Rebel MiG-23's Sink Gaddafi Ships Off Libyan Coast
There are reports coming out of Libya this afternoon that Libyan rebels have been using their own MiG-23's, sinking two of Gaddafi's ships and damaging a third. The planes have also been used to attack Libyan army tanks in the towns of Brega and Ajdabiya, which had recently been taken by the Libyan army. The rebels having air power could quickly change the dynamics of the rebellion.
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Libyan website reports rebels sink Gaddafi ships
(Reuters) - An opposition Libyan online newspaper on Tuesday said a rebel MiG 23 warplane and a helicopter sank two pro-Gaddafi warships off the eastern coast near the front line of land battles at Adjabiyah.
The Brnieq website quoted an unnamed air force officer at the Benina airbase in rebel-held Benghazi as saying the aircraft also bombed an unspecified number of tanks near Brega and Ajdebiya. Those two towns fell to troops of Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday as his army advanced eastwards toward Benghazi.
It was not clear where the two aircraft took off from. The airbase at Benghazi switched to rebel control when the opposition took charge of the city and several air force officers have been among military men who joined the opposition.
(Reporting by Souhail Karam, writing by Tom Heneghan; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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Rebels claim key Libyan city after assault from Qaddafi forces
While Qaddafi's forces attacked Ajdabiya, a key crossroads in the battle for control in eastern Libya, a rebel leader said today the city remains 'in the hands of the revolution.'
By Dan Murphy, Staff writer
Benghazi, Libya A military spokesman for the rebel government in Benghazi, Libya, says the situation for the forces seeking to oust Muammar Qaddafi isn’t as grim as it appeared to many earlier today.
Mr. Qaddafi’s forces rained destruction on Ajdabiya today with fighter jets and rockets, and witnesses in the afternoon saw hundreds of militiamen fleeing the city, which is a key crossroads in the battle for control of eastern Libya.
By late afternoon, some of Qaddafi’s forces were seen in the city. But Khaled el-Sayeh, a spokesman for Abdel Fatah Younes, a former Qaddafi loyalist now in overall command of rebel forces, says the town remains in rebel hands.
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Sayeh said that many rebel forces did withdraw from a line just west of the city under sustained aerial attack earlier today, and withdrew on the coastal highway without going through town. But he said those retreating forces were not joined by the bulk of the rebellion’s militia in the city proper.
He added that the rebellion has started to fly fighter jets of its own, and that they helped drive Qaddafi’s jets away from Ajdabiya today. He said the rebels are still requesting a no-fly zone from the international community. “The Colonel (Qaddafi) uses his air force indiscriminately, against civilians. That’s why we’re insisting on a no-fly zone,” he said.
Mar 15, 2011 at 7:40 PM
Reader Comments (15)
We ever get an answer on how it came to be that that uglier-than-hell jerk had so much dough in the U.S.'s leading bailed out banking institutions?
"It was not clear where the two aircraft took off from."
Best get the answer to that question to understand whose planes they really were (or whose control they were under.)
It's a little more complicated to get planes in the air than fire an AK-47.
"The Case For Backing Libya's Rebels"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704823004576192852331022690.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Point me in the direction of the flea market those guys are shopping at, and how many goats do you trade for a MiG these days with armaments, fuel, spare parts, maintenance staff, and instant pilots?
I am very curious who this "Free Libyan Air Force" is.
I would not be surprised to learn it is not Libyan at all, or not only Libyan. Anybody notice those green circles on the wings, they are painted there to cover the national identification.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/f-16i/images/F16i_soufa_2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://theasiandefence.blogspot.com/2009/05/israel-air-force-practicing-mig-29f-16.html&usg=__yTW8QsvrdhHmqr_cIYwrf4KjBGI=&h=400&w=500&sz=42&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=Reor6vhcBF2TAM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=217&ei=_sWATZOfKMuUtwe9_sTfCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Disrael%2Bmig%2Bfighter%2Bjets%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-US%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D550%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=530&vpy=107&dur=2938&hovh=201&hovw=251&tx=162&ty=147&oei=_sWATZOfKMuUtwe9_sTfCA&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0
Back from vacation. Jeezus, I can't go anywhere without stuff happenin......
If those two F-1s could be serviced and armed by France, which recognized the “Free Libyan committee”, and further supported with tactical intel from the Western AWACS, those 4-6 pilots could keep 1-2 Mirage F-1s in the air and would be very effective.
Additionally, who else has MiG-23s? Syria, Yemen, Ethopia, Algeria, Libya and supposedly Egypt.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/21/us-libya-protests-pilots-idUSTRE71K4S320110221
Are these the ones being reported? The green circles are standard Libyan insignia, but the photo above isn't from the incident.
My suspicion would be that the reports of MiG-23's could be wrong and it was the F-1's that defected earlier. They could be mistaken in flight by someone not terribly familiar with the different types of plane. OR...they could be from somewhere else, but I doubt it. Why send just one or two planes with no concerted effort to use more of what you have?
But clearly it's possible and likely that the pilots had help from outside Libya. Does anyone know whether the rebels control any airfields? The armament would not have necessarily come from another state because these planes were armed when they defected.
trade the news reporting:
(JP) EU's Energy Chief: Sees potential for catastrophic events in the next few hours as situation at Japan's nuclear plant is out of control
Yeah thats what the FED says but they are never going to go with the date they announce publicly. they will slowly fade out of it without public notice.
A reasonable person might think Paul Wolfowitz would spend the rest of his life ashamed to ever again show his face in public. Alas, no.
"The Case For Backing Libya's Rebels"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704823004576192852331022690.html?mod=googlenews_w
A quote from the article:
"But moral outrage is an inadequate guide for U.S. action, particularly action that might put the lives of Americans at risk."
My response: Wasn't moral outrage why we invaded Afghanistan?
Just saying....
What are you saying?
http://www.debka.com/article/20772/
Which is in direct contrdiction with Israel and not typical of W.H. behavior at all. Then I got to thinking about that vid I watched recently, The Essence of The Banking Industry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B_SxGmSJP0
And it all clicked. If the banksters are supporting both sides in this conflict, Libya will soon be owned. Watch the vid if you haven't already.
"Their objective isn't to control the conflict, it's to control the debt the conflict produces"
Absolutely Canuck, that is why the bankers have always played both sides. Do some digging into the financial matters of WWII, you might enjoy...