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Four fighters were killed in a gun battle between Libyan militias in one of Tripoli's busiest streets on Tuesday, a fresh sign that its new government is struggling to control the increasingly fractious groups that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. Former rebels from Tripoli controlling a security compound in the capital fought off dozens of fighters from Misrata who were trying to seize a group of prisoners in a gun battle that lasted for more than an hour, medics and former rebels said. Real power still resides with the militias, more than two months after they captured and killed Gaddafi. Since then,...

According to the Spanish daily ABC, a Libyan rebel commander who played a key role in overthrowing the rule of Muammar Qaddafi previously participated in the May 2010 attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza aboard the Turkish-owned vessel the Mavi Marmara. The operation famously culminated in a deadly clash between Israel Defense Force commandos and “activists” armed with iron rods and knives aboard the ship. The paper’s source for the story is the rebel leader himself: Mahdi al-Harati, the commander of the so-called Tripoli Brigades, which are widely credited with having played a decisive role in the rebel...

WASHINGTON — Two hundred and seven years after their deaths, 13 of the Navy’s first fallen heroes this week came closer than ever to returning home from the shores of Tripoli — thanks in part to the efforts of two veterans’ advocates from Western New York. But then Sen. John McCain got in the way.

The military commander of Tripoli, a key figure in the revolution that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, called on other militias to pull their weapons out of Tripoli, accusing them of terrorizing the city's population. The remarks by Abdulhakim Belhadj, whose Tripoli Military Council claims a mandate from Libya's new rulers, follow rising concern about potential conflict among armed groups that converged on Tripoli to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi and have stayed on to demand stakes in a future government. They also follow the announcement a day earlier of another group that it would collect weapons and provide security in the name of...

When, at the outset of the unrest that would eventually lead to his downfall, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asserted that al-Qaeda was behind the challenge to his regime, Western commentators treated his claims with widespread derision and dismissed them out of hand. If it was not already clear from earlier revelations about al-Qaeda-linked rebels, it is now unmistakably clear that such derision was misplaced. The commander of the rebel forces that have taken control of Tripoli is none other than Abdul-Hakim Belhadj, the historical leader of Libya's al-Qaeda affiliate, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). As MEMRI, the Middle East...

Finally, we have evidence that Islamists and even al-Qaeda supporters will play a central role in Libya’s new regime. Up to now there has been reasonable speculation that the U.S. government and NATO might be installing an anti-Western, Islamist government in Libya. Now there’s proof that this is so. The actual government remains in the hands of non-Islamists, technocrats, ex-regime officials, and moderates. But the armed rebels who actually made the revolution have voted and their idol is…an al-Qaeda guy. Political power, said Mao Zedong, grows out of the barrel of a gun and in Libya’s case this seems a...

His name is Abdelhakim Belhaj. Some in the Middle East might have, but few in the West and across the world would have heard of him. Time to catch up. Because the story of how an al-Qaeda asset turned out to be the top Libyan military commander in still war-torn Tripoli is bound to shatter - once again - that wilderness of mirrors that is the "war on terror", as well as deeply compromising the carefully constructed propaganda of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) "humanitarian" intervention in Libya. Muammar Gaddafi's fortress of Bab-al-Aziziyah was essentially invaded and conquered last...

The rotting bodies of 30 men, almost all black and many handcuffed, slaughtered as they lay on stretchers and even in an ambulance in central Tripoli, are an ominous foretaste of what might be Libya's future. The incoming regime makes pious statements about taking no revenge on pro-Gaddafi forces, but this stops short of protecting those who can be labelled mercenaries. Any Libyan with a black skin accused of fighting for the old regime may have a poor chance of survival. The atmosphere in the Libyan capital is frighteningly uncertain a week after the sudden collapse of Gaddafi's forces. Nobody...

Tripoli, Libya, Aug 23, 2011 / 11:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As Libya's conflict rages on between rebel forces and troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, Catholics in the capital city of Tripoli are seeking protection.  “Currently there are three Franciscan friars barricaded in the convent in Tripoli,” a source told the Vatican-based Fides news on Aug. 23. “No one dares to walk in the street because people are shot on sight, even if it is not clear who shoots who.” The fighting in Libya has continued for around six months and is being waged by the rebel Transitional Authority—which is being...

