April 2011 in the Libyan Civil War

1 April
al-Zaif Jamahriya regime forces intensified their attack on Misrata, using tanks, RPGs and artillery on civilian buildings.
*Rebel forces on the outskirts of Brega were bolstered by the arrival of a number of well-armed, seemingly well-trained soldiers in full military attire. It was not immediately clear where they were from.
*Al Jazeera reported that Swedish lawmakers approved a plan to send up to eight fighter jets and one transport plane to join the NATO-led air operations over Libya.
*NATO airstrikes destroyed a al-Zaif regime military convoy attempting to enter Misrata.
*Rebels said neither side could claim control of Brega, one of a string of oil towns along the Mediterranean coast that have been taken and retaken by each side in recent weeks. Warplanes flew over Brega, followed by the sound of explosions.
*The Benghazi-based opposition offered a conditional ceasefire, Mahmudi's government described its terms as 'mad,' saying it required his government to withdraw troops from cities.
*A rebel convoy near Brega fired into the air with an anti-aircraft gun, perhaps in celebration. A coalition plane (likely an A-10 Thunderbolt II) then returned fire and killed at least thirteen people.
2 April
*In the early morning, rebels managed to break through the eastern gate of Brega. They took control of most of the city from loyalist forces before loyalist artillery hit the rebels and by mid-afternoon the opposition forces had retreated from the town and were regrouping at a checkpoint to the east of the city. Later, the rebels managed once again to enter the town and took control of a part of it. However, a large number of Jamahiriya forces were holed up at the university and the rebels were still not able to get into the city center.
*AVAAZ.org created a signable petition with the goal of convincing Turkey to request the al-Zaif regime government to free al-Obeidi.
*Libya's rebel council named what it called a "crisis team", including a new armed-forces head, which was to administer parts of the country it was helping in its struggle to destabilise their enemies in Libya.
*In Misrata, after weeks of shelling and encirclement, Jamahiriya forces appeared to be gradually loosening the rebels' hold there, despite Western air strikes on Jamahiriya assets. The rebels said they still controlled the city center and the sea port, but al-Zaif regime forces had pushed into the center along the main thoroughfare.
3 April
*In the morning, the rebels advanced in an attempt to take Brega's university campus only to be ambushed and came up on roadside mines which led to a rebel retreat 30-35 kilometers (19-22 miles) from the town. Some of the better-trained rebels were still left behind on Brega's outskirts locked in skirmishes and artillery duels with Jamahiriya forces in the town.
*Jamahiriya forces shelled the town of Az Zintan, southwest of Tripoli.
*Water and electricity shortages worsened in Misrata, particularly on the outskirts of the city. The area near the central-city hospital was bombarded.
4 April
*Libyan rebels again advanced towards the oil town of Brega.
*Backed by coalition airstrikes, revolutionaries pushed back into Brega and were holding the eastern part of the town.
*Italy recognised the interim national council in Benghazi as its "only legitimate interlocutor" in Libya, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Monday.
*A resident of a town in the Jabal al-Gharbi area, about 230 km southwest of the capital, told Agence France-Presse that Jamahiriya forces fired Grad rockets today at the town of Nalut, and that they were taken the town of Kekla.
*Rebels pulled back, after a night of fighting, from inside Brega to the outskirts. They re-assembled at the eastern edge to prepare for further fighting. At that point, loyalist artillery started firing on the rebels which led to them pulling back from Brega's outskirts in a panicked retreat. After that, an eight-vehicle military convoy, belonging to Jamahiriya forces, approached the rebel's positions, east of Brega, it was hit by air strikes destroying two vehicles while the rest turned back. An Agence France-Presse reporter confirmed there were no fatalities among loyalist forces in the attack.
*An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that the defected 36th "AsSaiqa" battalion is attacking from the south of Brega in the desert. They are currently launching a heavy attack against Jamahiriya forces using Grad missiles. They have managed to push west once more towards the area of Arbaeen which has caused Jamahiriya forces to retreat. It is difficult to verify casualties right now, but four shells landed directly in an area where revolutionaries were congregated earlier. Ambulances were seen rushing to that area and they have not come back since.
*Defected interior minister and Major General Abdul Fatah Younis criticized NATO by saying it is not doing enough, and that civilians are dying every day. Younis talked about how sewage in was being re-routed into water wells in Misrata by Jamahiriya forces, and that water supplies are running desperately short in Misrata.
6 April
*Al Jazeera English reported that the rebels in Nalut and Az Zintan entered Yifrin and helped their allies there to fight against loyalists. Armed with Kalashnikov rifles, they were able to drive Jamahiriya forces from Yifrin.
*An escaped prisoner reported that rebel soldiers captured by Jamahiriya forces were being tortured in an underground prison in Sirte.
*There was heavy fighting along the coastal road between Ajdabiya and Brega, Reuters reported. Loyalists had been resupplied with ammunition. The rebels were, at that point, some away from Brega.
*During the early morning, a ship carrying 300 migrants from Libya capsized in rough seas off Italy. Survivors told of trying to reach rescue boats as those unable to swim screamed in the darkness and pulled one another under water. There was speculation that 250 people of the 300 died. If the number of dead is confirmed, it would be the deadliest crossing to Italy in recent memory and the worst refugee disaster since a wave of migrants began arriving in Italy in January after popular revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The Italian Coast Guard rescued forty-eight people later in the day and a fishing boat picked up three after the vessel began taking on water shortly after 1 a.m.
