BREAKING NEWS: Rebels Defeated in Misurata. Reports of Rebel Advances on Tripoli are Unsubstantiated
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research, August 20, 2011
TRIPOLI, Global Research August 19, 2011 - The mainstream media is reporting that Tripoli is surrounded. Bernard-Henri Lévy, author and adviser to France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy has even declared that the regime in Tripoli has collapsed. This is fiction.
NATO and its coalition have launched attacks to the west of Tripoli to surround the capital. They have only managed to temporarily disrupt the supply route from Tunisia to Tripoli. This is part of their strategy of imposing a siege on the Libyan capital.
An estimated 100 to 200 rebel fighters have emerged near the south side of the Zawiyah (Zawiya) District, approximately 50 kilometres (31 miles) west of Tripoli. They claim to have taken over the city of Sorman (Surman). These claims are unsubstantiated.
What happened was that some of the insurgents merely passed through Sormon on the highway on their way to attacking Zawiyah.
The Western media report that the insurgents control most of the city of Zawiyah. This claim is unsubstantiated. In reality, the insurgent forces merely raised the flag of King Idiris I in a remote area of the Zawiyah District and then quickly left that area and did some photo ops for foreign journalists to give the impression that they had a foothold in Zawiyah.
The insurgent fighters only stayed in their location in Zawiyah for a few hours. The local population was hostile towards them and they were afraid to stay longer. Their main aim was to destroy the oil refinery in the area.
NATO and its rebel proxies are attempting to cut supply routes into the Tripoli District by sabotaging transportation routes with Tunisia. In this context, the rebels have also attacked Ras Al-Jedir, which is located on the Tunisian-Libyan border.
The Libyan Military has entered Misurata
While the insurgency and NATO are on the offensive to the west of Tripoli, they have lost their hold on Misurata.
On August 15, 2011, there were early morning celebrations throughout the country as news became public that the Libyan military had entered Misurata.
In Tripoli gunfire could be heard across the city as people celebrated. Western mainstream media reporters in Tripoli were briefed. The relevant information was made available to them. There was news blackout. Not a word was mentioned in the Western press regarding the victory of Libyan armed forces in Misurata.
