How al-Qaeda got to rule in Tripoli

His name is Abdelhakim Belhaj. Some in the Middle East might have, but few in the West and across the world would have heard of him. Time to catch up. Because the story of how an al-Qaeda asset turned out to be the top Libyan military commander in still war-torn Tripoli is bound to shatter - once again - that wilderness of mirrors that is the "war on terror", as well as deeply compromising the carefully constructed propaganda of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) "humanitarian" intervention in Libya. 

Muammar Gaddafi's fortress of Bab-al-Aziziyah was essentially invaded and conquered last week by Belhaj's men - who were at the forefront of a militia of Berbers from the mountains southwest of Tripoli. The militia is the so-called Tripoli Brigade, trained in secret for two months by US Special Forces. This turned out to be the rebels' most effective militia in six months of tribal/civil war.

Already last Tuesday, Belhaj was gloating on how the battle was won, with Gaddafi forces escaping "like rats" (note that's the same metaphor used by Gaddafi himself to designate the rebels). Abdelhakim Belhaj, aka Abu Abdallah al-Sadek, is a Libyan jihadi. Born in May 1966, he honed his skills with the mujahideen in the 1980s anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan. He's the founder of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and its de facto emir - with Khaled Chrif and Sami Saadi as his deputies. 

After the Taliban took power in Kabul in 1996, the LIFG kept two training camps in Afghanistan; one of them, 30 kilometers north of Kabul - run by Abu Yahya - was strictly for al-Qaeda-linked jihadis. After 9/11, Belhaj moved to Pakistan and also to Iraq, where he befriended none other than ultra-nasty Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - all this before al-Qaeda in Iraq pledged its allegiance to Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and turbo-charged its gruesome practices. In Iraq, Libyans happened to be the largest foreign Sunni jihadi contingent, only losing to the Saudis.

Moreover, Libyan jihadis have always been superstars in the top echelons of "historic" al-Qaeda - from Abu Faraj al-Libi (military commander until his arrest in 2005, now lingering as one of 16 high-value detainees in the US detention center at Guantanamo) to Abu al-Laith al-Libi (another military commander, killed in Pakistan in early 2008). Time for an extraordinary rendition The LIFG had been on the US Central Intelligence Agency's radars since 9/11. 

In 2003, Belhaj was finally arrested in Malaysia - and then transferred, extraordinary rendition-style, to a secret Bangkok prison, and duly tortured. In 2004, the Americans decided to send him as a gift to Libyan intelligence - until he was freed by the Gaddafi regime in March 2010, along with other 211 "terrorists", in a public relations coup advertised with great fanfare. The orchestrator was no less than Saif Islam al-Gaddafi - the modernizing/London School of Economics face of the regime. LIFG's leaders - Belhaj and his deputies Chrif and Saadi - issued a 417-page confession dubbed" corrective studies" in which they declared the jihad against Gaddafi over (and illegal), before they were finally set free. A fascinating account of the whole process can be seen in a report called "Combating Terrorism in Libya through Dialogue and Reintegration". [1] Note that the authors, Singapore-based terrorism "experts" who were wined and dined by the regime, express the "deepest appreciation to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation for making this visit possible". 

Crucially, still in 2007, then al-Qaeda's number two, Zawahiri, officially announced the merger between the LIFG and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM). So, for all practical purposes, since then, LIFG/AQIM have been one and the same - and Belhaj was/is its emir. In 2007, LIFG was calling for a jihad against Gaddafi but also against the US and assorted Western "infidels". Fast forward to last February when, a free man, Belhaj decided to go back into jihad mode and align his forces with the engineered uprising in Cyrenaica. Every intelligence agency in the US, Europe and the Arab world knows where he's coming from. 

He's already made sure in Libya that himself and his militia will only settle for sharia law. There's nothing "pro-democracy" about it - by any stretch of the imagination. And yet such an asset could not be dropped from NATO's war just because he was not very fond of "infidels". The late July killing of rebel military commander General Abdel Fattah Younis - by the rebels themselves - seems to point to Belhaj or at least people very close to him. It's essential to know that Younis - before he defected from the regime - had been in charge of Libya's special forces fiercely fighting the LIFG in Cyrenaica from 1990 to 1995. 

