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NATO has carried out airstrikes on the Moammar Gadhafi stronghold city of Bani Walid, as fighters seeking to rout him retreated after heavy battles there overnight, reports from Libya said Saturday. A Reuters reporter on the ground said there were at least five explosions Saturday as NATO flew aircraft overhead. Earlier, anti-Gadhafi fighters pulled back from Bani Walid, saying they expected NATO attacks on the town. In a new audio message from hiding, Gadhafi calls on his followers to rise up and fight, saying "this is the zero hour."

AGADEZ, Niger — A large military convoy from Libya arrived in the northern Niger city of Agadez late Monday, a military source told AFP. "I saw an exceptionally large and rare convoy of several dozen vehicles enter Agadez from Arlit... and go towards Niamey," the source said, amid speculation that toppled leader Moamer Kadhafi may be in it. "There are persistent rumours that Kadhafi or one of his sons are travelling in the convoy," the source said. A journalist from a private radio station in Agadez said he saw "a convoy of several dozen vehicles crossing the city and heading...

If it's true the Navy has been shooting down scud missiles over Libya from sea, and for whatever reason Navy information never reported this, it's time to cut the Navy Information budget by 75%.

Despite signs of dangerous fractures among the Libyan rebels who ousted Moammar Gadhafi, the United States and its European allies have ruled out a significant nation-building role or major infusions of aid to the postwar government in Tripoli. The moves toward disengagement reflect the allies’ desire to scale back after a 5 1/2-month air war that strained their militaries and treasuries, and exposed their leaders to criticism at home. The United States, France and Britain were the leading participants in the NATO campaign. President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are especially eager to put the war behind them...

Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links Mr al-Hasidi...added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader". His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, "including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries". Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan". He was later handed over to the US, 5 years later released from GITMO and then...

JANZOUR, Libya Aug 31 (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's foreign minister, Abdelati Obeidi, was arrested on Tuesday at his farm in Janzour, a suburb west of Tripoli, a Reuters correspondent said.

Rebel commanders say Khamis Gaddafi, one of Colonel Gaddafi's most feared sons, has been killed in an air strike 60km south of Tripoli. He is said to have been in an armoured Toyota Land Cruiser when it was reportedly blasted off the road by a missile apparently from a Nato Apache helicopter. Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, who is at the scene, said a man claiming to be Khamis' bodyguard confirmed that he had died in the vehicle. The explosion incinerated the 4x4 and was so intense it set nearby trees on fire, Ramsay reports. Claims about the death of...

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has fled Libya to Zimbabwe on a jet provided by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, it was claimed today, as rebels began the march on his home town. President Mugabe's political opponents claim their spies saw Gaddafi arrive in the country on a Zimbabwe Air Force jet in the early hours of Wednesday morning. They say the Libyan dictator was taken to a mansion in Harare's Gunninghill suburb, where agents from his all-female bodyguard were apparently seen patrolling the grounds.

The fighting in Libya is taking a new twist as rebels engage in despicable atrocities with reports of summary executions as they hunt for ‘mercenaries’ who they alleged aided and supported Gaddafi’s forces. The ‘mercenaries’, mostly from sub-saharan Africa, were said to be violently massacred in revenge for their role in the ongoing conflict. It seems the TRC has been unable to prevent such acts of heinous crimes despite appeals from the UN and the international community to the rebels not to carry out reve nge killings. At this point, the TRC seems more anxious to take power in Libya...

The White House is spinning the US role in Nato's support for Libyan rebels a foreign policy triumph. That hardly stacks up In case you weren't paying attention, the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi has been claimed by the White House as a vindication of President Barack Obama's decision to "lead from behind". Almost as soon as the rebels reached Tripoli, the administration's deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, Ben Rhodes, began spinning the media that Obama's light footprint approach to regime change was infinitely superior to the Bush approach. Administration officials fell over themselves to point out that the...

We join the Libyan people in gratefulness as we hear of Col. Gaddafi’s defeat. The fall of a tyrant and sponsor of terrorism is a great day for freedom-loving people around the world. But the path to democracy in Libya is not complete, and we must make wise choices to ensure that our national interests are protected.

