Watching Libya April 29, 2011

The official Libya state agency Jana last week reported that coalition airstrikes on April 20 had killed four civilians at Bir Ghanem. Also known as Bir Al-Ghanem and Bir El-Ghnem, this small town of not more than 250 households, is around 84 km from Tripoli International Airport and may be reached from the coast from Tripoli or from Zawiya. (See where Bir Ghanem is situated on the map in Watching Libya April 27, 2011 below.)

It is situated at the edge of the Jefara at the feet of the Nafusa range on the uphill road to the Bir Ayyad fork. From there one may proceed east along the highland towns of Qasr Al Hajj, Tiji, Nalut and Wazin on the Tunisian border. Alternatively one can turn west at Bir Ayyad driving along the escarpment overlooking the Jefara up to Yafran. From there the road leads all the way to Abu Zayyan, where it intersects the Gharyan Road.

The Jana report almost suggests that coalition aircraft capriciously chose to bomb a harmless agricultural hamlet of no military interest. Consider the following: Bir Ghanem is the last settlement before the coastal Tripolitanian plain (the Jefara) is abruptly interrupted by the escarpment that separates it from the Nafusa range, the highlands that begin as hills a few kilometres inland from Homs on the coast and run west-south-west to the Tunisian border with highest points exceeding 850 meters.

The regime's forces have been attempting to crush resistance in small 'mountain' towns in the Jabal Nafusa ever since a number of these chased out local authorities perceived as being the regime's puppets. Zintan and Wazin are two of the better known examples. Gheddafi's forces are increasingly operating with civilian vehicles to confuse coalition jets, a tactic that works best when they succeed in embedding themselves in densely built up inhabited areas.

As a comparison of aerial photographs of Bir Ghanem - where buildings are spread out in regular geometric patterns over a broad flat sandy area with plenty of empty spaces in between built structures - and highland towns such as Yafran - characterised by a higher density of built structures in patterns that follow the contours of the mountainous terrain - indicate, airstrikes against regime forces on the ground are 'easier' to conduct in or near settlements north of Jabal Nafusa, such as Bir Ghanem, than on the Jabal itself.

Clearly, therefore, Gheddafi's forces were planning to use Bir Ghanem as a forward base from where to dash along the uphill road to Bir Ayyad and from there to one or more 'rebel' mountain towns on the Jabal Nafusa, where taking them out from the air would have been more risky for the local populations. Indeed the regime’s forces have over the past 48 hours continued to shell Zintan. Yesterday they counter-attacked opposition fighters in Wazin, chasing them into Tunisian territory towards Dehiba. This development will hamper the supply of medicine, fuel and food to the insurgent towns in the Jabal Nafusa. (Read more about Wazin and the Jabal Nafusa in Watching Libya April 25, 2011, Watching Libya March 25, 2011, Watching Libya March 16, 2011 and Watching Libya March 11, 2011.)

Meanwhile, NATO has agreed "in principle" to have a political representative in Benghazi, to "improve communication" with the National Transitional Council (TNC). Contacts with NATO have been building up since general secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with Mahmoud Jibril on April 13 .

Brig. Rob Weighill, NATO Operations Director of Operation Unified Protector in Naples, earlier today claimed that the regime's forces had placed mines at Misratah harbour to block humanitarian aid access to the town. He accused the regime of "completely ignoring international law" and of attempting to "prevent humanitarian assistance going into Misratah to help the beleaguered population."

NATO Deputy Spokesperson Carmen Romero speaking at the same briefing, reiterated that it "is clear that there must be a political solution in Libya, but [NATO is] determined to keep up the military pressure until all attacks and threats of attack against civilians have ended; the regime has withdrawn all military and paramilitary forces to their basis; and full humanitarian access is guaranteed." [ http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-4502454A-908E5D88/natolive/opinions_72954.htm?selectedLocale=en ]