The Transitional National Council (TNC), according to one of its members, Ali Tarhouni, has been spinning Younis was killed by a shady brigade known as Obaida ibn Jarrah (one of the Prophet Mohammed's companions). Yet the brigade now seems to have dissolved into thin air. Shut up or I'll cut your head off Hardly by accident, all the top military rebel commanders are LIFG, from Belhaj in Tripoli to one Ismael as-Salabi in Benghazi and one Abdelhakim al-Assadi in Derna, not to mention a key asset, Ali Salabi, sitting at the core of the TNC. It was Salabi who negotiated with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi the "end" of LIFG's jihad, thus assuring the bright future of these born-again "freedom fighters". It doesn't require a crystal ball to picture the consequences of LIFG/AQIM - having conquered military power and being among the war "winners" - not remotely interested in relinquishing control just to please NATO's whims. 

Meanwhile, amid the fog of war, it's unclear whether Gaddafi is planning to trap the Tripoli brigade in urban warfare; or to force the bulk of rebel militias to enter the huge Warfallah tribal areas. Gaddafi's wife belongs to the Warfallah, Libya's largest tribe, with up to 1 million people and 54 sub-tribes. The inside word in Brussels is that NATO expects Gaddafi to fight for months if not years; thus the Texas George W Bush-style bounty on his head and the desperate return to NATO's plan A, which was always to take him out. Libya may now be facing the specter of a twin-headed guerrilla Hydra; Gaddafi forces against a weak TNC central government and NATO boots on the ground; and the LIFG/AQIM nebula in a jihad against NATO (if they are sidelined from power). Gaddafi may be a dictatorial relic of the past, but you don't monopolize power for four decades for nothing, and without your intelligence services learning a thing or two. 

From the beginning, Gaddafi said this was a foreign- backed/al-Qaeda operation; he was right (although he forgot to say this was above all neo-Napoleonic French President Nicolas Sarkozy's war, but that's another story). He also said this was a prelude for a foreign occupation whose target was to privatize and take over Libya's natural resources. He may - again – turn out to be right. The Singapore "experts" who praised the Gaddafi regime's decision to free the LIFG's jihadis qualified it as "a necessary strategy to mitigate the threat posed to Libya". Now, LIFG/AQIM is finally poised to exercise its options as an "indigenous political force". Ten years after 9/11, it's hard not to imagine a certain decomposed skull in the bottom of the Arabian Sea boldly grinning to kingdom come.

Libyan rebels use drone against Gaddafi

In a dramatic illustration of the spread of drone technology, a Canadian company said this week that it sold a small military surveillance craft to Libyan rebels who have been using it since July for the frontline monitoring of forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

“It has been used in active war fighting and they have had spectacular results,” said David Kroetsch, chief executive of Aeryon Labs Inc. in Waterloo, Canada, which manufactures the Aeryon Scout. The 3-pound helicopter-like drone carries both day-time and night-time cameras and flies almost soundlessly at 500 feet.

“Even in the quiet of the desert, you could not hear it or see it, it’s a speck in the sky, especially at night,” said Kroetsch, noting that the drone is all-electric and has no engine noise.

The United States and its NATO allies have also been flying both weaponized and surveillance drones over Libya, but it was not known that the rebels had also acquired the technology. The New York Times first reported on the drone being used by Libya’s rebels on Wednesday.

The Canadian government, which has recognized Transitional National Council as the legitimate government of Libya, approved the sale. And it is the first time that a Western government has allowed the transfer of drone technology to an insurgency.

Kroetsch said the rebels had experimented unsuccessfully with putting a camera on a remote-controlled helicopter before looking to purchase a proven drone. “They realized this was not time for a science experiment,” Kroetsch said.

He said the sale was brokered through the TNC’s representative in Canada. He declined to say how much the rebels paid, but the base price of the scout is $120,000. The drone, which can be packed in a small suitcase, was delivered to the rebels by a Canadian security company, Zariba Security Corp. Charles Barlow, the president of Zariba, took the drone on a ferry from Malta to the besieged city of Misurata.

