Heavy
fighting around the rebel-held Libyan town of Misrata
has left at least 30 people dead, while more than 20 rebels
have been killed in two days of clashes in Zlitan, between
Misrata and Tripoli.
And
Gaddafi forces have also shelled the world-heritage listed
town of Ghadamis for the first time. That opens up a new
front. But this five-month civil war still looks deadlocked
while cracks are appearing among NATO allies.
According
from a spokesperson of Kadhafi, the Libyan army would
have shot down a NATO helicopter.
By seeing the evolution of the conflict, and according
to our analysis, only a ground operation could reduce
to nothing the Kaddafi forces. Indeed, the experiment
of many recent conflicts, like Iraq, Kosovo, and Afghanistan,
showed that air strikes had only limited impact on the
ground military capacities. Moreover after four months,
the many NATO air strikes did not destroy the operational
capacities of Kaddafi military forces.
Rebels have taken on forces loyal to Libyan leader Colonel
Gaddafi near the town of Zawiyah. It is the second day
of fighting and brings the revolt to within 20 kilometres
of the outskirts of the capital, Tripoli. The renewed
fighting around Zawiyah is the closest the rebellion has
come to Gaddafi’s stronghold in Tripoli for months.
The
oil port of Zawiya has been the scene of clashes over
the weekend while rebels are also battling Gaddafi’s
troops near Misrata.
Colonel Kadhafi still announced this Sunday, June 12,
2011, which he would refuse to leave the country and would
not accept any negotiation.