Rebels Continue Fight as Qaddafi Remains Defiant
Yesterday, Libyan rebels took control of Muammar Qaddafi's Bab al-Azizya air-conditioned tent compound, and celebrated by wearing his clothes, driving his golf cart, and firing heavy weapons into the air. It was a tactical and symbolic victory, but the six-month-long war is not over. Here's a roundup of some of the latest news out of Libya.
- Kareem Fahim of the Times reports from inside Qaddafi's Bab al-Azizya compound: "The visitors were fighters who had risked their lives to take Bab al-Aziziya or neighbors who wanted to venture down notorious halls. Some people took out their anger on the famous totems of the colonel's bizarre dictatorship, or its vulgar trappings. Several men spent 10 minutes smashing a gold-plated tea trolley. A group around them cheered."
- Zenga Zenga: From an undisclosed location, Qaddafi said in an audio recording released today that, "I have been out a bit in Tripoli discreetly, without being seen by people, and ... I did not feel that Tripoli was in danger." The weather in Caracas is great this time of year.
- Foreign reporters are still trapped inside the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli where, according to the BBC's Matthew Price, "It became clear that we were unable to leave the hotel by our own free will." CNN reporter Matthew Chance ate a Mars bar for breakfast today after a store inside was "smashed open by gunmen. Journalists told to help themselves." We fully support this kind of looting, and hope all are released soon. Update: Matthew Chance writes, "Rixos crisis ends. All journalists are out!"
- GlobalPost's Jon Jensen reports from Benghazi where yesterday, on learning the news of Qaddafi's compound being overrun, residents were "setting off celebratory TNT explosions." However, as one resident told him, "we know that Bab al-Azizia is not the end. It is only the beginning."
- The National Transitional Council is moving some of its key government ministries from Benghazi to Tripoli today.
- And what about the Brother Leader's brood? After Seif al-Islam's reported capture and subsequent appearance riding around in a white limo, no one knows where they are.
- And in the interest of, well, whatever. Here's Max Boot being Max Boot. Ugh.
- The coastal city of Sirte, Muammar Qaddafi's hometown and stronghold of support, is "a holy grail for the rebels advancing from the east." It has long been feared that Sirte will be the site of Qaddafi's final blaze of glory. Several Scud missiles have been launched from the area in recent days.
- Muammar Qaddafi's Russian chess buddy Kirsan Ilyumzhinov says he received a phonecall from the Colonel, who is prepared to "fight to the end."
- Looking ahead, The New Yorker's Jon Lee Anderson offers five rules of thumb for Libya.
This video report from Alex Crawford of Sky News made the rounds yesterday, but it's worth watching again. Here is the coolest person in Libya:
[Image via AP]