2011 - LIBYA Benghazi wait for the Worse

2. 2011 – March 16 Libya revolt : over in 48 hours ? – Benghazi wait for the worse Massive exode to Egypt - Humanitarian emergency on Libya's borders A day after routing a ragtag army in an eastern town near the rebel capital of Benghazi, forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi launched attacks on the city of Misurata, the last rebel stronghold in western Libya, about 125 miles east of the capital, Tripoli. Government forces fired artillery, bombarding the city of several hundred thousand as tanks moved in preparation for a ground advance. Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam told Euronews TV that: "Everything will be over in 48 hours," even if a no-fly zone were imposed. Jalal al-Gallal of the National Libyan Transitional Council said there would be a "massacre" if the international community did not intervene. March 15 In Ajdabiya, forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi routed an army of insurgents and would-be revolutionaries holding the last defensive line before the rebel capital of Benghazi. There were no signs of preparations for a vigorous defense in Benghazi itself. As diplomacy faltered over the question of outside intervention, France said there had been no agreement at a meeting of the Group of 8 powers on the contentious issue of enforcing a no-flight zone to ground the loyalist air force. March 14 Following a brutal, weeklong battle that recaptured — and nearly demolished — the strategically important town of Zawiya, forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi cranked up military and psychological pressure against rebels on two fronts, offering an amnesty to those who surrendered their weapons while bombing Ajdabiya, a strategic linchpin in the east, and surrounding a rebel-held town in the west.

3. Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, interviews with France-based TV channel Euronews in Tripoli on Mar. 16. al-Islan said "everything will be over in 48 hours.«  - Reuters Tv / Reuters

4. Getty Images - Evacuees from Libya hold up an old Libyan flag and flash the V-sign for victory as they cross the Egyptian border into the town of Sallum on March 16, 2011, as Libyan government forces attacked rebels in one of their last western bastions and threatened their capital in the east after strongman Moamer Kadhafi vowed to crush the month-old revolt.

5. Getty Images - Two International Red Cross volunteers take a rest as refugees who fled Libya walk by at the Tunisian refugee camp of Choucha on March 16, 2011. Libyan government forces assaulting the key rebel-held town of Ajdabiya cut the road to the insurgents' capital of Benghazi Tuesday as hopes of foreign air protection for the revolt faded.

6. AP Photo Amanda from Somalia, who used to work in Libya and fled the unrest in the country, holds her baby in an Unicef clinic as she waits to vaccinate him in a refugee camp at the Tunisia-Libyan border, in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia, Wednesday, March 16, 2011. More than 250,000 migrant workers have left Libya for neighboring countries, primarily Tunisia and Egypt, in the past three weeks.

7. Getty Images Rrefugees line up in a field covered with garbage as they wait to get on a bus to the Jerba airport at the Tunisian transit camp of Choucha on March 16, 2011. The United Nations said on March 10 that more than 250,000 people had fled Libya to neighboring countries since the revolt against Moamer Kadhafi started in mid-Februar

8. Getty Images - Libyans fleeing Ajdabiya arrive in the coastal city of Benghazi on March 15, 2011, as Libyan government forces assaulting the key city of Ajdabiya outflanked insurgents and cut the road north to the rebel capital of Benghazi, rebel sources said amid scenes of chaos in the town.

9. GORAN TOMASEVIC / Reuters Rebel fighters sit on a sofa at a check point in Ajdabiyah, March 15, 2011.

10. Libyan recruits are taught how to use a 106mm recoilless rifle at a Libyan rebel training camp on Mar. 15 near Benghazi.- Gallo Images / Getty Images Contributor

11. Goran Tomasevic/ReutersForces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Tuesday routed rebels, like the fighter walking with his gun here, who were holding the city of Ajdabiya, the last defensive line before the rebel capital of Benghazi.Mar. 15

12. Goran Tomasevic/ReutersA rebel fighter cleaned the ammunition rounds of an anti-aircraft weapon. For the rebels, the battle was strategically critical, because Ajdabiya controls access to the highways that would permit Qaddafi loyalists to encircle and besiege Benghazi.. March 15

13. Roberto Schmidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA rebel fighter wounded during clashes was carried into a hospital.Mar. 15

14. Roberto Schmidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA rebel fighter, right, and a rebel sympathizer looked up as they heard an incoming rocket hit in Ajdabiya. Mar. 15

15. Getty Images - A Ghanean who fled Libya is waiting for a bus for leaving the Tunisian refugee camp of Choucha on March 15, 2011. Libyan government forces assaulting the key rebel-held town of Ajdabiya cut the road to the insurgents' capital of Benghazi Tuesday as hopes of foreign air protection for the revolt faded.

