Libyan rebels forces target the city of Sirte Gadhafi's birthplace 2903111

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Defense News - The conflict in Libya
 

Tuersday, March 29, 2011, 10:57 AM
 

Libyan rebels forces target the city of Sirte Gadhafi's birthplace.
 
 
Libyan Rebel forces bore down Monday on Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, a key government stronghold where a brigade headed by one of the Libyan leader's sons was digging in to defend the city and setting the stage for a bloody and possibly decisive battle.
     
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Rebels credited coalition airstrikes with helping them regain ground, noting that they had encountered little resistance as they headed west over the weekend. But they said Monday that they need more airstrikes to advance further.

On Monday, rebel fighters moved about 70 miles west from the coastal oil terminal and town of Ras Lanouf to just beyond the small town of Bin Jawad, where their push was halted by government fire along the exposed desert highway and the heavily mined entrance to Sirte.

Sirte, which houses a significant air and military base, is crucial both for its strategic position and its symbolic value. Over the years, Gadhafi has made it effectively Libya's second capital, building up what had been a quiet agricultural community into a city of 150,000 with lavish conference halls where Arab and African summits were held.
     
Libyan Rebel forces bore down Monday on Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, a key government stronghold where a brigade headed by one of the Libyan leader's sons was digging in to defend the city and setting the stage for a bloody and possibly decisive battle.
Libyan rebels progress westward Monday from the town of Bin Jawad toward Sirte