... And a photo album filled with images of Condoleezza Rice. Huh? Apparently, the infamous Libyan leader's fondness for Rice was well-known -- according to the Washington Post, he told Al-Jazeera in 2007: "I support my darling black African woman. I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders ... Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. ... I love her very much. I admire her and I'm proud of her because she's a black woman of African origin." Well, isn't that nice.

A group of rebels besieging a cluster of apartment buildings near the compound of Muammar Gaddafi said they believed the man who led Libya for four decades was hiding in the buildings with some of his sons. Rebels were exchanging fire with Gaddafi loyalists inside the buildings. They did not say why they believed Gaddafi and his sons were inside. "They are together. They are in a small hole," said one of the fighters involved in the battle, Muhammad Gomaa. "Today we finish. Today we will end that."

Streaming in Arabic right now, on the Al Jazeera Arabic news site. Using translation software to read realtime in English. Ticker says that HAMAS has made an official statement of support welcoming the current advance of anti-Ghaddafi rebels in Tripoli, Libya.Link to the original Arabic.

The ICC was negotiating the evasive heir-apparent's transfer to The Haag already- what does this say about the enigmatic rebels we've all but installed in Tripoli? When asked, the only thing the main rebel spokesman had to say -in his best imitation of Baghdad Bob- was "This could be all lies!"... even as the elusive younger Gaddafi spoke on live television. But it is possible he actually was captured (the ICC had confirmed it) yet escaped rebel custody: in fact, the opposition forces appear astonishingly incompetent, as his oldest brother Mohammed Gaddafi -who was not an element of the regime- already bolted...

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Two of Moammar Gadhafi's sons, who had been reported captured over the weekend, were free early Tuesday as forces loyal to the embattled Libyan leader battled rebels trying to consolidate their hold on Tripoli. Saif al-Islam Gadhafi showed up at the Rixos Hotel, one of the remaining strongholds of pro-Gadhafi forces, in a convoy of armored Land Cruisers. In a brief interview with CNN's Matthew Chance, he said his father and several of his sisters were safe in Tripoli, and that loyal troops had "broken the back" of the rebels who moved into the capital over...

Two sons captured as government defenses collapse [pic] Al Jazeera says Gaddafi's forces in his supposed 'stronghold' of Tripoli just fell apart. The 'Gaddafi dead' pic has been circulating on Twitter overnight, looks pretty gruesomely authentic. ________________________________________________________________________ Euphoric Libyan rebels have moved into the centre of the capital, Tripoli, as Muammar Gaddafi's defenders melted away and thousands of jubilant civilians rushed out of their homes to cheer the long convoys of pickup trucks packed with fighters shooting in the air. The rebels' surprising and speedy leap forward, after six months of largely deadlocked civil war, was packed into just a...

SEE http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Saif al-Islam, Moammar Gadhafi's son, has been captured, according to the head of the Rebel National Transitional Council in an interview with Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, a Libyan government spokesman warned of humanitarian disaster and a "massacre" in Tripoli as rebel forces advanced into the capital Sunday, but said forces loyal to longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi were holding off the attacks.

Libyan rebels capture major military base defending Tripoli, seize large stores of weapons.

A truck carrying Libyan rebel fighters drives towards the Zawiyah oil refinery. ZAWIYA, Libya—Fighting raged for a fourth straight day in this strategic coastal city 30 miles west of Tripoli on Wednesday, as rebel fighters battled to mop up pockets of loyalist soldiers and laid siege to the regime's last working oil refinery. The roads leading to Zawiya were clogged with rebel fighters pouring toward town and refugees fleeing in the opposite direction. The refugee flow from Zawiya, a city of 200,000 people, and from Tripoli hinted at the possible flood that could pour into rebel-held havens and neighboring Tunisia...

Libyan rebels have inflicted a devastating blow on Col Muammar Gaddafi’s Tripoli stronghold with a strike on a key oil pipeline that has triggered widespread electricity blackouts in the capital. Advances by rebel forces in the west and east of Libya in recent days threaten to encircle the regime. Rebels claimed to have taken Bir Ghaneim, a fiercely contested town that is the gateway to the coastal road to Tunisia, and a Qatari shipment of arms on Saturday bolstered their advance on Zlitan in the east. The severe disruption of electricity in Tripoli as a result of an attack at...

