Qaddafi masses remaining forces around Tripoli

One of the central parks in MisurataImage via Wikipedia
NY Times:

Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi were reported to be striking back in several cites surrounding Tripoli on Thursday, as rebellion crept closer to the capital and defections of military officers multiplied.

The minaret of a mosque in Zawiya, a city 30 miles west of Tripoli where protesters had claimed victory, was blasted by heavy weapons in a morning attack, killing or wounding protesters who had been using the building as a refuge, a witness told The Associated Press by telephone. And in Sabratha, about 50 miles west of the capital where a government crackdown has been under way for several days, gunshots rang out as military troops filled the town, a witness said. With journalists banned from the area, it was impossible to independently verify these reports.

“We are not afraid; we are watching,” said the witness in Sabratha, a doctor reached by telephone. The city was under lockdown, he said, with no stores open, and the buildings of the police and Col. Qaddafi’s revolutionary committees were in ruins, he said, burned by protesters. “What I am sure about,” he said, “is that change is coming.”

Clashes were also reported 130 miles east of the capital near Misurata, a city where opposition forces had claimed control. Tripoli, meanwhile, remained in a state of lockdown, even as Colonel Qaddafi called on thousands of mercenaries and irregular security forces to defend his bastion, in what residents said was a desperate and dangerous turn in the week-old uprising.

...
The mercenaries are in a very dangerous position. They are surrounded with little avenue of escape. They will probably not survive a takeover by the opposition forces. Nor will many of the "loyalist." Military figures need to move quickly to the opposition in order to have a place in the new Kibya. That dynamic is one that Qaddafi is already having to deal with.

He may also be having logistics problems soon because transportation appears to be ground to a halt. He can probably hold out for a few days, but the longer he holds out the worse the repercussions will be for his survivors/
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