Brit, French special ops help rebels in attack of Qaddafi home town

Guardian:

British and French special forces are on the ground in eastern Libya, calling in air strikes and helping rebel units as they prepare to assault Sirte, the last coastal town still in the hands of pro-Gaddafi forces, a rebel officer has told the Guardian.

The soldiers have taken a leading role not only in guiding bombers to blast a path for opposition fighters but also in planning the offensive that finally broke the six-month siege of Misrata, Mohammed Subka, a communications specialist in the Al Watum (My Home) brigade, said.

On Thursday afternoon, Subka and his unit waited at the rebel frontline, known as Kilometre Sixty, aboard a column of battered, black pickup trucks mounted with heavy machine guns and a few tanks recently captured from Gaddafi's forces.

"We are with the England team," he told the Guardian. "They advise us."

Kilometre Sixty lies in the flat, empty desert, no more than a sand-coloured mosque and a wrecked diner at a traffic intersection. Sirte, Gaddafi's birthplace, lies 80 miles away.

The advance on the city could not begin until loyalist units south of the road ahead were cleared from their positions, Subka said, flipping open his laptop to show a map – apparently provided by Nato – of artillery positions threatening the route. "We don't worry about those units – they are Nato's concern," he said.

There were reports last night from a pro-Gaddafi TV station, al-Orouba, that Sirte was being bombed in air strikes but gave no further details or source.

Defence sources have confirmed to the Guardian that British special forces have been on the ground in Libya for several weeks, along with special forces from Qatar, France and some eastern European states.

Subka said British and French units had been operating in Misrata for several weeks, based somewhere near the city's port, Kasa Ahmed. Of the two, he said the British were the more friendly.

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The Nato team also helped plan the first breakout of the rebels two weeks ago when they captured the town of Tawarga.

The plan demanded close co-ordination between the Halbus Brigade, making a frontal assault on the town, and a secondary thrust through the desert to cut Tawarga off from loyalist reinforcements.

Subka said the plan worked flawlessly. "It was a very beautiful plan," he added. "The plan went to perfection, and not just the plan, also the timing. Even the Nato operations room sent us a commendation."

The British and French units also helped opposition fighters assault Zlitan at the weekend in the first stage of the offensive that took rebel units into Tripoli.

Testimony to the deadly effect of Nato's bombing was evident along the highway leading out of the city.

Concrete buildings used as bunkers by Gaddafi's forces were flattened, while tanks were ripped apart, their turrets and tracks strewn across the road. Further south, all that remained of an ammunition truck was a blackened carpet of splinters.

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The story is a demonstration of how special ops troops combined with ground forces can coordinate a combined arms attack to overwhelm a military unit in the defense. They also discovered just how thin and brittle the Qaddafi forces were. They need to quickly wrap up what remains of Qaddafi forces before they can organize an insurgency against the new government.