Libya Live Blog - April 23 from AL JAZEERA 23APR11

UPDATE on the civil war in Libya from Al Jazeera, click the header to go to the blog itself for previous days entries.....

By Al Jazeera Staff in

Africa

on April 22nd, 2011.

[Photo by Reuters]

Show oldest updates on top

As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe.

Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

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(All times are local in Libya GMT+2)

• 4:27pm

  Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna sheds light on the current situation on the ground and the role "tribes" are playing in the battle for Libya:
  
• 4:10pm

  For those of you just joining us, here's a quick recap on the main events in Libya:
  
  - The Pentagon has confirmed that it has launched its first drone attack, but gave no details on the target.
  - A spokesman for opposition forces, meanwhile, says they have won over control of Libya's third largest city, Misurata. There is no independent confirmation of this. 
  - The city's hospitals have been reporting an influx of injured men, including government soldiers.
  Our correspondent, Mike Hanna, has sent this report from the opposition stronghold of Benghazi:
  
  
  
  
• 2:36pm

  At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded in intense street battles in Misurata on Saturday, a doctor told AFP. Khalid Abu Salra said at the main Hikma hospital:
  

  Since 8am we have received 10 dead and 50 wounded, which is usually the number for a full day. We're overwhelmed, overwhelmed. We lack everything: personnel, equipment and medicines.

  
  Rebels captured more than a dozen government soldiers in Misurata and took them to hospital for treatment [Reuters]
• 2:23pm

  The Pentagon has confirmed the first Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, strike in the early afternoon Libya time.
• 12:30pm

  Algerian foreign minister Mourad Medelci has denied allegations of being involved in mercenary operations in Libya or military support to Gaddafi forces. Medelci told Algerian radio that the accusations have been repeatedly denied. He said they were based on agendas unrelated to, and older than, the Libyan conflict.
  A few days ago rebels declared the capture of 15 Algerian mercenaries in Ajdabiya.
  Meanwhile, AFP news agency quoted Libyan National Transitional Council press officer Mahmoud Shamam as saying that Gaddafi has the backing of Arab countries such as Algeria.
• 10:51am

  Read our web producer Evan Hill's blog from Benghazi about how telecommunications engineers in eastern Libya managed to outwit the government's moves to sever communication links by clicking on the page below:
  
• 10:31am

  Rebel sources have told Al Jazeera that NATO warplanes attacked Gaddafi forces near the coastal road between al-Zaitoniya and al-Soihat. There were also reports that 21 Gaddafi army vehicles were destroyed. Sources also said that Gaddafi's forces shelled a village called al-Faluja near Ajdabiya.
• 10:23am

  Al Jazeera has learnt that Libyan rebels have taken over the main hospital in Misurata which was under renovation and used by Gaddafi forces as a base. Rebels are also in control of Misurata bridge near the city's western gate.
  Medical sources say at least 13 people were injured in Friday's fighting, but there were no reported deaths.
• 9:46am

  There may be a possible shift in the two-month Libyan revolt against Gaddafi, with the government saying that NATO air strikes may force troops out of Misurata, Libya's third-largest city, and let local tribes take over the battle.
  Misurata is the last large city held by rebel forces in western Libya and has been under siege for nearly two months. Hundreds of civilians have died in the fighting there.
  About a dozen wounded government soldiers captured by rebels were brought to hospital on Saturday.
  
  Libyan rebels captured more than a dozen government soldiers in Misurata on Saturday [Reuters]
• 8:46am

  A Libya expert and rights advocate has told Reuters news agency on Saturday that the wall of fear protecting Gaddafi may soon crumble. Human Rights Watch emergency response director Peter Bouckaert said:
  

  I think that we are reaching a tipping point. From our discussions with people in many of the western cities, they are waiting for the moment to join the protests.

• 8:40am

  The Libyan army has been ordered to pull out from the western city of Misurata, according to a wounded government soldier captured by rebel forces on Saturday. Khaled Dorman told Reuters news agency:
  

  We have been told to withdraw. We were told to withdraw yesterday.

