Violence in Libya sows fears of long civil war; gunfire erupts in Tripoli

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Washington Post:

RAS LANUF, LIBYA - Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi escalated a lethal counterattack on Sunday, heightening assaults on rebels in two key western cities near his stronghold of Tripoli while launching airstrikes and engaging opposition bands marching from the east toward his hometown of Sirte in heavy ground clashes along the Mediterranean coast.

Libyan revolutionary forces advancing on Sirte ran into an ambush of government loyalists Sunday, leading to significant casualties and interrupting a string of recent rebel victories in their westward push toward Tripoli, according to retreating fighters.

Rebels claimed to have shot down two loyalist aircraft attacking positions near Ras Lanuf, a strategic oil refinery town 410 miles east of Tripoli that fell into rebel hands late Friday night. Mysterious volleys of gunfire and heavy artillery, meanwhile, awoke residents in Tripoli, with government officials claiming the ensuing hours of arms fire were celebrations of Gaddafi loyalist victories.

The events suggested the Gaddafi's forces were regrouping into an orchestrated counterassault against the opposition that has claimed most of the eastern half of Libya since a Feb. 17 uprising against his 41-year rule. The ferocity of the fighting indicated that the opposition would not easily push Gaddafi from his mantle, and that Libya was plunging into a potentially protracted and bloody civil war.
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If that happens, we should stay out of it until there are clear signs that Gaddafi is losing.