LIBYA: Inexperienced anti-Gaddafi fighters equipped with virtually no training learn the rules of battle on the frontline

Record ID: 375514

  • Title: LIBYA: Inexperienced anti-Gaddafi fighters equipped with virtually no training learn the rules of battle on the frontline
  • Date: 5th October 2011
  • Summary: SIRTE, LIBYA (OCTOBER 4, 2011) (REUTERS) ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER DRIVING ON A HILL ON THE WESTERN FRONTLINE OF SIRTE ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE BEING LAUNCHED ANTI-GADDAFI FIGHTER FIRING HIS MACHINE GUN FIGHTERS NEAR A CONCRETE WALL AT THE FRONTLINE FIGHTER CARS WITH MOUNTED HEAVY MACHINE GUNS FIGHTER LAUNCHING ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE MINARET OF A MOSQUE MORE OF
  • Embargoed: 20th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5Z5ZZ47I5HTPXNCN6T8KFXU60
  • Story Text: On the western frontline of Sirte on Tuesday (October 4), fighters from all ages and backgrounds are preparing to fight what they believe to be the final battle against toppled Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi and his forces.
    They are gathered on a hill on the edge of the embattled city, pounding Gaddafi's hometown with mortar fire, shrouding the horizon with black smoke.
    Each round fired triggers a chorus of Allahu Akbar - God is Great. The fighters, dressed in scraps of military attire, cover their ears and duck their heads. But sometimes, the mortar fails to launch altogether, not that the fighters are too concerned. Equipped with basic military training, the fighters know that this is a new skill that they can only learn on the battlefield, by trial and error.
    ''Well, we learned this with the guys on the frontline and from our field commander, our brother Ismael Aljabali. We were never members of the army. We were civilians, we learned these things during the war against the tyrant Gaddafi,'' said Nabil Bouhadi, a burly man with a cigarette in his mouth, speaking and preparing to launch a mortar at the same time.
    Before the uprising against Gaddafi's 42-year-old regime, Bouhadi was a taxi driver. He switched to fighting because, like thousands of Libyans, he wanted to get rid of Gaddafi, whom he calls a tyrant.
    ''We want freedom, we want freedom, we want freedom. We want Gaddafi down,'' he says.
    Commanders of forces loyal to the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) are now talking of a "final" huge push to take the town as, backed by NATO warplanes, they continue their bombardment of pro-Gaddafi positions inside.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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