Libya, Civil War | featured news

The negative experience in Libya has taken on new urgency as the Obama administration considers whether to play a direct role in arming rebels in Syria.

There is no water, scarcely any gas or fresh food, and only intermittent power, but Tripoli’s heart is slowly beginning to beat again. Streets in the Libyan capital were mostly quiet Saturday, and there were no signs of snipers as the city’s new rulers eliminated a last pocket of loyalist resistance on the road to the international airport.

Muammar Gaddafi urged Libyans on Monday to free the country from "NATO and traitors," as rebels in the west began to strangle a major lifeline to his capital.

BENGHAZI, Libya — The rebel government here has dismissed its entire cabinet in the wake of the unsolved killing of a powerful military leader, who was slain almost two weeks ago after he was ordered to appear before a board of inquiry about his handling of the war effort.

Taking control of the airport in Libya’s third-largest city would be one of the most significant rebel victories in the conflict.

Libyan rebels pushed past the oil town of Brega on Sunday, moving toward the major refinery at Ras Lanuf in the second day of a counterattack aided by allied airstrikes against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces.

A woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli Saturday and fought off security forces as she told journalists that she had been raped and beaten by Qaddafi militia members.

Opposition fighters took control of Ajdabiya overnight after allied fighter jets bombed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's tanks that were entrenched at the city's gates, according to an opposition spokesman.

As Libya moves toward civil war, reports of violence and casualties continue to mount between forces loyal to longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi and rebel fighters who refuse to let up until Gadhafi's rule ends.