16. Getty Images - RAS JDIR, TUNISIA - MARCH 15: Men from Bangladesh wait patiently for information about their repatriation and their passports at a United Nations displacement camp on March 15, 2011 in Ras Jdir, Tunisia. Tens of thousands of guest workers from Egypt, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Sudan and other countries are fleeing to the Tunisian border to escape the fighting in and around the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Men, women and children have descended on Tunisia, creating a humanitarian crisis in the country which itself has only recently toppled its former president in an uprising. In Libya Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to fight to the end.

17. Reuters Pictures Demonstrators gather next to anti-Gaddafi graffiti in the main square of Tobruk March 15, 2011. Muammar Gaddafi's forces seized a strategic town in eastern Libya on Tuesday, opening the way to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi while world powers failed to agree to push for a no-fly zone.

18. Getty Images A Ghanean who fled Libya carries wood for cooking at the Tunisian refugee camp of Choucha on March 15, 2011. Libyan government forces assaulting the key rebel-held town of Ajdabiya cut the road to the insurgents' capital of Benghazi Tuesday as hopes of foreign air protection for the revolt faded.

19. LIBYA AP Photo - In this image taken from Libya State TV, broadcast Tuesday March 15, 2011, showing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, as he faces a jubilant crowd, and shown on state TV. Gadhafi's forces are reported to have overwhelmed rebels in the strategic eastern Libyan city of Ajdabiya, earlier Tuesday, hammering them with airstrikes, missiles, tanks and artillery.

20. Following the announcement on Libyan state television that Moammar Gadhafi's forces took the Eastern city of Ajdabiya, Gadhafi supporters celebrate on Green Square in Tripoli on Tuesday, March 15. Government forces struck the rebellion's heartland with airstrikes, missiles and artillery on Tuesday, trying for the first time to take back a city that serves as a crucial gateway for the band of fighters who threatened Gadhafi's four-decade hold on power. - Jerome Delay / AP

21. Following the announcement on Libyan state television that Moammar Gadhafi's forces took the Eastern city of Ajdabiya, Gadhafi supporters celebrate on Green Square in Tripoli on March 15. - Jerome Delay / AP

22. Rebel fighters stand around a vehicle in Ajdabiyah on March 15. - Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

23. A fleeing Libyan rebel falls from a truck while riding back to the coastal city of Benghazi, March 15. Libyan government forces, assaulting the key city of Ajdabiya, outflanked insurgents and cut the road to the rebel capital of Benghazi, rebel sources said amid scenes of chaos in the town. - Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images

24. Rebel fighters flee from Ajdabiya, outside Ajdabiya on the road to Benghazi on Tuesday, March 15. Gadhafi's forces reached Ajdabiya after storming through Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, reversing the advance of a rag-tag rebel army, which only a few weeks ago was confident of charging into the capital Tripoli and toppling Gadhafi.

25. Lynsey Addario for The New York TimesOpposition forces had repositioned themselves at the gate of Ajdabiya, Libya, on Monday, after retreating from Brega in the face of a loyalist offensive.Mar. 14

26. MARCH 14: Men from Ghana wait for information about their repatriation, and their passports at a United Nations displacement camp in Ras Jdir, Tunisia. As fighting continues in and around the Libyan capital of Tripoli, tens of thousands of guest workers including men women and children from Egypt, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Sudan and other countries continue to flee to the border of Tunisia. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

27. MARCH 14: Men from Bangladesh, who used to work in Libya and fled the unrest in the country, eat their food in a refugee camp at the Tunisia-Libyan border, in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia. More than 250,000 migrant workers have left Libya for neighboring countries, primarily Tunisia and Egypt, in the past three weeks. (Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press)

28. an Kitwood / Getty Images A man's name is called as men from Bangladesh wait patiently for information about their repatriation at a United Nations displacement camp in Ras Jdir, Tunisia on March 13.