Developments this week with Libya and Syria show that President Barack Obama is in way over his head on U.S. foreign policy – once again. In Libya, rebel fighters are closing in on Col. Moammar Qaddafi’s stronghold of Tripoli - though remain locked in a six-month civil war and face a potential bloodbath in taking the city. This is despite Mr. Obama’s headlong rush to lead “kinetic military action” in March to back them up, an effort expected by some optimists in Washington to last weeks. NATO, with U.S. forces at the core, is still at it. With Syria, Mr....

Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year grip on power in Libya looked more precarious than ever on Friday night, as rebel forces advanced on the capital from three directions after breaking out of the once-besieged town of Misrata. With rebels taking control of the coastal town of Zlitan in the east, those in the west claimed to have made progress clearing out the last pro-Gaddafi troops from Zawiyah, 30 miles west of Tripoli. They now have the main coastal road under pressure on both sides of the capital and also under threat from the Nafusa mountains. Gaddafi's army outside Tripoli is trapped in...

Libyan rebels are threatening to isolate the capital, Tripoli, as they capture key towns to the south and west of the city and work to cut off supply routes in their bid to push leader Moammar Gadhafi from power. The rebels say they control most of Zawiya, a strategic town 50 kilometers west of Gadhafi's power base in Tripoli. Rebel fighters entered Zawiya Saturday in their closest approach to the capital since government forces crushed Zawiya's rebel movement in the early weeks of the uprising. Pro-Gadhafi forces exchanged fire with rebel fighters in Zawiya Monday, trying to push them back...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Libyan government forces tapped into their stores of Scud missiles this weekend, firing one for the first time in this year's conflict with rebels, but hurting no one, U.S. defense officials said Monday.

Khamis, the feared military commander and son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, was shown on state television on Wednesday, days after rebels reported his death. Tripoli denied the claim at the time, but a rebel spokesman on Wednesday insisted that Khamis was dead. The broadcaster showed footage of what it said was a visit on Tuesday by the uniformed 28-year-old, Kadhafi's youngest son, to a hospital to meet "victims of NATO raids." The date of the recording could not be confirmed. If genuine, it would be the first time Khamis had been seen in public since Friday, when rebels said...

Rebels in the western Libyan town of Zliten were said to be low on ammunition and on the defensive on Sunday, as the regime said its forces had retaken the strategic southwest town of Bir Ghanam. Abdul Wahab Melitan, a rebel spokesman in the port city of Misrata near Zliten, said forces loyal to strongman Moamer Kadhafi had launched an assault on rebel positions in Zliten's Souk Telat area, killing three and wounding 15. "The rebels lack ammunition to advance and we do not want to risk losing any ground," Melitan said. Meanwhile, a rebel source at Al-Qusbat, around 90...

... As the ice and snow fell on March 27, two B-1s took off during a snow and ice storm. The two bombers flew east across the United States and over international waters. Flying with the wind, the jets required four mid-air refuelings to reach Libya. Hart said the crews flew over water after leaving the U.S. "Whenever we fly a military aircraft over another country's airspace you need a diplomatic clearance," Hart said. "The clearances take time we didn't have, and there's less visibility if you're not flying over someone's country." After dropping the first wave of bombs, the...

Supporters of Muammar Gaddafi participate in a demonstration in Tripoli, Libya, 28 July 2011. War on Libya has not gone well. Kim Sengupta's report on Wednesday detailed this starkly: "Fresh diplomatic efforts are under way to try to end Libya's bloody civil war, with the UN special envoy flying to Tripoli to hold talks after Britain followed France in accepting that Muammar Gaddafi cannot be bombed into exile. The change of stance by the two most active countries in the international coalition is an acceptance of realities on the ground. Despite more than four months of sustained air strikes by...

Sure, the economy is hurting so a job's a job... but will any public relations firms agree to take on Moammer Gadhafi and the Libyan government as a client? The NY Post reports, "The Libyan strongman...is looking to hire a New York public-relations rep to scrub his homicidal image, asking for help to counter the fallout of a civil war that threatens to topple his brutal regime." Some of the duties would include "head[ing] daily press briefings and spread[ing] the good word on the tyrant's 'moral' and 'legal' claims to power -- all while rebel forces battle to end Khadafy's...