War continues Libya with fighting between rebels and Qaddafi forces western part of country 0705113

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Defense News - Libya
 

Saturday, May 7, 2011, 07:36 PM
 
War continues in Libya with fighting between rebels and Qaddafi forces in western part of the country.
 
In Libya, fighting between rebels and forces loyal to leader Muammar Qaddafi continued in the western part of the country, with mortar shells landing on the Tunisian side of the border. Misrata, the only major city in the west of the country which hasn’t fallen to Gaddafi’s army, has become one of the bloodiest battlefields in the two-month conflict.
     
In Libya, fighting between rebels and forces loyal to leader Muammar Qaddafi continued in the western part of the country, with mortar shells landing on the Tunisian side of the border. Misrata, the only major city in the west of the country which hasn’t fallen to Gaddafi’s army, has become one of the bloodiest battlefields in the two-month conflict.
Libyan men react as the main fuel depot in Misrata, Libya burns after a bombing by pro-Gadhafi forces early Saturday, May 7, 2011.
     
Tunisia's state-run Tunis Afrique Presse agency reported that more than 30 artillery rounds fired by Qaddafi's forces fell in the Tunisian town of Dahiba today after fighting broke out near the Tunisian-Libyan border.

Some of the heaviest fighting has raged in Misrata, which is of central importance to the rebels as their only major stronghold near the centers of government power in the west of the country. Most of the rebel forces are based in the east.

Meanwhile, rebels accused Qaddafi loyalists of using helicopters bearing the Red Cross emblem to drop mines into the harbor of the besieged city Misurata.

NATO confirmed that helicopters had flown over the city on May 5 in breach of the no-fly zone its war planes are supposed to enforce. However the organization could not confirm that the choppers were marked with the Red Cross sign.

Moammar Gadhafi's forces rocketed the main fuel depot in Misrata on Saturday, intensifying a two-month siege on the rebel-held city that has claimed civilian lives and prompted warnings of a humanitarian crisis.