The world is too complex for most Westerners and Jihadists to understand.
Storming Tripoli
Members of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, experts in covert intelligence gathering, were part of the 30-strong British special forces team. They linked with their French counterparts at Zuwaytinah, the command headquarters for the eastern front, 90 miles southwest of Benghazi. The French troops are believed to be members of the Commandement des Operations Speciales (COS), which draws from the elite parachute regiments of the French army.
In the air Nato sharpened its information gathering by deploying RAF Sentinel aircraft which can use radar imagery to track the smallest vehicle from 100 miles away. They overflew the battle zones, mapping the positions of Gadaffi forces.
The RAF lost its Nimrod R1 signals intelligence aircraft to government cuts early in the campaign, but began flying alongside American air force crews in two RC-135 Rivet Joint spy planes based at Souda Bay in Crete. They can monitor mobile and satellite telephones as well as standard military radio frequencies.
In a decisive move on August 18, the RAF was called in to sink a boat filled with soldiers loyal to the dictator on their way to defend Libya's last functioning oil refinery at Zawiyah, 30 miles from Tripoli. Once the refinery had fallen, Gadaffi had no fuel for his regime.
The next day rebels enacted the plan to take the capital, when RAF Tornado GR4 aircraft attacked the Baroni Centre, a key communications base in Tripoli.
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As he barked commands over his radio on the opposite side of the road, a bullet smacked into my helmet, sending me flying into the dirt. I checked for blood and was surprised to find none.
Soon afterwards another bullet knocked the camera out of the hands of Paul Conroy, the Sunday Times photographer. He was also unhurt. We were lucky. But for the Libyans, the battle for Bab al-Aziziya was going to be brutal.