rebels who are seeking to oust him, a top British diplomat said.

Top diplomats from up to 40 countries met for crisis talks Tuesday in London on the future of the North African nation, but British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters the subject of arming rebels simply did not come up.

The rebels remain woefully outgunned by Qaddafi's forces, though they do show some improvements since their seige of Ajdabiya a week ago. They have more ammunition and heavy weapons that they've captured from government forces, and they are showing better efforts at using them. But it is still unclear how they can take the stronghold of Sirte without further aggressive international air support.

France ready to talk about arming Libyan rebels

By John Irish and Emmanuel Jarry
LONDON | Tue Mar 29, 2011 3:06pm EDT
(Reuters) - France said it was ready to discuss arming Libyan rebels with its coalition partners, although this was not part of the United Nations mandate, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Speaking after a meeting in London of foreign ministers and international organisations to discuss post-Muammar Gaddafi Libya, Alain Juppe said a new political contact group that had been created comprised of about 20 countries and organisations and would meet next in Qatar, then Italy.

"I remind you it is not part of the U.N. resolution -- which France sticks to -- but we are ready to discuss it (arming) with our partners," Juppe told reporters.

France has been at the forefront of a push to intervene in Libya. It was the first to strike against Gaddafi's forces.

On whether Gaddafi should go into exile, Juppe did not directly answer the question, but said there was no future for the Libyan leader in his country.

"It's up to the Libyans to get rid of him ... to choose their future and certainly not the international coalition," Juppe said. "(Exile) is not something we talked about."

An Italian source told Reuters earlier on Tuesday the best solution to the crisis would be for Gaddafi to go into exile, but only the African Union (AU) could persuade him to do so.

The AU did not send a representative to the talks in London because of disagreements among its members, Juppe said, adding that he hoped it would decide to join the contact group.

"We regret that it wasn't present and tried everything to convince it, but there wasn't consensus among African states."

Juppe, who met three members of the rebels' Libyan National Council in London, said a "lasting" solution to Libya could only be achieved through a political process and suggested that representatives of civil society and officials within Gaddafi's entourage should be part of that process.

"We ask them to drop him, because there is no future for Gaddafi in Libya. The U.N. (resolution) does not talk about removing him, but the majority of the coalition believes that he must go."

Juppe said the Libyan political contact group would include about 15 countries and five other organisations.

"We're not there to carry out war, but to protect the civilians," he said.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich and Elizabeth Piper)

Diplomats discuss Libya's future as Italy plots Gaddafi's escape route
Rome is negotiating an African haven for the Libyan leader as international pressure mounts on him to go

Julian Borger and Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Tuesday 29 March 2011

Belgian defence minister Pieter De Crem by a Belgian F16 fighter at Araxos, Greece. Diplomatic pressure on Gaddafi to go is mounting. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

Efforts appear to be under way to offer Muammar Gaddafi a way of escape from Libya, with Italy saying it was trying to organise an African haven for him, and the US signalling it would not try to stop the dictator from fleeing.

The move came amid mounting diplomatic and military pressure on Gaddafi as Britain tries to assemble a global consensus demanding he surrender power while intensifying air strikes against his forces. An international conference in London – including the UN, Arab states, the African Union, and more than 40 foreign ministers – will focus on co-ordinating assistance in the face of a possible humanitarian disaster and building a unified international front in condemnation of the Gaddafi regime and in support of Nato-led military action in Libya.

On the eve of the conference, Italy offered to broker a ceasefire deal in Libya, involving asylum for Gaddafi in an African country. "Gaddafi must understand that it would be an act of courage to say: 'I understand that I have to go'," said the Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini. "We hope that the African Union can find a valid proposal."

A senior American official signalled that a solution in which Gaddafi flees to a country beyond the reach of the international criminal court (ICC), which is investigating war crimes charges against him, would be acceptable to Washington, pointing out that Barack Obama had repeatedly called on Gaddafi to leave.

"I can't say I know of active efforts to find him a place to go, but I would not say it has been ruled out," the official said. "The ICC has said it will ready to pursue the case, but there are also the rules of the ICC," he added, pointing out that some countries do not recognise the court's jurisdiction.

British officials said they would rather see Gaddafi face trial, but if his escape was the price of a peaceful settlement they would be able to live with that.

