NATO assumes control of enforcing a no-fly zone and protecting Libyan civilians<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Tripoli, Libya (CNN)<\/b> — Libyan opposition fighters continued their march west Monday with a key target in their sights: Sirte, Moammar Gadhafi’s birthplace.<\/p>\n
Taking the city would be a symbolic victory for the rebels, who regained control of several significant towns over the weekend as coalition airstrikes continued in the North African nation.<\/p>\n
Rebel forces claimed to control Ras Lanuf on Sunday. The opposition also appeared to have taken control of the key oil town of al-Brega.<\/p>\n
Victories in those cities marked a comeback for the ragtag group of amateur soldiers who are unified by one mission: toppling Gadhafi’s nearly 42-year rule.<\/p>\n
Rebels said the fight to take over Sirte could be their toughest and bloodiest battle yet.<\/p>\n
They credited coalition airstrikes with helping them regain ground, noting that they had encountered little resistance as they headed westward over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Coalition officials have said the airstrikes are aimed at enforcing a no-fly zone and protecting civilians.<\/p>\n
But Libyan government officials have countered that claim, arguing that coalition forces only target troops loyal to Gadhafi.<\/p>\n
“The rebels are making their advance and no one is stopping them. And no one is even talking to them or saying, ‘Where are you going?’ or ‘Why are you taking offensive positions and attacking the Libyan army and Libyan cities?’ ” Moussa Ibrahim, a Libyan government spokesman, told reporters in Tripoli.<\/p>\n
He accused NATO of “starving the Libyan population to get Libya on its knees to beg for mercy.”<\/p>\n
“They are trying to weaken our spirits. They are not trying to protect civilians,” he said.<\/p>\n
NATO, which has 28 member countries, took control Sunday of enforcing a resolution approved by the UN Security Council on March 17. The resolution called for the protection of Libyan civilians as Gadhafi attacked the opposition, and the enforcement of a no-fly zone over the country.<\/p>\n
Previously the coalition enforcing the resolution had been led by the United States, the United Kingdom and France.<\/p>\n
“Our goal is to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack from the Gadhafi regime,” the organization’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement Sunday. “NATO will implement all aspects of the UN resolution. Nothing more, nothing less.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech about the situation in Libya at 7:30 p.m. ET Monday following calls from all quarters for the U.S. leader to clarify why he sent troops to enforce the U.N.-authorized military mission.<\/p>\n
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday accused Gadhafi of placing the bodies of people his regime has killed at the sites of some missile strikes by the U.S.-led coalition.<\/p>\n
“The truth of the matter is we have trouble coming up with proof of any civilian casualties that we have been responsible for,” Gates told CBS “Face the Nation.”<\/p>\n
“But we do have a lot of intelligence reporting about Gadhafi taking the bodies of the people he’s killed and putting them at the sites where we’ve attacked.”<\/p>\n
While the opposition rolled westward, the city of Misrata — between the rebels’ current position and Tripoli — remained under siege by government forces for the 11th consecutive day, a witness told CNN Sunday.<\/p>\n
A doctor working at a hospital in Misrata said eight civilians were killed and 22 injured in violence Sunday. CNN could not independently confirm his report.<\/p>\n
French warplanes on Sunday led airstrikes on armored vehicles and on a large munitions depot in the regions of Misrata and Zintan, according to the French Ministry of Defense.<\/p>\n
CNN’s Reza Sayah, Arwa Damon and Nic Robertson contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
The rest is here:
\nLibyan rebels target Gadhafi’s birthplace<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" STORY HIGHLIGHTS Victories over the weekend mark a comeback for opposition forces Rebels claim control of key oil cities of Ras Lanuf and al-Brega Libya’s government says airstrikes target troops and do not protect civilians NATO assumes control of enforcing a no-fly zone and protecting Libyan civilians Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — Libyan opposition fighters continued their march west Monday with a key target in their sights: Sirte, Moammar Gadhafi’s birthplace. Taking the city would be a symbolic victory for the rebels, who regained control of several significant towns over the weekend as coalition airstrikes continued in the North African nation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
Libyan rebels target Gadhafi's birthplace - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Libyan rebels target Gadhafi's birthplace - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"STORY HIGHLIGHTS Victories over the weekend mark a comeback for opposition forces Rebels claim control of key oil cities of Ras Lanuf and al-Brega Libya's government says airstrikes target troops and do not protect civilians NATO assumes control of enforcing a no-fly zone and protecting Libyan civilians Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan opposition fighters continued their march west Monday with a key target in their sights: Sirte, Moammar Gadhafi's birthplace. Taking the city would be a symbolic victory for the rebels, who regained control of several significant towns over the weekend as coalition airstrikes continued in the North African nation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Libyan rebels target Gadhafi’s birthplace\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-28T07:35:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/\"},\"wordCount\":668,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/\",\"name\":\"Libyan rebels target Gadhafi's birthplace - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-28T07:35:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Libyan rebels target Gadhafi's birthplace - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Libyan rebels target Gadhafi's birthplace - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"STORY HIGHLIGHTS Victories over the weekend mark a comeback for opposition forces Rebels claim control of key oil cities of Ras Lanuf and al-Brega Libya's government says airstrikes target troops and do not protect civilians NATO assumes control of enforcing a no-fly zone and protecting Libyan civilians Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan opposition fighters continued their march west Monday with a key target in their sights: Sirte, Moammar Gadhafi's birthplace. Taking the city would be a symbolic victory for the rebels, who regained control of several significant towns over the weekend as coalition airstrikes continued in the North African nation","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Libyan rebels target Gadhafi’s birthplace","datePublished":"2011-03-28T07:35:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/"},"wordCount":668,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/","name":"Libyan rebels target Gadhafi's birthplace - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-03-28T07:35:23+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/28\/libyan-rebels-target-gadhafis-birthplace\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}