Libya conflict heading for ‘stalemate’ despite strikes
Rebels welcomed US plans to deploy unmanned aircraft, typically operated remotely from the US.
But it emerged that bad weather forced the first two drones sent to Libya to turn back.
“It’s certainly moving toward a stalemate,” said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US military’s joint chiefs of staff, addressing US troops during a visit to Baghdad.
“At the same time, we’ve attrited somewhere between 30% and 40% of his main ground forces, his ground force capabilities. Those will continue to go away over time.”
In Misrata, the only rebel-held major city in western Libya, rebels wrested control of a large downtown office building which had been a base for Gaddafi’s snipers and other troops, after a furious two-week-long battle.
Shattered masonry, wrecked tanks and the incinerated corpse of a government soldier lay near the former insurance offices yesterday amid buildings pockmarked by gunfire.
“They shot anything that moved,” one fighter said of the Gaddafi men driven out.
Rebels said they had captured several other central buildings from government forces and the state of the battle did not appear to match claims by government officials in Tripoli that they controlled 80% of Misrata.
Rebel fighters are fighting a block-by-block war of attrition with an enemy at times only yards away.
“Gaddafi’s fighters taunt us. If they are in a nearby building they yell at us at night to scare us. They call us rats,” one rebel said.
Hundreds of fighters and civilians have died in Misrata during the siege. Rebel fighters voice frustration with an international military operation they see as too cautious.
Food and medical supplies are running out and there are long queues for petrol. Residents depend on generators for power and thousands of stranded foreign workers are awaiting rescue in the port area.