David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy tried to ratchet up the pressure on Gaddafi, issuing a joint statement on the eve of the conference declaring his era over, and indicating that his lieutenants might escape prosecution if they abandoned him immediately. "We call on all his followers to leave him before it is too late," they said.

Meanwhile Obama gave a televised speech to the American people in which he explained why the US was involved in the conflict, as a response to his domestic critics over the crisis. The US president increased the pressure on Gaddafi by saying it was imperative his rule be ended. "We continue to pursue the broader goal of a Libya that belongs not to a dictator but to its people," he said. "Gaddafi has not yet stepped down from power and until he does Libya will remain dangerous."

He also used his speech to emphasise that strikes against Gaddafi's forces would continue even as American leadership of the campaign transferred to Nato tomorrow. "Our coalition will keep the pressure on Gaddafi's forces," he said.

Meanwhile, with the Libyan regime's forces and rebels squared for a battle around Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte, British planes taking part in the coalition campaign stepped up their bombardment.

RAF Tornados hit 22 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery pieces over the weekend, the Ministry of Defence said. Early Monday, they struck ammunition bunkers near Subha in southern Libya, according to Major General John Lorimer, the MoD's chief military spokesman. Defence officials said the higher tempo was the result of more intelligence surveillance and assessments from reconnaissance aircraft.

Discord over the air strikes threatens to undermine the consensus the UK will attempt to construct at the Lancaster House conference. Russia denounced the air campaign, arguing it violated UN security council resolution 1973, which permitted "all necessary measures" to protect civilians. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said: "We consider that intervention by the coalition in what is essentially an internal civil war is not sanctioned."

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was also critical, and in a symbolic blow to the London conference, it emerged that Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League – whose support for military action was deemed crucial by Washington and its allies – would not be attending, sending a deputy instead.

The joint statement issued by Cameron and the French president was intended in part to heal discord over the command of the air campaign and France's recognition of the Benghazi-based National Libyan Council. The rebels are not invited to the conference, but William Hague is expected to meet one of their leaders, Mahmoud Jibril. The shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, will warn today: "The bravery of the Libyan opposition is not in doubt. What is unclear is the motives of some, other than the removal of Gaddafi. As the opposition move westwards across Libya it is crucial that we better understand who they are and their wider ambitions."

@bencnn

Eyewitness says residents of al-brega fleeing east after Libyan army regains control of ras lanuf. #Libya
4 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone

Libya: staying sane in insane situations
Tuesday 29 March 2011
9:58 am
Jonathan Rugman

I know I am back in the gilded cage that is the Tripoli international media centre when the Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister cracks something approaching a joke.

“Today I have good news for you,” he says as the press conference begins at 10pm (this bizarre timing is so normal now, if anything a little early, that nobody seems to comment on it any more).We journalists all look up with keen interest. Is the minister about to give us a new headline? A stunning reversal on the battlefield, perhaps? A victory by pro-Gaddafi forces against rebels in the east?

“The Libyan national team just scored one goal,” he says delightedly. “Against Comoros in Mali.”

Our heads are downcast again. I am back in Tripoli, in the same hotel room I was in a fortnight ago. With the same government minders in leather jackets lurking in the lobby, and the same minder in the room above mine, from which I can hear state television loudly broadcasting what I assume must be increasingly desperate messages of support for Colonel Gaddafi.

Everything is the same here and yet nothing is. Independent reporting was tough enough during my first stint; now my colleagues, those who have risked their sanity by staying this past month or more, tell me solo journalism is virtually impossible, with reporters frequently scooped up by police and returned to the hotel compound if they try to escape on anything other than an official bus tour.

This is my first night back, and the distant crump of enemy air strikes is rattling my bedroom windows. Libya is at war: not just with its rebels, but with foreign jets, warships and submarines.

A one-sided war, because if Libya had the strength to respond, other than with antiquated displays of anti-aircraft fire, it would have done so by now.

Instead, Libya’s Deputy Foreign Minister tells us the “national team” football score. Putting on a brave face when we all know his country is divided into two warring factions, when many of the journalists in front of him are from countries which have sided with one faction and are bombing the regime he supports and defends.

I was acutely aware that my country had all but declared war when I crossed into Libya this afternoon after a three day wait for visas in the Tunisian town of Sfax. (Never have more faxes been sent from Sfax to secure our Libyan visas, but that is another story.)

