Reply #6: Rebels attack last Gaddafi stronghold in W.Mountains [View All]

[pinboy3niner]

Sat Jul 30, 2011 11:22am GMT


• Capturing town would raise morale in stalemate

• Evidence that Gaddafi forces fled rebel advance


By Michael Georgy


HAWAMID, Libya, July 30 (Reuters) - Rebels have encircled Muammar Gaddafi's last stronghold in Libya's Western Mountain region and hope to seize it soon, a commander said on Saturday.


Rebel tanks fired at Tiji, where an estimated 500 government troops are stationed, and the blasts could be heard from the nearby town of Hawamid, which was captured on Thursday in a new offensive against the army.

...


Seizing Tiji would give the rebels a strategic and psychological boost, and could make it easier for the insurgents, who hold a chain of towns stretching more than 200 km across a bleak mountain plateau from the Tunisian border, to gain access to a key highway leading to Tripoli.

...


Poor army morale may also have helped the rebels. Captured soldiers told Reuters earlier this week that officers had threatened them with death to force them to go to the front line in the Western Mountains.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE76T03J20110730?sp=true