29. Lynsey Addario for The New York TimesAfter another day of headlong retreat, this time from the refinery and port at Brega, Libya, rebels prepared for what some called a last stand at Ajdabiya, taking refuge in military barracks where they stacked ammunition boxes six deep, positioned a handful of tanks and tried to bring order to a jumble of small artillery and antiaircraft guns. Mar. 13

30. Suspected government-hired mercenaries, center, are detained by rebels in Benghazi on March 13.- Suhaib Salem / Reuters

31. Libyan rebels board a bus to take them away from the front line near Brega on March 12. Opposition forces have been losing ground as government troops loyal to Gadhafi press a counter-offensive to the east. - John Moore / Getty Images

32. Rebel fighters flee a government airstrike in Ras Lanuf on March 11. Government troops drove opposition forces out of the strategic oil town, forcing a disjointed rebel retreat through the desert.- John Moore / Getty Images

33. A Libyan army soldier gestures in front of the recaptured governor's office, draped in green cloth by supporters of Gadhafi, at Martyr's Square in the center of Zawiya on March 11. Picture taken while on a guided government tour. - Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

34. Libyan rebels carry a comrade wounded in a government airstrike in Ras Lanuf on March 11. - John Moore / Getty Images

35. Members of Lybian leader Moammar Gadhafi's loyalist forces and local residents celebrate after entering the Libyan Tunisian border town of Zawiya on March 11. - Mahmud Turkia / AFP - Getty Images

36. Libyan rebel fighters run for cover as a bomb dropped by a Gadhafi loyalist Air Force fighter jet explodes on Friday, March 11, some 10 kilometers east of the key oil port of Ras Lanuf. Libyan rebels appealed for arms today as they sent fighters into battle against Moammar Gadhafi's advancing forces, as France and Britain urged targeted strikes in the oil-rich country. - Roberto Schmidt / AFP - Getty Images

37. Shrapnel flies as a tank shell explodes near Libyan rebel fighters defending their last position in Ras Lanouf on March 10. Roberto Schmidt / AFP - Getty Images

38. Bangladeshis who fled Libya make phone calls in a refugee camp near the Tunisian border town of Choucha on March 10. The Red Cross and the United Arab Emirates plan to build two new camps on Tunisia's border in anticipation of more refugees. An estimated 100,000 mainly foreign migrants have crossed from Libya into Tunisia since Feb. 20. Many have been repatriated in an international effort but thousands remain in temporary camps. - Joel Saget / AFP - Getty Images

39. Libyan women in Benghazi on March 9 protest to demand that foreign nations impose a no-fly zone to cripple Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's air power. - Kevin Frayer / AP

40. Libyan rebels take cover while battling government troops on the frontline on March 9, near Ras Lanuf. The rebels repulsed a government offensive on Ras Lanuf and pushed back troops loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi towards Ben Jawat. John Moore / Getty Images

41. Rebel fighters run for cover in front of a burning gas storage terminal during a battle on the road between Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad on Wednesday, March 9. - Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

42. A rebel fighter walks with a rocket propelled grenade launcher in front of a burning gas storage terminal on the road between Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad, March 9. - Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

43. Relatives of a rebel killed in clashes in Ras Lanuf with forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, mourn during his funeral in Benghazi's cemetery March 9. - Suhaib Salem / Reuters

44. Men, who used to work in Libya but recently fled the unrest, wait for information regarding their repatriation in a refugee camp at the Tunisia-Libyan border, in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia, March 9. - Emilio Morenatti / AP

45. A rebel fighter fires a weapon in front of a burning gas storage terminal during a battle on the road between Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad, March 9, 2011. The rebel movement in their east Libya headquarters of Benghazi said on Wednesday their forces moved back into the hard fought over town of Bin Jawad, but some fighters said its fate was not clear. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

46. Bangladeshi refugees from Libya recharge their cellular telephones on March 9 at the Choucha camp in Tunisia near the border with Libya. The Tunisian military and the United Nations run the camp of 16,000 people, most of them Bangladeshis, with no means to get them home. More than 110,000 people have left Libya for Tunisia since the fighting began. - Joel Saget / AFP - Getty Images

47. Libyan rebel fighters launch a rocket towards a position held by forces loyal to leader Muammar Qaddafi during clashes between the two side few kilometers outside the town of Ras Lanuf on March 9, 2011. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)

48. Rebel fighters run for cover as shells explode nearby during clashes with forces loyal to leader Muammar Qaddafi, near Ras Lanuf on March 9, 2011. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)

49. Rebels attack government troops as a natural gas facility burns on the frontline on March 9, 2011 near Ras Lanuf, Libya. The rebels pushed back government troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi towards Ben Jawat. (John Moore/Getty Images

50. Bangladeshi migrant workers bath at the UNHCR refugee camp near the border crossing of Ras Jdir, after fleeing the violence in Libya March 9, 2011. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol