war of position

Useful map by Iyad el-Baghdadi of the current state of play in Libya. And here’s Steve Negus’ more detailed Google maps mash up. From the look of things, Gaddafi still controls Tripoli and a strip of territory in the middle of the country from Sirt to Sabha. As reported, Eastern Libya has completely liberated itself, while rebel strongholds now surround the capital. The current key battlegrounds seem to be around Sabha, a point of ingress for Gaddafi’s mercenaries and for control of the road to Tunisia to the west of Tripoli. Via.

Comments

[Richard J]

As Matt T. pointed out on Twitter the other day, seeing the headline 'Tobruk has fallen' was an odd experience in 2011.

[CharlieMcMenamin]

Rich, it gets weirder:

"Three German naval warships carrying 600 soldiers are in waters between Malta and Libya, reports the Spiegel news website. No details yet about their designated task."

(from the Beeb live blog)

[jamie]

Probably to repatriate their nationals. You can;t doi much more with a battalion, even if the Bundeswehr went with military adventurism these days.

hey, I'd love to see the briefing. "We are here to liberate the people of Libya. Shoot anyone who makes Rommel jokes."

[Chris Williams]

Also, what's a Bundewehr battalion doing at sea in the Med? Is it part of their UNIFIL commitment?

[ajay]

I suspect it may be a mistranslation and it's actually 3 ships with total crew of 600.

The Spiegel article says:
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,747383,00.html
Drei Schiffe der Bundesmarine sind auf dem Weg an die libysche Küste, um bei der Rettung von deutschen Staatsbürgern aus Libyen zu helfen. Die Fregatten "Brandenburg", "Rheinland-Pfalz" sowie der Einsatzgruppenversorger "Berlin" befänden sich auf dem Weg in die Bucht Große Syrte vor Libyen, sagte ein Sprecher des Bundesverteidigungsministeriums. Die Schiffe mit rund 600 Mann an Bord sollten die Ausreise deutscher Staatsbürger aus Libyen unterstützen. Die Große Syrte befindet sich zwischen den Küstenorten Bengasi und Misurata.

Which I think is roughly
"Three German warships are on the way to the Libyan coast to help rescue German citizens in Libya. The frigates Brandenburg [Brandenburg class] and Rhineland Palatinate [Bremen class], and the fleet auxiliary Berlin are en route to the Gulf of Sirte, a defence ministry spokesman said. The ships, with 600 men on board, will support the evacuation of German citizens from Libya. The Gulf of Sirte is between Benghazi and Misurata."

[Cian]

Anyone want to bet that British citizens, as per usual, will get the least help from the foreign office.

[Chris Williams]

Yes, that makes sense. Ah, Berlin. It's that 'Where are the RFAs?' question again.

[ajay]

The total crew of the three ships is indeed around 600.

[Alex]

Of course, the thing about the "strip of territory" southwards from Sirte and El Agheila is that it's the Great Sand Sea. Gaddafi controls it in the sense there's no-one there to beat his picture with their shoes, and no pictures of him to beat. The people aren't setting fire to police stations there because there are neither police stations nor people. No roads, largely impassable to motor vehicles, no water.

[Strategist]

Craig Murray is back up & blogging with a interesting line on the Berlusconi/Gadaffi relationship http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2011/02/berlusconis_cut.html

[Alex]

Regarding ships and Berlusconi, most of his navy is off Libyan ports and has been for some time. Something like 5 escorts and two big LPDs, San Giorgio and San Marco, are there, plus one of the two Harrier-carriers (Cavour) is alongside in Sicily standing by.

[cian]

That Craig Murray thing could just be diplomatic tittle tattle though (the Wikileaks stuff is filled with that kind of thing, much of which is probably wrong). I mean I'd assumed that he is getting a cut, but it might be legal (or close enough).

How is Gadaffi financing this rebel army? Because targeting his financial assets might be more useful (all comments by Myles on this topic will be ignored by me. I never joined the Cambridge Union for a reason).

[ajay]

How is Gadaffi financing this rebel army? Because targeting his financial assets might be more useful

They'd be fools if they were accepting anything other than cash in hand, and I imagine he's got a few safes full of last-ditch $100s in his bunker. I would.

all comments by Myles on this topic will be ignored by me.

I'd be on for extending that to a more general global rule, tbh.