Rebels poised for final fight against Gadhafi

EAST OF BANI WALID, Libya?? Anti-Gadhafi fighters were poised Friday for a possible final battle for Bani Walid, an important tribal stronghold southeast of the capital Tripoli that is one of the ousted leader's last bastions of power, one day after Gadhafi urged his supporters to fight on.

"Where is Gadhafi? Where is the rat? We will catch him," said Bashar Ali, an officer with the forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) as he steered his pickup truck deeper into the desert toward Bani Walid.

Meanwhile, world leaders meeting in Paris on Libya's future after Gadhafi said NATO military operations ? which has considerably boosted rebels' advances ? would continue as long as needed.

Along with the coastal city of Sirte further east and Sabha in the south, Bani Walid lies inside a vast triangle of desert land where support for Gadhafi has been traditionally strong.

For now, with Libya's new rulers hoping to negotiate their peaceful surrender, NTC forces massing at Bani Walid's gates are locked in an uneasy standoff with a town still under the spell of Gadhafi's rule.

At the last dusty outpost east of Bani Walid, NTC fighters said they engaged in almost daily skirmishes with Gadhafi loyalists scouting the area but had yet to receive orders from their commanders to advance.

'Ready to fight'
Yet no one is firmly in control of the vast swathe of land stretching between Bani Walid, home to Libya's biggest and most important tribe, the Warfalla, and Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast.

"Right now we are waiting. Everyone is ready to fight. Sirte will be liberated first, then Bani Walid," said Ibrahim Obaid, an NTC fighter.

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While the Warfalla tribe is by no means solidly pro-Gadhafi ? the dictator cracked-down on them in 1993 ? many rebels are Warfalla themselves and asking them to bomb their own people would be difficult, NBC News producer Paul Nassar in Libya said.

While the interim government "definitely feels that it is just a matter of time before they control this country, obstacles are starting to poke their heads out," Nassar said.? "And one of the biggest problems is how tribal this country is."

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The tribe has a population of about 6 million, Nassar said.

The NTC fighters said they had 168 units ? or about 16,000 men ? deployed in the area around their regional stronghold of Misrata, but conceded that any fight for Bani Walid or Sirte would be tough.

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The rebels, who have been moving troops toward remaining Gadhafi bastions across Libya, on Thursday shifted by a week the Saturday deadline for Sirte in hopes of avoiding the bloodshed that met their attack on Tripoli.

But Sky News, citing the leader of NTC special forces and the frontline commander on the outskirts of Sirte, reported that the rebels were still prepared to take control of the town this weekend, as originally planned, unless ongoing negotiations bore fruit.

Gadhafi: 'The battle will be long'
The rebels have been hunting for Gadhafi since he was forced into hiding after they swept into Tripoli on Aug. 20 and gained control of most of the capital after days of fierce fighting.

"We won't surrender again; we are not women. We will keep fighting," Gadhafi said in a blustery tone in the audio statement, broadcast by Syrian-based Al-Rai TV . His voice was recognizable, and Al-Rai has previously broadcast statements by Gadhafi and his sons.

Story: Gadhafi vows no surrender: 'Let Libya burn'

Gadhafi said the tribes in Sirte and Bani Walid are armed and "there is no way they will submit." He called for continued resistance, warning "the battle will be long and let Libya burn."

In a second late-night audio also broadcast on the Syrian channel, Gadhafi spoke in more measured tones and called for a long insurgency.

"We will fight them everywhere," he said. "We will burn the ground under their feet."

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He said NATO was trying to occupy Libya and steal its oil.

"Get ready to fight the occupation. ... Get ready for a long war, imposed on us," Gadhafi added. "Get ready for the guerrilla war."

He called Sirte "the capital of the resistance."

The rebels, who have effectively ended Gadhafi's rule, dismiss his threats as empty rhetoric.

Unfinished business
Bani Walid has had its supply lines severed by NTC checkpoints from the north, east and west. Yet there were no signs of its imminent surrender.

NTC fighters said Gadhafi loyalists broadcasted daily radio appeals calling on civilians there to take up weapons and fight.

On Thursday, a convoy of fighters ventured out into the desert on a reconnaissance mission, inspecting an abandoned Gadhafi-era air defense installation destroyed by NATO earlier in the war.

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Khalil Shelbi, an NTC unit commander, said the area was filled with Gadhafi militiamen, and his fighters watched out nervously as they patrolled the ruins of the once-top secret, Russian-built facility.

The facility was bombed by NATO earlier in the war and abandoned by Gadhafi's retreating loyalists about two weeks ago as rebels pushed further west.

Video: Misrata in shambles with constant Libyan fighting (on this page)

Sanctions lifted as world leaders meet
In Paris, world leaders and top-level diplomats from 60 nations lined up behind the new government and focused on unfreezing billions in Libyan funds held abroad.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said NATO will continue operations for as long as necessary to protect civilians in the North African country. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to decide quickly on deploying a civilian mission to stabilize Libya.

"We cannot afford a failed pariah state on Europe's borders," Cameron said. "We will all lose if the Arab Spring gives way to a cynical winter of repression."

Rebel leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said Libya's new government must ensure "that we fulfill our side of the deal ? we must have security in Libya, tolerance and forgiveness must be promoted, the state of law must be respected."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was encouraged by the response she got in her meetings with Libyan opposition leaders.

"They still have a huge hill to climb," she said. "But they are working with the international community to secure both chemical weapons stockpiles as well as conventional weapons. They are taking action against extremism wherever the find it."

Russia, which had criticized the NATO operation, recognized the rebels as Libya's interim leadership hours before the talks began.

The European Union is lifting its sanctions on Libyan ports, banks and energy firms to provide resources to the interim government to help kick-start its economy, officials said.

Reuters, The Associated Press and NBC News' Paul Nassar contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44369143/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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