Libyan guards kindly offered our TV crew, with its many items of luggage, a lift across the border in a pick-up truck. And although a couple of my neatly pressed jackets mysteriously went astray in transit, this seemed a small price to pay for somebody like me from London, the scene today of an international conference on Libya’s future, convened by the British government, to which the government of Libya isn’t even invited.

“Gaddafi is good”

We drove beneath the green bunting which still celebrates Gaddafi’s 1969 revolution and past a large poster of the Colonel in tribal head dress. (The alternative poster, the one with the Colonel in sunglasses and peaked cap and wearing so many military medals that his chest can barely fit them all in, is a rarer and more valuable find.)

“Libya is good,” one of the immigration officials told me, the kind of nonsensical statement one must get used to here. As with the national team’s football score, officials will go to great lengths to suggest that everything is normal, when we all know it is not.

There was then a two hour wait for some Chinese journalists who were late in joining our party for the official bus ride to Tripoli. We all know how important the Chinese are these days, but China’s decision to abstain from, and not veto, UN resolution 1973 on “all necessary measures” to protect civilians was so critical that the Libyans must be desperate to show the Chinese the consequences of foreign military intervention.

As we waited for the Chinese, the sun began to set, and one official said he was nervous about driving us in the dark, presumably because the bombing begins at night. “Don’t say that in from of them!” another official exploded, pointing to us. As I have explained, nobody wants to admit that anything is wrong here.

Watching the Zs

We drove fast through the town of Zuwarah, but not too fast for me not to notice the gaping holes in buildings caused by tank or artillery shelling. Or the anti-Gaddafi graffiti which had been whitewashed over in almost every settlement we passed. Or the fact that every Gaddafi poster by the roadside, stretching for miles, had been ripped down and not replaced. A reminder that there was a rebellion in the West a month or so ago, and though it was crushed, it may re-ignite if rebel gains in the East provide any kind of inspiration.

Libyan rebels claim the town of Zintan was hit by government grade rockets on Monday morning, and the “Zs” are the towns in the West to watch: Zintan, Zuwarah, Zawiyah, all potential powder kegs of revolt.

Yet I saw just one tank in a journey of well over two hours. That tank, dug in and beneath a tree, besides an anti-aircraft gun. On the same road, a few weeks before, I saw scores of tanks, mostly old Soviet T72s, which had me wondering whether their commanders were now hiding them from possible NATO air attacks.

Those attacks came too late to aid civilians and rebels in Libya’s western population centres. These densely populated concrete jungles are easy hiding places for armour and artillery, and far harder to hit and spot from the air than tanks moving across the eastern desert.

Another big difference on the road was the queues for petrol at the few petrol stations that were open. A clue to how the balance of power is shifting here; Libya’s energy, most of it, is in the East, hence the importance of the oil ports of Brega and Ras-Lanouf which were recaptured by rebels over the weekend. And the way to rid Libya of Colonel Gaddafi is surely not just through military action, but by dividing him, and his more loyal subjects, from their oil wealth, which the rebels seem to be in the process of doing.

Yet as I listen to the minibus radio on the way back to Tripoli, I can hear a child who can be no more than five years old chanting a familar refrain here: “There is only God, Muammar (Gadaffi) and Libya alone”.

The rebels and their supporters will tell you that this is empty propaganda, that nobody loves Gaddafi any more. It is an open question how many do support him, and how much in Tripoli and western Libya his personality cult endures. And we may only know the answer to that question when and if Gaddafi falls.

@almuktar

Via Al Manar Media: Mercenaries everywhere in Zawiya+the city is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis #Libya #Feb17 #gaddaficrimes
less than a minute ago via web

Diplomats say Gadhafi must leave

Nations and groups line up against him amid talk of exile and denial that immunity is a choice.

By David Stringer
Associated Press

LONDON - An array of world powers, including the United States, the United Nations, the Arab League, and NATO, spoke from the same script Tuesday in calling for Libya's Moammar Gadhafi to step down.
Some hinted secret talks might be under way to enable exile for Gadhafi.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hague led the crisis talks in London involving 40 countries or institutions, all seeking an endgame aimed at halting Gadhafi's bloody effort to stay in power.

Although the NATO air strikes on Gadhafi's forces that began March 19 are not specifically aimed at toppling him, dozens of nations agreed that Libya's future should not include the dictator at the helm.

