Libya

"Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The 42-year rule of Moammar Gadhafi appeared on the verge of collapse early Monday, with rebel supporters packing the same Tripoli square where regime loyalists had congregated for months.

The celebrations came in response to rebel inroads into the capital and news that two of Moammar Gadhafi's sons -- Saif al-Islam and Saadi -- have been arrested by opposition forces. Jumma Ibrahim, a rebel spokesman based in Libya's western mountain region, said both were captured in Tripoli.

International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also said Saif Gadhafi had been arrested and would be sought by court "for his participation in crimes against humanity (affecting) the Libyan people.""

Sound as if an ugly civil war is coming to an end.


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Janice

Sound as if an ugly civil war is coming to an end.

After The End, The Real War Starts.

And No Peace Prize Potus will Stop It.

I am Null and Void and a Darwin Barnacle.

We can only hope there is not too much bloodletting.
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[After The End, The Real War Starts.

Hopefully they learnt enough lessons and should build their successful new country soon following suit of some of those oil rich countries.
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Mandtugai!

Null -- indeed, what is with this sense of the need to do away with good old fashioned dictators.

Bring back the good old days of Idi Amin, Pot Pol and the like -- you know, when men were men <smile>


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PM Cameron has yet again cut short a replacement holiday to return to Downing Street because of it.

Well done Mr Cameron

Oil prices fall as rebels enter Libyan capital

11.34: Anti-Gaddafi hackers have defaced Libya's internet domain name registry, computer security company Sophos reports. BBC Monitoring says the nic.ly site currently shows a Libyan rebel flag and the words "bye bye Gaddafi".

1231: US officials have been told that rebels have seized control of Libya's state TV, US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman tells ABC. The report can't be confirmed.

What is interesting, or better sad in all this is that in Syria 2000 people where killed by the government forces during their uprising.
In Lybia, well we had NATO bombing Ghadafi, and now I just read the Anouncement made by the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, that The Lybian Oil should be controled by "international oil companies" like ENI.
Well sadly there is no oil on syria. And I'm sure of one thing, the rebels that will replace ghadafi aren't better... same crap, just different flies.

So far, everything is too unstable in Syria for arial intervention.
Ghadafi was bombing his own people, the no fly zone slowed that down. Mass troop movements made targets. In Syria, they have no center of force for rebellion. In fact rebellion has not yet fully occured. This does not make it good, but it allows limited room for intervention,other than ground forces.

And much like Libya, ground forces would catalyze the people against anyone who sent them in.

It is up to both how they are willing to live, and how much they will endure.
Sad to watch, but it does give opportunity for hope.
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Janice

Syria presents a far more complicated situation compared to Libya

1) Much larger population
2) Border with Israel
3) Supported directly by Iran
4) Large Palestinian population
5) Much larger and well equipped army
6) Border with Turkey, Jordan, Iraq
7) Large Iraqi refugee population
8) Border with Lebanon and supporter of Hezbollah

Navigating that mess is something NATO countries want to avoid -- especially as the much simpler Libya situation demonstrated the far edge of NATO capabilities even with the vast majority of Libyan targets being within 25 miles of the Mediterranean.

Also, Syria has a very real ethnic mix of Kurds, Christians, Sunni, Shi'a, Druze and the like (in addition to the refugee population). That makes action very questionable.

Adding to that is this, Russia and China got 'hustled' in the Security Council into abstaining (not vetoing) resolutions regarding Libya. That is NOT going to happen on Syria.



[quote
Well sadly there is no oil on syria. And I'm sure of one thing, the rebels that will replace ghadafi aren't better... same crap, just different flies.[/quote]

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Gaddafi wants to fight to the last of his loyalists. I wonder if that includes himself?

Most tyrants or dictators need a certain number of their loyalists to protect them in exile, so that they may continue in their mistaken idolation. If they cannot guarantee that, some choose to die fightiNg rather than live in ignominy.

If Gaddafi, or his sons get captured, they are likely to face a war crimes tribunal, therefore I think he will either fight to the death, or slide out to a bolt hole with his closest aides at the last moment.

Latest news

By the looks of things, we should know one way or the other in 24 hours or so.

And rebel leader Mahmoud Jibril, currently in Qatar, warned that there were still places that needed urgent help, such as the southern city of Sabha which is home to many members of Col Gaddafi's tribe.

"Today, the atrocious Gaddafi's brigades continued to bomb Sabha city viciously," said Mr Jibril, who is considered as prime minister of the interim rebel government, the National Transitional Council (NTC).

They secured the Tumu border crossing and took Al Qatrun on July 17, without a shot, also capturing a military airfield and outpost at Al Wigh near the Nigerien border. Pro-Gaddafi forces were believed to had withdrawn to Taraghin in order to block a suspected rebel advance on Sabha, but rebel forces bypassed Taraghin in their northward press in order to capture the village of Umm Al Aranib as a forward base.

"With a name like Qgadafiy, he's GOT to be gone!"