Entries in Libya (421)
Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Fighting Nears Tripoli
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 5:30 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Iraq, Middle East and Iran NOTE: Our entries on today's protests in Iraq have now been moved to a separate LiveBlog.
2330 GMT: Naval officers in Libya expressing support for the opposition:
2255 GMT: Video of protest in the Souq al-Jumaa section of Tripoli in Libya tonight. The graffiti at the end is “Tell the dogs of the regime to come to the square” and “Broadcast this Al Jazeera, you are the only [news media] that is believed":
Latest Libya Video: Battles and Celebrations
Mass Celebration in Benghazi
Libya Libya Feature: Scenes from Tripoli (Fisk)
Up to 15,000 men, women and children besieged Tripoli's international airport last night, shouting and screaming for seats on the few airliners still prepared to fly to Muammar Gaddafi's rump state, paying Libyan police bribe after bribe to reach the ticket desks in a rain-soaked mob of hungry, desperate families. Many were trampled as Libyan security men savagely beat those who pushed their way to the front.
Among them were Gaddafi's fellow Arabs, thousands of them Egyptians, some of whom had been living at the airport for two days without food or sanitation. The place stank of faeces and urine and fear. Yet a 45-minute visit into the city for a new airline ticket to another destination is the only chance to see Gaddafi's capital if you are a "dog" of the international press.
"Free Libya": A Report from Benghazi (Chulov)
Photo: ReutersAt the heart of the city where he launched his rise to power, Muammar Gaddafi's indignity is now complete. In little more than three days of rampage, the rebels in Libya's second city have done their best to wind the clock back 42 years --- to life before the dictator they loathe.
Benghazi has fallen and Gaddafi's bid to cling on to power, whatever the cost, has crumbled with it. There is barely a trace of him now, except for obscene graffiti that mocks him on the dust-strewn walls where his portraits used to hang.
From Tunisia/Egypt to Libya/Iran: Notes of Caution on Sudden Change
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 7:20 | James Miller in Africa, EA Global, EA Iran, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
Events will move to the breaking point, when someone holds a gun to someone else's head, and everyone is forced to react. With Mir Hossein Mousavi under house arrest, Mehdi Karroubi under the constant guard of security forces in his own home, Hashemi Rafsanjani's power being challenged on the Assembly of Experts, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's term expiring, and the 2009 spirit of dissent reviving, the question is when that point is reached.
The earthquakes of Egypt and Tunisia built up for a long time on softer ground. It has taken, and will take, much longer for the fault lines to break the foundations of Iran's government. When it happens, the regime is likely to go quickly, and like a high-magnitude earthquake, the results will be felt far and wide.
We're already feeling the foreshocks, but the whole world is waiting for the big one.
Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Standoffs
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 5:21 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Iraq, Middle East and Iran 
2205 GMT: Al Jazeera English has posted video of wounded men being treated in Az Zawiyah, where fierce battles took place between regime forces and the opposition today.
2155 GMT: The first edition of the newspaper in "free" Benghazi has been published
2150 GMT: Text messages to Libyans declare that a local cleric has issued a fatwa against watching television channels "like Al Jazeera" that incite bloodshed.
2145 GMT: Libya's Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, who broke with the regime earlier this week, has appealed to key Brigadier Generals Mahdi Al Arabi and Mohamed Al Esawi to turn against Muammar Qaddafi.
Latest Libya (and Beyond) Video: Fighting in Tripoli, Questioning a Mercenary
Latest footage from the Middle East and North Africa. See also Libya (and Beyond) Video: Qaddafi's 22-Second Speech and Libya Video: Qaddafi's 90-Minute Speech.
Opposition Raises Pre-Regime Flag over Tobruk in Libya
"Mercenaries" Patrolling Streets of Libya
Libya Snap Analysis: Towards The Last Battle of Tripoli
More than 12 hours after Muammar Qaddafi's 90-minute mix of threat, bluster, and poetry, spiced with a dash of the irrational, the situation in Libya is no closer to resolution.
Yet there is some clarity emerging from the incoherence. Qaddafi's message, like that of former Presidents Ben Ali (Tunisia) and Mubarak (Egypt) before him, was that he would die in the country which he had led for decades. Unlike those two, however, Qaddafi was pointing to a determination that he would do so bloodily, both for his demise and as many Libyans --- enemies, of course, twisted by foreign hands --- that he could take with him.
What was missed as Qaddafi confused and almost mesmerised with his appearance, however, was the emerging race to the end. Which happens first: the leader unleashing bloody wrath or a coup that ends Qaddafi's life as well as his 42-year rule?
The defection of the Minister of Interior --- Qaddafi's companion in the 1969 Revolution and close friend --- brought this into focus. Major General Abdul Fattah Younis al Obeidi resigned all his posts and urged all armed forces to join the people of the "February 17 Revolution".
That is a resignation beyond that of the Libyan ministers and diplomats who have already fled Qaddafi's camp. Monday's aerial strikes, which were initially thought to be aimed at decimating protesters, were primarily carried out upon Libya's own military facilities. Although the situation is still not Air Force v. Army --- without some ground forces, Qaddafi could not remain --- this is a tightening military circle.
The Battle of Tripoli is taking shape. Qaddafi said, just before this uprising, that he did not want to be the victim of the Internet and Kleenex. Whether or not there is hidden wisdom in his statement, he is wrong.
It is the guns of his former allies that he should be fearing.