"Gadhafi has lost the legitimacy to lead, so we believe he must go. We're working with the international community to try to achieve that outcome," Clinton told reporters. As she spoke, U.S. officials announced that American ships and submarines in the Mediterranean had unleashed a barrage of cruise missiles at Libyan missile storage facilities in the Tripoli area late Monday and early Tuesday, the heaviest attack in days.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle echoed Clinton's point.

"One thing is quite clear and has to be made very clear to Gadhafi: His time is over. He must go," Westerwelle said. "We must destroy his illusion that there is a way back to business as usual if he manages to cling to power."

Clinton and the representatives of Libya's opposition - who held a raft of talks on the margins of the London summit - acknowledged there were few signs that Gadhafi was heeding those demands.

"He will have to make a decision," Clinton said, "and that decision, so far as we're aware, has not yet been made."

There was no comment from Russia, which abstained from the U.N. vote that authorized a no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians but has since been critical of the extent of the air strikes.

Diplomats rejected suggestions Gadhafi could be granted immunity if he accepts the call to retreat but said work was under way to find a possible sanctuary for him.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that negotiations on securing Gadhafi's exit were being conducted with "absolute discretion" and that there were options on the table not yet formalized.

"What is indispensable is that there be countries that are willing to welcome Gadhafi and his family, obviously to end this situation, which otherwise could go on for some time," he said.

Frattini had said earlier he hoped some nation would offer a proposal, but he insisted immunity was not an option: "We cannot promise him a safe-conduct pass."

Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Kusa visited Tunisia briefly, but there was no word if the visit was linked to the secret talks.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said it was up to the Libyan people to decide the dictator's fate. "They have to organize the future of their country and to decide what Gadhafi will become," he said.

Hague said the meeting brought clarity among allies and offered an opportunity to discuss Libya's post-Gadhafi future with the opposition Interim National Council, whose envoy, Mahmoud Jibril, held meetings with Hague, Clinton, British Prime Minister David Cameron and several European foreign ministers.

Guma El-Gamaty, another Libyan opposition official, told reporters in London that Gadhafi must be held to account for brutalizing civilians - at a Libyan court, at the International Criminal Court, or both. "These crimes must not go unpunished," Gamaty said.

U.N. special envoy Abdelilah al-Khatib, a former Jordanian foreign minister, will return to Libya to hold talks with Gadhafi's regime and opposition figures. And the United States and France are both sending diplomats to the rebel-held Libyan city of Benghazi to bolster ties with opposition leaders.

The summit agreed to form an international contact group of at least a dozen nations and institutions to coordinate political action.

Still, it left a number of questions open: The nations did not discuss whether they should - or legally could - supply weapons to Libya's rebels; there was no open discussion of how to lure Gadhafi into exile; and Qatar gave few details of its offer to help rebels sell crude oil on the international market.

British diplomats also admitted that the allied leaders had not decided who would be in the contact group, though its first meeting is expected in Qatar in two weeks.

In Washington, Adm. James Stavridis, the NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, told Congress that officials had seen "flickers" of possible al-Qaeda and Hezbollah involvement among the rebel forces.

British officials said they knew little of some of the opposition figures, including some on the 33-member interim council. "We must never be complacent about the way events like this could turn out," Hague said.

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said that "if there is any element (of al-Qaeda in Libya), it is completely isolated and therefore completely irrelevant."

Despite those worries, Clinton and Juppé both hinted the international community might need to consider arming the rebels.

Clinton and Jimenez disagreed, however, on whether the U.N. resolution permits such weapons transfers.

Mahmoud Shammam, spokesman for the Interim National Council, told reporters in London that, properly equipped, rebels "would finish Gadhafi in a few days."

@SultanAlQassemi

Things are heating up there - Al Jazeera: AFP: Air strike targets Gaddafi forces west of Ajdabiya. (150km/93miles south of Benghazi) #Libya

4.45pm: Summary time:

• David Cameron has told MPs that Britain agrees with the US that coalition forces could legally supply arms to rebel forces under UN security resolution 1973. The resolution allows "all necessary measures" to be taken to protect civilians in Libya. The Guardian's Paul Harris reported that the key phrase which allows the supply of arms appears to lie in paragraph 4 of UN resolution 1973.