“From the Halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country’s battles, in the air, on land, and sea.”- Official Hymn of the U.S. Marine Corps. Have you ever wondered what is Tripoli doing in our Marines’ official hymn? On this memorial day, let us remember those who gave their lives that we might be free from muslim terror! Ambassador Thomas Jefferson had a wake up call the day he met with muslim leaders. Thomas Jefferson asked why are muslims attacking American ships when we are doing nothing to incite any form of violence. To his shock,...

More than two centuries after they died off the coast of present-day Libya, the remains of the first 13 Navy commandos in U.S. history — in the words of one supporter, the “earliest Navy SEALs” — are one step closer to coming home after the U.S. House voted last week to insist the Pentagon get them back. Brushing off prior opposition from the Pentagon, House lawmakers attached the directive to the annual defense policy bill that cleared the chamber on Thursday, with backers saying it was time to honor the daring men as fallen heroes. “The United States has an...

TRIPOLI — A NATO bombing blitz rocked Tripoli Tuesday while rebels in besieged Misrata said they are pushing back Moamer Kadhafi's forces and the UN warned Libya is being paralysed by widespread shortages. Jets screamed in low over the Libyan capital in the early hours of the morning, carrying out an unusually heavy bombardment over roughly three hours, an AFP correspondent said.

Libyan rebels recaptured the eastern oil town of Ras Lanuf and advanced farther west on Sunday, reclaiming territory after western air strikes destroyed regime tanks, armoured personnel carriers, rocket launchers and trucks. The rapid push westwards by opposition forces, who just over a week ago had been under siege in Benghazi, underlined how air strikes against Muammer Gaddafi’s forces by US, French, Canadian and British fighter jets have changed the dynamics of the conflict. The rebels, mostly volunteers with little or no training and light weapons, had been overwhelmed by the better equipped and better trained regime forces. But western...

A shocking scene occurred in Tripoli on Saturday when a gun was pointed at Sky News after a woman tried to tell foreign journalists about being raped and tortured by Libyan officials. A visibly very distressed woman burst into the breakfast room of the hotel where we are staying and attempted to speak out about an ordeal at the hands of Gaddafi supporters. As correspondents here in Tripoli under the supervision of the Libyan government, we are not allowed to move around freely. However, it has become apparent to those in the city that there are a clutch of journalists...

Just breaking on TV between Admiral John Stufflebeem and FOX News host

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/19/libya.civil.war/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1 More than 110 Tomahawk missiles fired from American and British ships and submarines hit about 20 Libyan air and missile defense targets in western portions of the country, U.S. Vice Adm. William Gortney said at a Pentagon briefing.

The anti-Gaddafi uprising, the bloodiest yet against a long-serving ruler in the Arab world, has knocked out nearly half the country’s daily oil output of 1.6million barrels, the bedrock of its economy. Fierce fighting raged in five towns and cities yesterday following Friday prayers, with both pro-Gaddafi and rebel forces launching offensives and counter-offensives. Witnesses reported 50 dead and 300 wounded in the key city of Zawiyah, 30 miles west of the capital Tripoli, in an intensive artillery barrage by Gaddafi’s forces on a heavily-populated civilian area. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1362962/Major-Libyan-oil-plant-ablaze-rebellions-erupt-Tripoli-Friday-prayers.html#ixzz1FgjvKAhw

Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has appeared in Tripoli's Green Square, to address a crowd of his supporters in the capital. "We can defeat any aggression if necessary and arm the people," Gaddafi said, in footage that was aired on Libyan state television on Friday. "I am in the middle of the people.. we will fight … we will defeat them if they want … we will defeat any foreign aggression. "Dance … sing and get ready … this is the spirit … this is much better than the lies of the Arab propaganda," he said. The speech, which also...

Latest from CNN reporter from sources: Only about 10% of military still loyal, most not willing to eisk necks for Qaddafi. 3 Libyan warships ordered to attack Ben Ghazi, have an apparent mutiny in process, still have not left Tripoli port. Protesters have aoppaently taken a town les than 10 miles away from Tripoli. and have raised pre Qaddafi Libyan flag. Qaddafi has ordered a large number of his tanks to block off the eastern aproach to Tripoli, in fear of what he thinks is coming. Soldiers who have refused to attack citizens have been executed on Kaddafi's orders...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. says some Americans are trapped in Libya outside of the capital and want to leave. The Obama administration is working with other countries to get them out. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley declined to say Wednesday how many U.S. citizens hope to be evacuated from parts of Libya where the U.S. cannot reach them. The White House said Wednesday that President Barack Obama "strongly condemns" the bloodshed in Libya and will address the situation either later Wednesday or Thursday.

