Fighting in Zawiyah shuts Libya road to Tunisia

Libyan troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi fought gun battles with rebels in the town of Zawiyah Saturday, witnesses said, shutting the coastal highway that links the capital Tripoli with Tunisia.  the highway was deserted except for lots of soldiers, police and armed men in civilian clothes. One heard bursts of gunfire coming from the direction of the city. "The situation is very bad in Zawiyah. There's been fierce fighting since the morning," said the resident, who gave only his first name, Mohammed, fearing reprisals. Four months since Gaddafi's forces crushed a popular uprising against his four-decade rule that then morphed into an armed rebellion, Libya's civil war is in stalemate. Nearly three months of bombings by NATO war planes against Libyan military targets have failed to unseat Gaddafi or enable the rebels to launch an offensive on his territory in Tripoli. Several explosions were heard in Tripoli throughout the afternoon, as late as 8 p.m. (2 pm ET), suggesting NATO was ramping up attacks after a quiet morning. Rebel spokesman Ahmed Bani said a senior Gaddafi aide had been wounded in a NATO strike on a city close to Tripoli on Saturday evening and was in hospital. There was no independent confirmation and Libyan officials were not available to comment. ENCIRLE The rebels control the east of Libya, the western city of Misrata and the range of mountains near the border with Tunisia. They are seeking to encircle the capital and cut it off, an aim that would be advanced if they manage to capture Zawiyah. The highway has been used throughout the conflict by Gaddafi's officials -- including fleeing defectors -- to reach the outside world, and by trucks bringing in food and other supplies to territory under Gaddafi's control. After a lull in fighting in the western, rebel-held city of Misrata, pro-Gaddafi forces which have besieging it started shelling its port late Saturday, Al Jazeera TV reported. A doctor at the Hekma hospital said 31 people were killed and 110 wounded in shelling by Gaddafi forces Friday. Pro-Gaddafi troops encircled the city of Zlitan, 160 km east of Tripoli, Saturday, rebels said, after fighting broke out there that could also open up the coastal road to the capital. Some clashes between Gaddafi's forces and rebels continued in the city, rebel spokesman Bani said, after the rebels took some parts of it. The toll remained 22 rebels killed. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim played down the clashes. "There is no serious fighting going on in Zawiya or Zlitan. What has happened is that we've had small groups of rebels who have made their way from Zintan and the Western Mountains to cause trouble in these areas," Zlitan is one of three towns that are largely government controlled between the rebel-held Misrata and the capital. Were it to fall, it could allow the anti-Gaddafi uprising to spread from Misrata, the biggest rebel outpost in western Libya, to Gaddafi's stronghold in Tripoli. DIPLOMACY FALTERS, FIGHTING INCREASES World powers have given mixed signals on how the war might play out, with Russia trying to mediate reconciliation. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he had offered a "guarantee" to Gaddafi if he left Libya, but received no reply. Gaddafi has refused to step down, describing the rebels as al Qaeda terrorists and Western intervention as an oil grab. As diplomacy falters, several new battle fronts have opened. Gaddafi's forces also shelled for the first time the UNESCO world heritage-listed city of Ghadames, 600 km (370 miles) southwest of Tripoli, on the Tunisia and Algeria borders, overnight, opening a new front in the war, rebels said. Rebels said the oasis town, with a population of about 7,000 people, mainly Berber, was under attack after an anti-government protest in the old Roman city Wednesday. "This is a retaliation for anti-regime protests," spokesman Juma Ibrahim said from the rebel-held town of Zintan. The report could not be independently verified. The old town was de-populated by Gaddafi in the 1990s and its inhabitants moved into modern buildings. It was not clear if the attack hit the old town, a labyrinth of narrow, underground passages and houses known as the "Pearl of the Desert." US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday some NATO allies of failing to pull their weight:

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Pakistan tells CIA chief no US boots on the ground

CIA Director Leon Panetta told Pakistan's army and intelligence chiefs that he was concerned about a reduction of US troops allowed in the country.

ISLAMABAD: CIA Director Leon Panetta told Pakistan’s army and intelligence chiefs that he was concerned about a reduction of US troops allowed in the country, but was bluntly told no American boots would be allowed on the ground, Pakistani military officials.
Panetta, nominated to take over as defence secretary next month, arrived in Pakistan on Friday in an unannounced visit, his first trip since a secret US raid that killed Osama bin Laden and severely damaged ties between the allies.
The army said on Thursday it had drastically cut down on the number of US troops allowed in the country and set clear limits on intelligence sharing with the United States.
“He (Panetta) expressed concerns over the reduction of trainers and operatives. We told him very clearly ‘no boots on our soil is acceptable’,” said the Pakistani military official.
Panetta held talks with army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of military intelligence.
The military released a statement saying: “Both sides discussed the framework for future intelligence sharing.”
A US embassy spokesman said he had no information on the talks.
“We told him that we are clear. We don’t want their people. Intelligence sharing is fine and we are ready for that,” said another military official.
Washington was angered by the fact that Bin Laden had apparently been living for years in a Pakistani town about a two-hour drive from the intelligence headquarters.
On Friday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, also a US ally, arrived in Islamabad and asked Pakistan to help end the Taliban insurgency.
Pakistan, which supported the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until its ouster in 2001 by US-backed forces, will be crucial to any attempts to stabilize its western neighbor.
But Pakistan has often been accused of playing a “double game,” promising the United States it will go after militants, while supporting some groups such as the Haqqani network, an allegation it denies.
US commanders say the military effort in Afghanistan is being undermined partly by Pakistan-based militants.
The Haqqanis use safe havens in North Waziristan region to stage cross-border attacks against American troops in Afghanistan, and US officials have accused Pakistani intelligence of ties to the group. Pakistan denies the allegations.

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U.N. rights boss calls on Syria to halt "assault"

 The top U.N. human rights official called on Syria on Thursday to halt its "assault on its own people" and said more than 1,100 people may have been killed and up to 10,000 detained since March.

Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged Damascus to allow a fact-finding mission into the country to investigate all allegations, including Syrian state television reports that 120 members of the security forces were killed by armed gangs.
"It is utterly deplorable for any government to attempt to bludgeon its population into submission, using tanks, artillery and snipers," she said in a statement.
"I urge the government to halt this assault on its own people's most fundamental human rights."
More than 1,000 people have been killed in three months of popular unrest in Syria, human rights groups say. On Wednesday, Britain, France, Germany and Portugal handed the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on protesters, despite the risk of a Russia veto.
"We are receiving an increasing number of alarming reports pointing to the Syrian government's continuing efforts to ruthlessly crush civilian protests," said Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes judge.
Local human rights groups estimated that more than 50 protesters were killed during a protest in the city of Hama last Friday. Pillay said it would seem that it was one of the bloodiest days since the uprising began.
She voiced concern at reports of civilians fleeing the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour after what she called threatening statements by government officials.
Syrian troops with tanks have deployed near Jisr al-Shughour, prompting many of its 50,000 people to flee. The government has accused armed bands of killing scores of its security men in the town and has vowed to send in the army.
More than a thousand Syrians have fled across the border into Turkey in the last 24 hours and have taken refuge in a tent camp, the U.N. refugee UNHCR said on Thursday.
On April 29, the U.N. Human Rights Council set up a fact-finding mission to investigate violations in Syria.
Pillay again urged Syria to allow the U.N. human rights investigators into the country to establish the facts. Members of her team are collecting evidence in the region but have yet to receive a greenlight from Damascus.
"So far we have not received any official reply from Syria -- either positive or negative," she said.

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