TRIPOLI – “Western powers attacking Libya will end up in the dustbin of history,” Muammar Gaddafi said as his troops held back poorly equipped rebel forces despite four nights of coalition air strikes.
While Western air power has grounded Gaddafi’s warplanes and pushed back his forces from the brink of rebel stronghold Benghazi, disorganised and poorly equipped insurgents have failed to capitalise on the ground and are pinned down.
The rebels have been unable to dislodge Gaddafi’s forces from the key junction of Ajdabiyah in the east, while government tanks are besieging the last big rebel hold-out of Misrata. According to the analysts, there is a big risk of stalemate on the ground.
At least two explosions were heard in the Libyan capital Tripoli before dawn on Wednesday, Reuters witnesses said. The roar of a warplane was heard above the city followed by a barrage of anti-aircraft gunfire.
“We will not surrender,” Gaddafi earlier told supporters forming a human shield to protect him at his Tripoli compound, which came under attack in 1986 from the Reagan administration and once again in the current round of air strikes.
“We will defeat them by any means … We are ready for the fight, whether it will be a short or a long one … We will be victorious in the end,” he said in a live television broadcast, his first public appearance since the air strikes began.
“This assault … is by a bunch of fascists who will end up in the dustbin of history,” Gaddafi said in a speech followed by fireworks in the Libyan capital as crowds cheered and supporters fired guns into the air.
The Libyan government denies its army is conducting any offensive operations and says troops are only defending themselves when they come under attack.
But rebels and residents say Gaddafi’s tanks have kept up their shelling of Misrata in the west, killing 40 people on Monday alone, and also attacked the small town of Zintan near the border with Tunisia.