Barlow then instructed the rebels in the use of the micro-drone, and they began to use it themselves after only a day.

Israeli warplanes strike Gaza

Israeli warplanes struck several times Wednesday and early Thursday along the country's border with Gaza, killing three people and wounding several others, medical sources told reporters.

Early Thursday, an Israeli warplane shot missiles at a social club in northern Gaza, killing two people and wounding 20, including women and children, medical sources said.

On Wednesday, an air strike on a tunnel between Rafa and Egypt left three people seriously wounded, the sources said. The Israel Defense Forces said that an Israeli warplane hit an Islamic Jihad militant from the city of Rafa who was involved in smuggling weapons "and sought the execution of terrorist activity in Sinai."

The victim had operated with Gaza elements who had recently tried to carry out an attack in Sinai, on Israel's border with Egypt, it added.

Hamas security and medical sources reported a strike in Rafa in which one man was killed and three others were wounded, two of them critically, when their Jeep was struck. The four men were members of Islamic Jihad, sources with the Palestinian militant group said. In response, Islamic Jihad said Wednesday night that its members had fired about 10 rockets from Gaza into southern Israel. There was no immediate report of casualties.

The IDF said in a news release that it fired Wednesday night at a "terrorist squad" that had fired rockets into southern Israel. "A hit was confirmed," it said. On Wednesday morning, the IDF reported that two people who had fired rockets at Israel from separate locations in northern Gaza were hit moments afterward by an Israeli aircraft.

The flare-up between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza came following an attack carried out by Palestinian militants last Thursday near the southern city of Eilat, which killed eight Israelis. Another Israeli was killed by a rocket attack near the city of Beer Sheva in southern Israel.

"The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, and will respond with determination to any attempt to use terror against the State of Israel," the IDF news release said.

The U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Richard Serry, issued a statement Sunday saying he "remains worried about the continuing tensions in particular the escalation of violence in Gaza and Southern Israel." He called for a return to calm and said "the United Nations is actively engaged and supporting Egypt's important efforts in this regard," a reference to Egypt's attempt to better control the Sinai.

Libyan Rebels capture Gaddafi compound in Tripoli

Rebel fighters captured Moammer Gaddafi's heavily fortified Bab al-Aziziya compound and headquarters in Tripoli on Tuesday after a day of fierce fighting, a correspondent witnessed.

The defenders had fled, and there was no immediate word on the whereabouts of Gaddafi or his family after the insurgents breached the defences as part of a massive assault that began in the morning.

"Rebels breached the surrounding cement walls and entered inside. They have taken Bab al-Azizya. Completely. It is finished," the correspondent said.

"It is an incredible sight," he said, adding that the bodies of a number of apparent Gaddafi fighters were lying inside, as well as wounded.

Only minutes earlier, rebel spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said from Benghazi: "Our forces are surrounding Bab al-Azizya. There is a fierce battle going on there. We are now controlling one of the gates, the western entrance."

The correspondent said rebels found an armoury in one of the buildings and were seizing quantities of ammunition, pistols and assault rifles.

There was no immediate comment from the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Bengazi, but an official in the western city of Misrata said that "at the same house used by Gaddafi before to describe the Libyan people as rats, today the independence flag flying on its roof."

On Tuesday morning, Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam, who was reportedly under arrest, made a surprise appearance in Tripoli and announced that his father and family were still in the capital.

However, he declined to say where.
"Gaddafi and the entire family are in Tripoli," Seif told reporters at the Rixos Hotel where many foreign journalists are housed.

Seif also said the regime's forces had deliberately not tried to prevent the rebels from entering the capital.

"Allowing the rebels to enter Tripoli was a trick," he said, without elaborating.
NATO, meanwhile, said Gaddafi was "not a target" for the military alliance.
"NATO does not target individuals," said Operation Unified Protector spokesman, Colonel Roland Lavoie.