5.00pm: Breaking news from Chris McGreal on the ground in Libya. Brega has fallen to Gaddafi forces. He phones to say they are now advancing towards Ajdabiya and the rebels are retreating from there. That returns the situation to where it was on Saturday - before the rebels pushed forward with the help of coalition air strikes.

@afneil

Retreat of #Libyan rebels breathtaking. Lose one more town and they'll all be back in #benghazi
6 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad

Enraged mother stands by daughter, allegedly raped by Gadhafi's men
By the CNN Wire Staff
March 30, 2011 -- Updated 1715 GMT (0115 HKT)


Accuser's mom would 'strangle' Gadhafi
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Eman al-Obeidy's mother says she could strangle Gadhafi for her daughter's mistreatment
The Libyan government tries to discredit her as un-Islamic
Al-Obeidy has not been seen in public since Saturday's incident
It's no small thing for a woman to claim rape in a conservative Muslim society, analyst says
Tobruk, Libya (CNN) -- Like everyone else, Aisha Ahmad watched the riveting drama unfold in a Tripoli hotel as a desperate woman burst into a dining room filled with journalists, sobbing, screaming, wanting the world to know she had been raped by 15 of Moammar Gadhafi's militia men.
The arresting images of how swiftly the woman, Eman al-Obeidy, 29, and the journalists were stifled stirred viewers around the world. But perhaps none more so than Ahmad.
This was her daughter. And she was enraged.
Just weeks before, Ahmad might have wept in silence. But now, with war engulfing Libya and its future hanging in the balance, Ahmad feared Gadhafi no more.
"If I were to see his face, I would strangle him," she told CNN in an interview at her modest home in the eastern coastal city of Tobruk.
No one would do that unless they were raped, and especially in a conservative society.
--Mona Eltahawy, columnist on Arab and Muslim issues.
RELATED TOPICS
Eman al-Obeidy
Libya
Libyan Politics
Moammar Gadhafi
This is where she raised her 10 children with her husband, a retired customs agent.
As a little girl, al-Obeidy looked out over the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean, calling on the oil tankers to carry her away to France. She loved languages, most of all French.
Ahmad recalled her daughter wanting always to be a journalist, but, discouraged by the lack of press freedoms under Gadhafi, she opted instead to study law in Tripoli and make a better life. She was living with her sister when she was, as she claimed, held against her will for two days, beaten and raped.
Ahmad said she believes her daughter's every word, despite attempts by the Gadhafi regime to discredit her.
The Libyan government first said al-Obeidy was mentally ill and drunk. They called her a prostitute.
Later, it changed its story and said al-Obeidy was sane enough to withstand legal proceedings. Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said the men accused of raping al-Obeidy are being investigated, but the suspects, in turn, have filed counter-charges for slander.
The attempt to discredit al-Obeidy as a promiscuous, un-Islamic woman ties into the idea of sexual shaming in a conservative Muslim society where it's commonly believed that a woman who has been raped has lost her honor, said Mona Eltahawy, a columnist on Arab and Muslim issues.
For a woman in such a society to come forward to claim she has been raped is no small thing.
"No one would do that unless they were raped, and especially in a conservative society," Eltawhy told CNN.
Al-Obeidy's act ended up being as significant as the discontented fruit vendor in Tunisia who set himself afire and sparked revolt in the entire region, Eltawhy said. The way al-Obeidy spoke out was unprecedented and she has already been hailed a hero on social networking sites.
Ahmad said she received a call Sunday from a man who offered her a bribe to reject al-Obeidy's claims and persuade her daughter to change her tale.
Ahmad refused. She stands by her daughter, she said. So does her entire family and tribe.
To show their support, the family held an in-absentia engagement ceremony for al-Obeidy at a mosque in Tobruk Monday. No one here thinks she has lost her honor.
The government said al-Obeidy was freed but she has not been seen publicly since she was dragged away by security men and bundled into a waiting white car outside the Rixos Hotel Saturday.
Ahmad has not heard from her daughter and challenged Gadhafi to air video of her on state television as proof of her well being.
Ahmad said she was also worried about her other daughter. No one has apparently seen her either since Saturday.
A group of lawyers and human rights activists tried to approach al-Obeidy's sister's house Monday, but were blocked by security forces. The sister's mobile phone has apparently been turned off, a source with the opposition in Tripoli told CNN.
Al-Obeidy's story raced around the world after she stormed into the Rixos Hotel as international journalists were having breakfast Saturday morning. Her face was bruised. So were her legs. She showed reporters blood on her right inner thigh.
Speaking in English, she said had been held against her will for two days and raped by 15 men.
Though her visible injuries appeared to support her claims, CNN could not independently verify al-Obeidy's story.
"Look at what Gadhafi's brigades did to me," she said. "My honor was violated by them." Al-Obeidy displayed what appeared to be rope burns on her wrists and ankles.
Government officials tried to subdue her, but she persisted. Even a member of the hotel's kitchen staff drew a knife. "Traitor!" he shouted. Another staffer tried to throw a dark tablecloth over her head.
One government official, who was there to facilitate access for journalists, pulled a pistol from his belt. Others scuffled with reporters and wrestled them to the ground in an attempt to take away their equipment. Some journalists were beaten and kicked. CNN's camera was confiscated and smashed beyond repair.
As security forces dragged her away, al-Obeidy warned: "If you don't see me tomorrow, then that's it."
Ahmad said she has not been able to stop crying. She hasn't slept or eaten.
She sees only her daughter's distress shared so publicly at a pivotal moment of her nation's history.

