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Libyan rebels flee Port Brega as Kadafi forces advance
Rebels retreat farther into eastern Libya as forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi overrun Port Brega and push on toward the opposition headquarters in Benghazi.
By David Zucchino and Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times
9:27 AM PDT, March 13, 2011
Reporting from Benghazi and Ajdabiya, Libya
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi pushed deeper into rebellious eastern Libya on Sunday, overrunning an important oil town and forcing lightly armed rebel fighters back toward the opposition stronghold of Benghazi.
The rebels fled Port Brega, site of a strategic refinery complex and oil terminal, under heavy bombardment and tried to hold back rapidly advancing government forces in Ajdabiya, about 95 miles southwest of Benghazi.
Panicked rebels in Ajdabiya blocked reporters from driving farther west. Many said they lacked the firepower or manpower to slow the assault by Kadafi's fighters, who appeared poised to bombard the town.
Rockets slammed down late Sunday afternoon on the western outskirts of Ajdabiya, 45 miles east of Port Brega, as disorganized rebels scrambled to mount a defense of the city.
The steady advance of government fighters behind airstrikes and rocket attacks put pressure on rebel leaders in Benghazi to stop or slow the assault up the Mediterranean coastal highway before it reached the rebel stronghold.
State-run TV claimed that Port Brega, about 140 miles west of Benghazi, had been "cleansed of armed gangs."
The fall of Port Brega would represent a serious blow to rebel resistance. It continues a government onslaught that has loosened the opposition's grip on eastern Libya.
Just eight days ago, rebel fighters routed pro-Kadafi forces in Port Brega and another strategic oil city, Ras Lanuf, and spoke of attacking Tripoli, the capital.
The closed refinery at Port Brega normally produces 15% of Libya's gasoline and other fuels. With other sources of gasoline also cut off by fighting, the rebels face a growing fuel shortage. The volunteer force fights from pickup trucks and private cars.
The Port Brega complex is still pumping natural gas through pipelines that provide fuel for electric plants in Tripoli and Benghazi, according to executives of Libya's biggest state-owned oil company. They said Kadafi could cut the pipeline to Benghazi and create electricity shortages in Libya's second-largest city.
From Port Brega, the coastal highway to Benghazi has no fixed gun emplacements to fight off a government advance. The only defense is inexperienced and undisciplined rebel gunmen riding in pickups mounted with antiaircraft guns and other weapons.
Seizing Ajdabiya might allow government forces to race east over a largely undefended desert highway to the key rebel port of Tobruk, where they would be in position to block the coastal highway between Tobruk and Benghazi.
In Benghazi, representatives of the opposition national council claimed rebel fighters remained in control of Port Brega. But those same spokesmen also said last week that the opposition controlled two other eastern cities even as they were being overrun by Kadafi's fighters.
"We are 100% in control'' of Port Brega, said Mustafa Gheriani, who often speaks on behalf of the 13-member national council that controls most of eastern Libya.
Gheriani said Kadafi did not have enough loyal fighters to hold any eastern city or town they had taken over so far.
"He can bomb the heck out of these places," he said, "but he doesn't have to foot soldiers to hold them."
Gheriani and other council officials continued to insist that special-forces troops and army officers who had defected from Kadafi's army were leading and reorganizing the rebel force. But there has been no sign of a coherent leadership for the gun-toting young civilians who have rushed to the front.
Security was heightened Sunday at the downtown Benghazi courthouse that serves as headquarters for the opposition. A front-end loader moved concrete barriers into place to block access to a narrow street leading to the courthouse entrance.
Many shops in the city did not open their doors, and others lowered their shutters as reports from the front came over TV sets and radios. An announcer on the rebel-controlled Free Libya radio station urged residents to remain calm and patient.
Some international journalists drove from Benghazi east to Tobruk on Sunday to avoid being trapped in Benghazi if government forces attempted to encircle and besiege the city. Security was increased at hotels frequented by journalists.
On Saturday afternoon, a cameraman for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network was shot and killed by gunmen about 10 miles west of Benghazi while returning from an assignment. An Al Jazeera correspondent said the network will toughen its security measures but will not be intimidated into leaving Libya.
Othman Battiri, a correspondent for the network, said in an interview at the organization's hotel in Benghazi that the attack was carried out by gunmen loyal to Kadafi. State-run TV has vilified the network, calling it a tool for the rebels and Al Qaeda.
"It was a targeted attack,'' Battiri said. "This is Kadafi's weapon against the Libyan people â to silence the press from reporting the truth.''
Photos: Conflict in Libya continues as Kadafi's forces move east toward Port Brega
Battiri said one of two men in a car that had been following the network's vehicle opened fire with an assault rifle when the vehicle slowed for a speed bump. Cameraman Ali Masan Jaber, 50, was shot three times and died at a Benghazi hospital, he said.
An Al Jazeera correspondent in the vehicle, Baiba Mahadi, was wounded and a Libyan translator was grazed by a bullet, Battiri said. Mahadi left Benghazi by car for the Egyptian border with the cameraman's body, which was to be flown to Qatar.
"We're staying right here,'' Battiri said. "Leaving would only help Kadafi achieve his goals.''
Zucchino reported from Benghazi, Libya, and Fleishman from Ajdabiya, Libya.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