"Gaddafi does not constitute a target," he told reporters in Brussels via video-conference from the mission's Naples headquarters.
In the hours that led up to the storming of the compound in central Tripoli, the sound of the fighting was the most intense heard in the city since rebels arrived three days ago.

The correspondent said that rebel forces coming from the western city of Misrata had reinforced the offensive during the afternoon.
The rebel official in Misrata said one of their commanders had been killed in the assault on the compound.

The sky was filled with the sound of heavy and light machine guns as well as mortars, with the overhead roar of NATO jets that had been carrying intensive over flights though it was unclear if there were any air strikes.

Even two kilometres (about a mile) from the fighting, the almost constant whistle of falling bullets could be hear from the rooftops, as the city's mosques chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

Syrian President has failed to keep promises: UN chief

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said it is troubling that Syrian President Bashar al Assad has not kept his word on ending violence against civilians in his country.

Ban said Assad had conveyed to him in a telephonic conversation that military operations against protesters had stopped and that the UN humanitarian assistance assessment team would be able to visit different places in the country.

"This is what he clearly told me when I had the telephone talk with him...It is troubling that he has not kept his word," Ban told reporters.

The UN chief said world leaders have urged Assad to "immediately halt military operations that are killing his own people, and he assured me (he would) do that."

Ban said he ‘sincerely’ hoped Assad would pay heed to calls by the international community to bring an end to the months-long violence in his country.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Council met for a "special session" on Tuesday to discuss sending another commission to Syria to investigate possible crimes against humanity in the government s crackdown on protesters.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay presented to the Council in Geneva findings of a mission to Syria by her office covering the period from March 15 to July 15.

The draft resolution, which the Council is debating, calls on the Syrian authorities to fully cooperate with a new "independent international commission of inquiry" into alleged violations of international law.

The commission, to be appointed by the Council, would cover the period from July and report back by November end.

It would call on the Syrian government to immediately halt "all human rights violations," including "the continued indiscriminate attacks" on its people.

Pillay said more than 2,200 people have been killed since mass protests began in mid-March, with more than 350 people reportedly killed in Syria since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Gaddafi son Saif Al Islam at Tripoli hotel after arrest report

Saif al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who rebels and the International Criminal Court said had been arrested, arrived late on Monday at the Tripoli hotel where foreign reporters are staying.

Saif appeared at the Rixos Hotel late at night and spoke to foreign journalists there. Television footage showed him pumping his fists in the air, smiling, waving and shaking hands with supporters, as well as holding

his arms aloft with each hand making the V for victory sign. 

Saif told journalists that Tripoli, which has been largely overrun in the past 24 hours by rebel forces seeking to topple his father, was in fact in government hands and that Muammar Gaddafi was safe. Earlier, armed pro-Gaddafi security mean guarding the hotel took a small group of journalists to Gaddafi's Bab al Aziziyah compound, where they had a meeting with Saif. 

They returned to the hotel accompanied by Saif, who then spoke to journalists in the lobby before taking some of them back to he compound a short distance away for a  brief visit.

Saif said: "I am here to disperse the rumors ...

"This is a war of technology and electronics to cause chaos and terror in Libya. They also brought in armed gangs by sea and by road."

He was referring to a text message sent to mobile phone subscribers in Tripoli on Monday congratulating them on the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Saif also said that Tripoli was under government control and that he did not care about an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague seeking him and his father for crimes gainst humanity. 

When asked if his father was safe and well in Tripoli, Saif told a journalist: "Of course."

Fighting erupts in Tripoli

<< Supporters of Libyan leader Gaddafi

Fighting erupted in Tripoli late Saturday as rebels closed in on the capital by claiming a third key city in 24 hours and predicted Muammar al-Gaddafi's 42-year-old rule was on its last legs.

Blasts and gunfire rocked Tripoli after the break of the dawn-to-dusk fast of Ramadan and witnesses reported fighting in the eastern neighbourhoods of Soug Jomaa, Arada and Tajura.

As jubilant rebels in newly-conquered towns were champing at the bit for a final push on Tripoli, a government spokesman said the fighting in the capital had not lasted long and the situation been brought under control.

