An all-round war between Tripoli, Benghazi

Xinhua, May 22, 2011

Three months have passed since the large-scale anti-Gaddafi demonstrations began in the North African country in February, the battle between the two sides seem to be not so fierce for the time being. The two sides are also engaging in battles on other fronts, like scrambling for support and recognition in domestic and international arena.

Although the opposition always denies reaching a stalemate and is optimistic about the whole situation, Gaddafi and his rivals have their own advantages and disadvantages, at least under current circumstances.

Overview of battlefield

At the beginning of the conflict, pro-Gaddafi's forces advanced toward the opposition's base Benghazi, then the opposition made counterattacks with NATO's air superiority westward, engaging in the center and western parts of the country. The opposition said they took control of the third largest city Misrata and marched westward for 40 km. But no further advance since then.

Mohammad Bani, the opposition's military spokesperson, told Xinhua that most of battles occurred along the country's west and central coast. The opposition controls the area from the east border with Egypt to Brega, 40 km southwest of Ajdabiya. Heavy troops from Gaddafi are deployed along the 400 plus km line between Brega and Misrata, especially in some stronghold like Brega, Ras Lanuf, and Gaddafi's hometown Sirte.

The opposition troops, however, are not able to connect themselves into a line, making them difficult to concentrate their strength and provide logistics to the fighters.

Tripoli and its neighboring and west areas are still under Gaddafi's tight control, the reason why the opposition's army cannot march further westward more than one week after taking control of Misrata, about 200 km east of Tripoli. Sporadic protests in Tripoli have not yet weakened Gaddfi's control over the capital.

Bani was quite optimistic over the battlefield, saying that they will defeat the "tyranny" in a couple of weeks. However, Abdel-hafez Ghoga, spokesman of the opposition's National Transitional Council (NTC), told Xinhua that the duration of the war depends much on protests inside Tripoli and its suburbs.

The country's vast south area still remain divided between the two sides. Bani said they have taken oil fields and oases in southeastern area, however, southwestern part with Sebha as center is still Gaddafi's. Source close to the NTC told Xinhua that at least one brigade of Gaddafi's army is deployed in Sebha.