7 April
*A Libyan rebel tank convoy was hit by a NATO air strike killing thirteen and wounding many. Following the attack, loyalists chased the rebel forces to Ajdabiya, and both civilians and some rebels were on the verge of retreating from the city amid rumors Jamahiriya forces were preparing for an attack.
*The US might consider putting troops on the ground for a ground offensive, Army General Carter Ham said.
8 April
*NATO confirmed it had bombed rebel tanks.
*UNICEF reported, based upon consistent reports from local sources, that Jamahiriya snipers in Misrata showed a pattern of indiscriminately targeting children. The Red Cross was sending a team on a boat to Misrata to investigate.
* The US Department of the Treasury announced new sanctions against five senior Jamahiriya persons: Ali al-Mahmoudi Al Baghdadi, Shukri Ghanem, Abdulhafid Zlitni, Tohami Khaled and Bashir Saleh. The US now had personal sanctions in place against sixteen people and had frozen over US$34 billion in overseas assets related to the al-Zaif regime.
9 April
*The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that its 130-cubic-metre relief shipment had arrived in Misrata.
*During the morning, Jamahiriya forces shelled the western outskirts of Ajdabiya. A Reuters correspondent reported hearing blasts and machine gun fire for around thirty minutes from the western boundary of the town, which is the gateway to Benghazi.
*Despite the UN no-fly-zone policy, the rebel side used an Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter.
*Jalilist militia said NATO airstrikes helped them hold Ajdabiya and drive Jamahiriya forces out during the weekend's attack. They said the loyalist incursion in western Ajdabiya lasted perhaps twenty-four hours and took thirteen civilian lives.
*BBC News reported that an African Union mission had arrived in Libya to try to negotiate a ceasefire between the rebels and the loyalists.
11 April
*NATO announced that its Operation Unified Protector destroyed eleven tanks on 11 April, twenty-five tanks on 10 April and forty-nine since 9 April.
*A rebel spokesman in Misrata said they saw no evidence of a ceasefire. Instead, Jamahiriya forces seemed to be stepping up their attack on the city, using Grad rockets for the first time. Intense street fighting continued.
*BBC News reported that the rebels rejected a peace plan presented by the African Union. The rebels said they were rejecting the truce because it did not include provide adequate detail regarding the trasitionary role, if any, of Muammar Gaddafi.
12 April
*On 12 April, rebel fighters claimed they took position west of the strategic town of Ajdabiyah after clashes with Jamahiriya forces that left at least three dead. Jamahiriya forces bombarded the western entrance to Ajdabiya, a witness reported. Eight blasts, apparently from artillery, were heard by the witness.
*Reuters reported that Jamahiriya forces had attacked Zintan. The attacks for the most part were random firing from north of the town.
*Reuters also reported that rebels in Misrata repelled two attacks from Jamahiriya forces. The fighting was on Tripoli Street, which leads to the city center, and Nak el Theqeel Street, which leads to the city's port.
*The Pentagon said on 13 April that US fighter jets had conducted strikes on Libyan air defenses even after NATO took command over operations in Libya. Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said US aircraft had been dropping bombs on Libyan air defenses following the full handover earlier this month to NATO control of the coalition operation there. US officials had previously said that the US was limiting its current role in the operation to support and patrolling of a no-fly zone over Libya. Lapan said the US remained in a support role.
*Jamahiriya forces fired anti-aircraft guns at NATO warplanes from positions in central Tripoli. Coalition jets appeared to have increased the amount of sorties flown over the capital and could be heard flying over throughout the morning and early afternoon. A NATO strike on Tripoli damaged parts of a university complex. Smoke was also seen on a military base, which was the target of the attack. Several people were injured.
*There was fierce fighting at the front line, halfway between Brega and Ajdabiya. Agence France-Presse reported that a convoy of sixty opposition vehicles came under heavy artillery and mortar fire. They rushed reinforcements to the front line between their territory in the east and the mainly government-held west. The AFP correspondent counted some 100 rebel vehicles heading to the front.
15 April
*A ship with nearly 1,200 Asian and African migrants, many in bad shape after weeks with little food or water, left Misrata on Friday for Benghazi, the International Organization for Migration said. The chartered Greek vessel, Ionian Spirit, managed to unload 400 tonnes of aid supplies in Misrata overnight despite shelling on 14 April, the international aid agency said.
*NATO launched three new air strikes in and around Tripoli. They struck a missile battery and two other targets.
*NATO strikes hit the area of al-Assah, about west of Tripoli.
*Troops loyal to Muammar Qaddafi unleashed heavy shelling Friday on Misrata, pushing troops and tanks into the rebel-held western city, a witness said.
*At the United Nations, Russia, China, and India prevent sanctions from being imposed on Libyan state TV.
16 April
*Sirte and Al-Hira south-west of Tripoli, were the targets in air strikes by NATO. The city had already been the target of raids Friday.
Rebel media claim that:
*Jamahiriya forces launched a Grad rocket attack on an industrial area in Misrata this morning.
*Rebel forces have advanced to the oil town of Brega. They say to have brought engineers with them to repair damage to the refineries and the terminal. The officer who told AP also attributed their advance to NATO airstrikes.
*More than 20 rebel fighters were wounded with at least six killed during fighting on the road between Adjabiya and Brega.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu