The past few days in Libya have been historic. All attention is now on Tripoli but I want to focus on Misrata here. When the rebellion first broke out, all of Libya’s major cities and smaller ones, with the exception of Tripoli and Sirte, Qaddafi’s city of birth, fell to the revolution. Qaddafi’s counter-offensive captured almost all the main cities in the west and moved onwards towards the rebel capital of Benghazi in the east. One city, however, held out against Qaddafi forces’ repeated onslaughts: Misrata (Libya’s 3rd largest city). Although Benghazi was the heart of the rebellion, Misrata was its inspiration, resilience, and fighting spirit. Misrata, along Libya’s coast east of Tripoli, has played a strategic role in the rebellion’s recent offensive in Tripoli. Reports indicate that 1,000 rebels in Misrata boarded a NATO-guarded ship and sailed to Tripoli and docked in a pro-revolution stronghold of Tajoura to help with a revolutionary uprising coordinated with the rebel march that has been zeroing in on Tripoli in the past couple days. The results of which are now being recorded in history before our eyes. Reports suggest that Saif al-Islam, Qaddhafi’s dirtbag son who gave the world three options (1-that his family will fight and die in Libya; 2- that his family will fight and die in Libya; 3- that his family will fight and die in Libya), has now proven that that sloganeering meant that he was willing to send soldiers to fight and die for his family’s tyrannical rule but he himself was only willing to face capture, not die fighting.
Here’s a short video of rebel advances in the last few days.