'Leader of the Revolution' appears on Libyan state TVwhile bodies pile-up in the streets of Tripoli... Libyan TV Anyone -like myself- wondering if Muammar Gadaffi's warped son Saif al Islam Gaddafi was just blustering on Libyan TV -wagging his finger while threatening "a river of blood" emanating from "civil war" fought to "the last bullet"- got their answer last night in the form of a gruesome ongoing massacre inflicted by military/security/militia loyalists upon their own countrymen... Saif al Islam Gaddafi There's reportedly been bombing of funeral processions and civilian areas of the capitol by fighter jets, while on the...

Moammar Gadhafi emerged Tuesday morning on state-run television in a 40-second appearance to say that he is not in Venezuela as rumored, but in Tripoli. "I want to have some rest," the embattled Libyan leader told a reporter in front of what Libyan television said was his house as he pulled out an umbrella in the rain. "Because I was talking to the young man at Green Square, and I want to stay the night with them but then it started raining. I want to show them that I am in Tripoli, not in Venezuela. Don't believe those dogs in...

Anti-government protests raged Monday for the first time in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, with unconfirmed media reports of pro-regime snipers firing into crowds, bloody clashes on the city's main square, and fires blazing in key government buildings. Al Jazeera reported that a fire was burning inside the People's Hall, a symbol of longtime strongman Moammar Kadafi's repressive regime. TV images ......posted using frpa

Another grenade exploded Saturday in the Tripoli wheat market of Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood in the northern Lebanon city of Tripoli , according to local reports... This is the second such incident in the same district within 2 days. Nobody was reportedly injured, but some property was damaged. A grenade exploded outside a Sunni Muslim cemetery in the same impoverished district on Friday evening, without causing any casualties or damage. Some reports pointed to Hezbollah as being behind a terror campaign to assume power in Lebanon. Hezbollah reportedly is exerting pressure on the Tripoli MPs to support its candidate for the...

More than 40 European Union and African leaders met in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, for the third African Union-European Union Summit. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi chaired the summit, slamming international organizations, including the WTO, World Bank and the United Nations... lashing out at the World Trade Organization and the World Bank, claiming they had done little during their years of existence to help developing countries. He says developing countries are facing debt payments to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization... stresses that poor countries in the developing world, especially those in Africa, do...

As the NIAC and Trita Parsi story unfolds in the wake of Eli Lake’s bombshell story, it is interesting to note just how it might be that many on the Left are simultaneously reaching the same conclusions (e.g., it’s all a neocon conspiracy, Parsi is besieged by an MEK agent). On Parsi and NIAC’s side is Brown Lloyd James, a PR firm with much experience in this area. The firm’s website tells us: “Brown Lloyd James handled the international launch of Al Jazeera English.” And we also know from news reports that “Brown Lloyd James, a public relations firm with...

TRIPOLI: An eight-year-old Dutch boy was the sole survivor when a Libyan plane arriving from South Africa exploded on landing at Tripoli airport on Wednesday, killing more than 100 people, officials said. Afriqiyah Airways listed 93 passengers and 11 crew members on board its flight 8U771 from Johannesburg. "I can confirm the crash but not the number of the dead," said Bongani Sithole, an official of the airline at Johannesburg airport. "We hear that it happened one metre (yard) away from the runway." A Libyan security official earlier said that all those on board the Airbus A330 had died but...

A Libyan plane arriving from South Africa crashed on Wednesday at Tripoli airport killing 105 people, a security official told AFP.

SNIPPET: "I’ll explain the whole reason I’m in Tripoli right now when I get back but it’s not coincidence that all this stuff is going on while I’m here. I’m part of a small group of invited guests from the Qaddaffi Foundation to study their rehabilitation and integration program. I’ve got reems of photos and primary source interviews with some senior former members of LIFG. I’m excited to come back and share with my readers."