• 7:37am

  Libya's deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said US Senator John McCain's visit to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya on Friday showed that the "American administration has run out of options".
  

  They are claiming that they are protecting civilians, but what they are doing, they are siding with the rebels.

• 7:27am

  Libyan government officials have taken foreign reporters to an unpaved plot next to Gaddafi's sprawling Bab al-Aziziya residential compound in Tripoli on Saturday to show where NATO jets hit a target nearby, purportedly a car park. Reuters news agency reporters said it looked like a bunker. Officials said the strike killed three people.
  LLibyan officials showed reporters two craters they said were from missiles from a NATO air strike [Reuters]
• 6:51am

  The Libyan government has been conducting guided tours regularly in attempts to show loyal support for embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi.
  
  Gaddafi loyalists rally with posters of the Libyan leader outside Bab al-Azibziya. [AFP]
• 6:39am

  Libyan deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said troops are being withdrawn from fighting in Misurata, saying local "tribes" will now take over the task of subduing the rebels in the area. He said a "surgical solution" had failed due to NATO air strikes.
  

  We will leave it to the tribes around Misurata and its people to deal with the situation there.

  Kaim said the tribal leaders have asked Gaddafi's troops to step aside if they are unable to retake the western Libyan city and would force the rebels to surrender.
  NATO officials said Libyan government forces have adopted some rebel tactics, in plainclothes and using unmarked or civilian vehicles.
• 6:18am

  China has warned Britain against overstepping the UN mandate for operations in Libya, following British Prime Minister David Cameron's plans to send about a dozen military officers to help anti-Gaddafi forces improve their fighting capabilities.
  Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei stopped short of accusing Britain of violating the UN Security Council resolution on theLibyan conflict. Responding to the news, he said on the ministry website late on Friday:
  

  China believes that the United Nations Security Council has primary responsibility for protecting international peace and security, and the various sides should strictly abide by the Security Council mandate in handling matters.
  China disapproves of taking any actions that exceed the mandate of the Security Council.

• 5:37am

  NATO has carried out fresh air raids on Tripoli early on Saturday. According to AFP reporters there were several explosions after warplanes flew over the Libyan capital, triggering anti-aircraft fire.
  Al-Libya TV said the city was "now the target of raids by the barbaric crusafer colonialist aggressor".
• 4:56am

  There are reports of pro-Gaddafi sleeper cells in Ajdabiya. Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports:
   
  
  
• 3:55am

  The AFP news agency has released some photos of Libyan rebles being treated at a Tunisian university hospital in Tataouine - pretty rough images:and another...
  
• 4:02am

  There's more on the Tripoli strike now on Reuters:
  

  Three people were killed on Saturday in a NATO airstrike that hit a carpark near Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound in central Tripoli, a government spokesman said.
  Mussa Ibrahim told reporters it appeared to be a 'very powerful explosion' that struck in the early hours of Saturday.

  However, the news agency is sticking to its previous line that none of its correspondents heard any explosions.
• 2:33am

  According to Libyan authorites, Tripoli has been hit with a fresh NATO strikes. Retuers reports that its correspondents did not hear "any loud explosions but heard jets fly over the city, rattling windows.
• 1:02 am

  Meanwhile, the children were watching....
  Our  Web producer, Evan Hill, sent us this shot from Benghazi. He said that,  "Most of the kids you see on the city's streets these days are carrying toy weapons or tiny BB-shooting blow guns."
  
  

  [Evan Hill/ Al Jazeera]
• 12:26am

  The AFP news agency reports that pro-Gaddafi forces will be leaving Misurata:
  

  The Libyan army will withdraw from Misurata and leave local tribes to resolve the conflict in the country's third largest  city either by talks or through force, the deputy foreign minister said Friday.
  'The situation in Misrata will be dealt with by the tribes around Misurata and Misurata's residents and not by the Libyan army,' Khaled Kaim told journalists.
  'We will leave the tribes around Misrata and Misrata's people to deal with the situation, either using force or negotiation.'