Badboy wrote:A cousin of gaddhafi is said to be among the woman's attackers

@SultanAlQassemi

Al Jazeera: Sources: Libyan Foreign minister Musa Kusa has left #Libya
half a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone

@feb17libya

A defection from Mussa Koussa would save him only in the short-run, not the long. #GaddafiCrimes #Libya
less than 20 seconds ago via web

@iyad_elbaghdadi

Musa Kusa is being questioned in London by UK military intel. He's "no longer willing to represent Gaddafi." #Libya
7 minutes ago via web

Foreign Office statement on Musa Kusa
30 March 2011
Foreign Office spokesperson confirms that senior figure from Qadhafi's government arrived at Farnborough Airport on 30 March from Tunisia.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said today:

"We can confirm that Musa Kusa arrived at Farnborough Airport on 30 March from Tunisia. He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us that he is resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will release further detail in due course.

Musa Kusa is one of the most senior figures in Qadhafi's government and his role was to represent the regime internationally - something that he is no longer willing to do.

We encourage those around Qadhafi to abandon him and embrace a better future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the aspirations of the Libyan people".

C.I.A. in Libya Aiding Rebels, U.S. Officials Say
By MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: March 30, 2011

¶ WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and make contacts with rebels battling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces, according to American officials.

¶ While President Obama has insisted that no American ground troops join in the Libyan campaign, small groups of C.I.A. operatives have been working in Libya for several weeks and are part of a shadow force of Westerners that the Obama administration hopes can help set back Colonel Qaddafi’s military, the officials said.

¶ The C.I.A. presence comprises an unknown number of American officers who had worked at the spy agency’s station in Tripoli and those who arrived more recently. In addition, current and former British officials said, dozens of British special forces and MI6 intelligence officers are working inside Libya. The British operatives have been directing airstrikes from British Tornado jets and gathering intelligence about the whereabouts of Libyan government tank columns, artillery pieces, and missile installations, the officials said.

¶ By meeting with rebel groups, the Americans hope to fill in gaps in understanding who the leaders are of the groups opposed Colonel Qaddafi, and what their allegiances are, according to United States government officials speaking only on condition of anonymity because the actions of C.I.A. operatives are classified. The C.I.A. has declined to comment.

¶ The United States and its allies in the NATO-led military intervention have scrambled over the last several weeks to gather detailed information on the location and abilities of Libyan infantry and armored forces, intelligence that normally takes months of painstaking analysis.

¶ “We didn’t have great data,” Gen. Carter F. Ham, who handed over control of the Libya mission to NATO on Wednesday, said in an e-mail earlier this week. “Libya hasn’t been a country we focused on a lot over past few years,” he said.

¶ American officials cautioned that the Western operatives are not working in close coordination with the rebel force, and there was little evidence on Wednesday that allied airstrikes were being used to cover the rebel retreat.

¶ Because the publicly stated goal of the Libyan campaign is not to overthrow Colonel Qaddafi’s government, the clandestine effort now going on is significantly different from the Afghan campaign to drive the Taliban from power in 2001. Back then, American C.I.A. and Special Forces troops armed a collection of Afghan militias and called in airstrikes that paved the rebel advances on strategically important cities like Kabul and Kandahar.

¶ Still, the American officials hope that information gathered by intelligence officers in Libya — from the location of Colonel Qaddafi’s munitions depots to the clusters of government troops inside Libyan towns — might help weaken Libya’s military enough to encourage defections within its ranks.

¶ The American military is also monitoring Libyan troops with U-2 spy planes and a high-altitude Global Hawk drone, as well as a special aircraft, JSTARS, that tracks the movements of large groups of troops. Military officials said that the Air Force also has Predator drones, similar to those now operating in Afghanistan, in reserve.

¶ Over the weekend, the United States also began flying AC-130 gunships, which attacked Libyan tanks and armored vehicles on the coastal road near Brega and Surt with 40-millimeter and 105-millimeter cannons, an American military officer said Wednesday.

¶Ravi Somaiya contributed reporting from London.

Libya's foreign minister defects
Senior official arrives in the UK as Britain gives marching orders to five Libyan diplomats citing national security.
Last Modified: 30 Mar 2011 21:28
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The five diplomats were expelled on the grounds that they posed a threat to Britain's national security [Reuters]
Moussa Koussa, the Libyan foreign minister, has defected to the United Kingdom, the British foreign ministry has confirmed.

The ministry said in a statement that Koussa had arrived at Farnborough Airport, in the south of England, on a flight from Tunisia on Wednesday.

"He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us that he is resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will release further details in due course," the statement said.

"We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the aspirations of the Libyan people."

It added that Koussa was one of the most senior officials in Gaddafi's government with a role to represent it internationally, which is "something that he is no longer willing to do".

Tunisia's TAP news agency said on Monday that Koussa had crossed over into Tunisia from Libya.

A government spokesman in the Libyan capital Tripoli had earlier denied speculation that he had defected.

"He is on a diplomatic mission," Mussa Ibrahim, the spokesman, said. He gave no further details.

Diplomats expelled

Earlier on Wednesday, the British government announced the expulsion of Libya's military attache and four other diplomats in protest and for intimidating opposition groups in London.

A government source quoted by Reuters said the diplomats, believed to be supporters of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, have been given seven days to leave.

William Hague, the British foreign minister, told legislators the move was to "underline our grave concern at the regime's behaviour".

"... we have today taken steps to expel five diplomats at the Libyan embassy in London, including the military attache," he said in parliament on Wednesday.

"The government also judged that, were those individuals to remain in Britain, they could pose a threat to our security."

"We believe they are among the strongest Gaddafi supporters in the embassy, that they have put pressure on Libyan opposition and student groups in the UK and that there is a risk of damage to UK national security if they remain"

William Hague, British foreign minister

Hague also announced that a British diplomatic mission led by senior diplomat Christopher Prentice had visited the rebel-held city of Benghazi earlier this week, and met key opposition groups including Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the rebel Libyan National Council.

Britain has long treated Libya as a rogue state. The 1984 shooting of a London policewoman from inside the Libyan embassy, the Libyan arming of IRA guerrillas in Northern Ireland and the 1988 Lockerbie airline bombing over Scotland, for which a Libyan was convicted, contributed to Gaddafi being branded a pariah.

A foreign office spokesman, the expelled diplomats were thought to be strong Gaddafi supporters.

"We won't go into details on their activities," the spokesman said.

"But we believe they are among the strongest Gaddafi supporters in the embassy, that they have put pressure on Libyan opposition and student groups in the UK and that there is a risk of damage to UK national security if they remain."

Arms debate

Britain hosted an international conference on Tuesday that piled pressure on Gaddafi to quit and pledged to continue military action against his forces until he complies with a UN resolution to protect civilians.

At the London meeting, the question of arming Libyan rebels moved up the international agenda, although both Britain and the United States said they had taken no decision to supply arms.

On Wednesday, David Cameron, the British prime minister, repeated that line, adding that UN resolution 1973 allowed all necessary measures to protect civilians.

"Our view is that this would not necessarily rule out the provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances," Cameron told parliament.

"So ... we do not rule it out but we have not taken the decision to do so."

Expressing his reservations, British foreign minister Hague said introducing new weapons into a conflict could have "unforeseeable and unknown consequences".

"Such considerations would have to be very carefully weighed before the government changed its policy on this matter," he added.

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Breaking: Reports that Gaddafi's chief of intelligence has also just defected to Tunisia. #Libya
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