Muammar Gaddafi's forces come under fire from the west

Source: The Guardian

Muammar Gaddafi's increasingly stretched army is struggling to crush a surprise rebel offensive in Zawiya, a strategic town just 30 miles west of Tripoli, while fighting has also been reported in the largest town in the Libyan Sahara.

At least 13 rebel fighters and civilians were killed in Zawiya on Saturday after the attack on government forces.

Guma el-Gamaty, a London-based opposition spokesman, said on Sunday several hundred rebels remained "well-protected and entrenched" in the western part of the town and also controlled a section of the coastal highway to Tunisia that serves as the main supply route for Tripoli. Loyalists forces were still in charge of the town centre and have large numbers of snipers there, he said by phone from London.

The government acknowledged that fighting had occurred in Zawiya, which has a major oil refinery, but said the clashes were minor and loyalist forces remained in complete control.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/12/muammar-gaddafis-forces-under-fire

Hopefully this thing is getting close to being over. HOPEFULLY!

It's just endless war, and it will move on to another country.

Then again, the rebels know that the leaders of the NATO forces backing them want to be spun, have shown themselves knowledgeable in the art of spinning, and have been caught spinning.

Stalemate is a dread that goes to the heart of the NATO mission. They needed a quick and easy win and didn't get it. In the heat of the moment it was a way to win the hearts and minds of millions, to show that they're superior by being on the right side of history. Any one-sided, pretty much unsubstantiated report that says it's not a stalemate will nurture the hope for change and winning that the leaders clutch at. One-sided and unsubstantiated is the name of the game, and is accepted as gospel truth. (In fact, it's taken rather more eagerly than gospel truth.)