"The situation is under control," Moussa Ibrahim said on television, adding that pro-regime volunteers had repelled insurgents attacks in several neighbourhoods.

Ibrahim dismissed mounting speculation that the regime was on the brink as a "media attack" but more gunfire was heard after he spoke on television.

In his eastern stronghold of Benghazi, Libyan rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil claimed Saturday that victory was within reach, six months after the insurgency was launched.

"We have contacts with people from the inner circle of Gaddafi," said the chairman of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC). "All evidence (shows) that the end is very near, with God's grace."

Abdel Jalil was speaking to reporters as a flurry of rumours suggested that Gaddafi was preparing to flee Libya.

"I expect a catastrophic end for him and his inner circle, and I expect that he will a create a situation within Tripoli. I hope my expectation is wrong," Abdel Jalil said, before the latest fighting in the capital.

"That would be a good thing that will end the bloodshed and help us avoid material costs. But I do not expect that he will do that," Abdel Jalil added.

Rebels were jubilant after claiming to have captured the strategic eastern oil hub of Brega, a day after saying they had seized Zawiyah and Zliten, two other key towns.
However, rebel Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said retreating Gaddafi forces were shelling Brega's industrial zone on Saturday and that his men had pulled back to its eastern edge to avoid unnecessary casualties and property damage.

In Sabratah, around 50 kilometres west of Tripoli, rebels were celebrating their camp's latest advances and waiting for a chance to take part in an offensive on the capital.
"I'm dying to go to Tripoli," Mohamed, an 18-year-old fighter from Manchester, said as fighters fired shots in the air and residents stayed to their TV sets, monitoring what they believe are Gaddafi's final hours.

"We have to stay here and await orders. I would like to go right now to Tripoli by boat but I can't because I don't have contact with NATO," said Akram Mohamed Ramadan, another fighter.

While the rebels' pincer movement on the capital intensified, another sign of the regime's fragility came when rebels said former premier Abdessalam Jalloud, who fell out of favour with the Libyan strongman in the mid-1990s but remains a popular figure, had defected and joined their ranks.

Yet both they and the regime downplayed the significance of his departure, after he reportedly flew to Italy from neighbouring Tunisia with his family.

The official JANA news agency simply said "Jalloud had remained away from politics out of his own free will, and spent most of his time abroad for (medical) care for heart disease."

He was among the officers who grabbed power with Gaddafi in 1969 and was long considered the regime's second-in-command before being gradually sidelined in the 1990s.

In Zawiyah, families were fleeing the battle-scarred city in cars and pickups loaded with personal possessions, a day after the rebels claimed it had fallen as they advanced on Tripoli from the west.

Queues of cars hundreds of metres long snaked out of petrol stations after rebels decided to distribute fuel from the nearby refinery for free.

The refinery is the only source of fuel to Tripoli, and could leave it without critical supplies.

At the start of the main road heading south, rebels set up a checkpoint with a list of names of informants whom they accused of having helped Gaddafi's fighters in their now-lost battle for the city.

Insurgents also said they seized Zliten from Gaddafi's forces, hours after saying they were in the town's centre, 150 kilometres (93 miles) east of Tripoli.

Rebels have been seeking to sever Tripoli's supply lines from Tunisia to the west and to Gaddafi's home town of Sirte in the east, hoping to cut off the capital, prompt defections and spark an uprising inside Tripoli.

Meanwhile, a Tunisian defence official said Tunisian troops clashed with a group of armed Libyans overnight in the country's southwest.

An army patrol came under fire from men travelling in several 4X4 vehicles with Libyan registration plates in the Douz region, the official said.

No one was caught and the attackers were still being hunted Saturday by ground and air forces, the official said, adding there were no casualties on the Tunisian side.

With the rebels vowing to take Tripoli before the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan ends in late August, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has urged the population of the capital to rise up against Gaddafi.

"We hope the people of Tripoli... understand the regime has harmed its own people and will therefore join a process of political change to cut off room for manoeuvre for Gaddafi's regime," Frattini said.

