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Aug 2, 2011

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PHOTO ESSAY
All not quiet on the western Libya front
Pictures by Derek Henry Flood

The mountainous Jebel Nafusa region in western Libya has seen heavy fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi since the rebels launched a major offensive from the high ground in July in a major drive on the capital, Tripoli.

Despite air assistance from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, in Nafusa and elsewhere the insurgents have struggled to break a statement with pro-government troops since the uprising they launched against Gaddafi in February escalated into civil war. While the rebels hold eastern Libya, as well as the port city of Misrata and Nafusa, Gaddafi continues to cling onto Tripoli and the rest of the country.

On the ground and in the firing line for Asia Times Online, these photos give unparalleled insight into how the Nafusa Mountains Campaign is unfolding.

1. An Amazigh (Berber) rebel spotter keeps a vigil on Gaddafi loyalist positions in the occupied town of Ghazaya in the plains below. Pro-Gaddafi troops regularly harassed the town of Nalut with their multiple rocket launch system GRAD trucks forcing many civilians to seek refuge in nearby Tunisia. The targeted destruction of the GRAD vehicles by NATO jets was the quid pro quo for the rebels to launch an all out ground assault on the Gaddafi-loyalist-occupied towns that fired wildly into Nalut on a daily basis.

2. With the Jebel Nafusa rebels vastly outgunned by their Tripoli-supplied opponents, artillery, like these shells for a Soviet-era T60 tank, were a precious commodity and only used when local commanders deemed absolutely necessary such as when their positions sustained direct attacks.

3. A rebel spotter points to the Gaddafi-loyalist-controlled town of Takut on the horizon. Partnering with NATO airpower to pulverize pro-Gaddafi positions was and is a major rebel objective in the Jebel Nafusa region.

4. A spartan rebel outpost outside of Nalut that overlooked the then Gaddafi-loyalist-controlled Ghazaya plain below. Rebels monitoring the tablelands ringing the Amazigh bastion of Nault operated a sophisticated logistical operation to keep their network of spotters going.

5. Rebel recruits drill on the streets of downtown Zintan, a major Arab rebel stronghold east of the ethnic-Amazigh Jebel Nafusa region. As the rebels have been criticized in the Western press for an appearance of immense disorganization, regime defectors-cum-rebel instructors are struggling to create a coherent, disciplined fighting force that will eventually become the new Libyan military in a post-Gaddafi scenario.

6. The virtually deserted frontline town of Qwaleesh east of the Arab rebel stronghold of Zintan. ATol had its vehicle fired upon by snipers from Gaddafi-loyalist-forces moments after this photo was taken.

7. A volunteer rebel guerilla begins a treacherous hike toward heavily dug-in Gaddafi loyalist positions in the baking hot plains below Nalut.

8. A rebel army column makes its way toward the Gaddafi-loyalist-controlled town of Ghazaya as part of a long awaited NATO-backed offensive on July 28, 2011.

9. A refurbished Soviet-era T60 tank rumbles down a petroleum smugglers piste in the Jebel Nafusa mountains en route to a long awaited rebel offensive.

10. While most rebels attempted to demonstrate an air of jubilation while descending from Nalut down to the Gaddafi-loyalist-controlled Ghazaya plain below, some let their anxiety show through as they approached their much better armed enemy.

11. On the skeleton of a building dating from the Italian colonial period in the early 20th century, beneath the revolutionary Arabic graffiti is Tamazight, the script of the Amazigh (Berber) people who dominate the Jebel Nafusa region. Amazigh rebels are coordinating a major drive to revive Amaigh culture and the Tamazigh language following decades of official repression by the Arab chauvinist regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi.

12. A "martyrs" graveyard in central Nalut for rebel fighters felled in earlier battles with pro-Gaddafi forces.

13. Rebels relax in the shade and congratulate one another following the exit of pro-Gaddafi forces in the contested town of Takut.

14. Rebels raise the pre-Gaddafi independence tricolor on the minaret of a Takut mosque to demonstrate the apparent victory of their NATO-backed push into the town.

15. Following the fall of Takut to the rebels, for the first time outsiders were able to explore tracts of civilian areas that had allegedly been pillaged during the occupation by Gaddafi-loyalist forces since the uprising began in mid-February.

Derek Henry Flood is a freelance journalist specializing in the Middle East and South and Central Asia and is the editor of the Jamestown Foundation’s Militant Leadership Monitor. He blogs at the-war-diaries.com. Follow Derek on Twiiter @DerekHenryFlood.

(All photos copyright 2011 Derek Henry Flood.)

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