Libya staged a lavish spectacle Tuesday, parading white-robed horsemen and gold-turbaned dancers as jets streaked overhead to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moammar Gadhafi to power in the oil-rich nation. The four-day festivities were designed to highlight the volatile leader's acceptance on the world stage, but were overshadowed by new controversies about the recent return of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland. While African leaders held a summit to coincide with the celebrations, most Western leaders stayed away. Libya's decision to include a...

Over ferocious American objections, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie jet bombing, flew home to a jubilant welcome in Libya on Thursday night after the Scottish government ordered his release on compassionate grounds. Mr. Megrahi,57, a former Libyan intelligence agent, had served 8 years of a 27-year minimum sentence on charges of murdering 270people in Britain’s worst terrorist episode. Widely forecast in British news reports over the past week, his release angered many Americans whose relatives died in the bombing, leaving them to confront anew the agony and anguish of loss and to question...

Looking at the video, you'd think it was someone who had just won 5 gold medals in the Olympics getting off the plane, sadly this SOB is responsible for killing 270 people in 1988...

Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi has lashed out at the United States by likening the 1986 U.S. Strikes on Libya to Osama bin Laden's terror attacks on the United States in 2001. He was speaking Thursday in Rome, where he is on a three-day official visit. In a speech to Italian lawmakers, Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi urged the world to understand the reasons that motivate terrorists. He called for dialogue with terrorists, saying, "One must talk to the devil, if it brings about a solution." While condemning al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, he implied there was little difference between bin Laden's...

BOOK REVIEW The Mother of Mohammed by Sally Neighbour Reviewed by David Wilson What drives a blonde Australian beach bunny to go on jihad? That extraordinary question serves as the premise for one of the most absorbing non-fiction titles to surface this year. The Mother of Mohammed (MUP) by Australian journalist Sally Neighbour, 48, digs into the background of the beach bunny in question, Rabiah - born Robyn - Hutchinson, with flair, wit and candor. This book pulls no punches. "She was a scrawny, pale-skinned runt, with a shock of frizzy white-blonde hair and an eye-patch she wore from the...

Law Of The Sea: The U.S. seeks U.N. authorization to fight Somali pirates from the air, on land and at sea. When American cruise ships become targets, maybe it's time to renew a proud tradition: Send in the Marines.On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice formally presented to a special U.N. session on Somalia a draft Security Council resolution saying that member states fighting against piracy "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including its airspace, to interdict those who are using Somali territory to plan, facilitate or undertake acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea and to...

TRIPOLI // Abu Ahmad looks around his deserted machine shop in the impoverished Tripoli neighbourhood of Beb al Tibani and blames last summer’s sectarian violence between the Sunni and Allawite sects for the poor business. “A year later and we have seen our business fall almost 90 per cent because of the fighting last summer,” he said. “We see those incidents as a mistake and so do many of the Allawite up the mountain, for they lost their jobs as well.” Abu Ahmad admits that he is no innocent victim of last year’s fighting, which killed dozens of people in...

[...] Almost 180 years ago our infant country attacked Tripoli under circumstances that are eerily similar to contemporary times. That conflict, immortalized in the Marine Corps Hymn, "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli" called the Tripolitan War or the Barbary Pirate War, came shortly after we gained our independence from England. The United States chose to fight the pirates of Barbary, rather than pay tribute, as did all the other nations who traded in the Mediterranean Sea. The decision was bold, but the eventual victory by the tiny United States Navy broke a pattern of international...

The Wars of the Barbary PiratesEssential Histories #66Osprey Introduction Most Americans are unaware that, as a young republic, their nation fought a war with the Barbary pirates, the North African corsairs who plied the waters of the Mediterranean at the turn of the 19th century in search of ships to loot and men to enslave. This is perhaps not surprising, for the wars were conducted on a small scale, over a short period of time, and at a considerable distance from American shores. They were, moreover, the product of one of the most inglorious – even degrading – episodes in...

Roadside bomb kills at least 18 in Lebanon It was the worst attack on the army since last summer, when it fought a 16-week battle with al- Qaeda-inspired militant group Fatah al-Islam, losing 170 soldiers. The gunmen, of Lebanese, Palestinian and other Arab nationalities, were holed up in the Nahr El-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, just north of Tripoli. Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi and other fighters slipped away during the battle and remain on the loose.