Meanwhile, the International Organisation for Migration said it was drawing up plans to evacuate thousands of migrants stranded in Tripoli because exit points have been cut off after a spate of rebel successes.

"There are already thousands of Egyptians who are ready for evacuation now, and what we are hearing is that every day there are more and more requests," IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya said.

Libyan Prince Says Qaddafi Will Be Ousted If Rebels Are United

Libyan Prince Muhammad bin Sayyid Hassan as-Senussi said Muammar Gaddafi will be toppled “sooner rather than later” if rebels keep their unity and resolve, as the conflict in the North African nation enters its sixth month.

“Day after day, week after week, most of the nation has stood together, united against the tyrant as brave freedom fighters have taken up arms,” as-Senussi said in a statement on his website today. “For Libya to take its place among the great nations of the world, we must work together as one people.”

On Feb. 17, Libyans in the eastern town of Benghazi staged a peaceful protest calling for more rights, and were fired upon by security forces. In March, amid international condemnation of Qaddafi’s escalating crackdown on dissent, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began an air campaign to protect civilians.

After several weeks of stalemate, the rebels are claiming advances on the battlefield. Opposition forces say they have ended nightly rocket attacks by Qaddafi’s military by taking the town of Tarwaga, near the western city of Misrata. They also say they are inside Zawiya, 35 miles (56 kilometers) from the capital, Tripoli.

Qaddafi has lasted longer than expected amid reports of fuel and food shortages in Tripoli, which he controls. This week, he urged his supporters to resist NATO and rebel fighters in a speech aired as an audio file on state television.

“United we must fight for a new society in which the freedoms and rights of the people come first,” said as-Senussi, who now lives in London. “This long struggle, one that has been longer than we had hoped, is not yet over,”

As-Senussi is the son of Hassan as-Senussi and the great- nephew of King Idris, who was overthrown by Qaddafi in September 1969. The prince, who pushed for a no-fly zone over Libya in February, has worked with Libyan expatriates to send goods, clothing and medicine to the North African country.

Endgame for Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi?

The battle to control Libya has entered its final phase when Muammar Gaddafi must make a choice: to seek a negotiated exit or to defend his capital to the last bullet. Rebels with support from NATO warplanes have, over the past 48 hours, taken key towns around Gaddafi’s stronghold in

Tripoli in a dramatic series of advances which cut the city off from supplies of fuel and food.

Rebel offensives have, in the past, turned into headlong retreats. But if they hold their ground, the end of Gaddafi’s 41-year rule will be closer than at any time since the conflict began six months ago.

A U.S. official said that for the first time in the conflict, government forces on Sunday fired a Scud missile — an act that was pointless from a military point of view but signalled the desperation of pro-Gaddafi forces.

“The Libyan regime may or may not collapse forthwith but it now looks like it will happen sooner or later,” said Daniel Korski, a fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations.

He added: “The manner of its collapse, however, and the method of the rebel takeover will be just as important as the conduct of the war.”

Flushed by their success in getting so close to Tripoli, some rank-and-file rebels on Monday spoke of attacking the capital next. But analysts said that will not be the favoured option for rebel commanders.

Unwanted battle

Gaddafi will throw all the men and weapons he has left into a defence of the capital, civilian casualties in urban fighting will be high, and sections of the population in Tripoli are likely to oppose the rebels.

Even if Gaddafi’s opponents were able to win that fight, the bloodshed would create grievances and vendettas which could make the capital — and maybe even the country — ungovernable.

Starved of fuel and unable to bring in more weapons and reinforcements, elements of Gaddafi’s security forces in Tripoli may decide the best way to save themselves is to lay down their arms or cross over and join the rebels.

US releases names of 30 troops killed in chopper crash

The Pentagon on Thursday released the names of the 30 US troops killed in an attack on a US helicopter in Afghanistan last week, despite earlier objections from the special operations commander.

The secretive US Special Operations Command had argued against identifying most of those aboard the chopper on grounds that the details could potentially put fellow troops and their families at risk, officials said.

But Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the end rejected the request and approved divulging the names, in keeping with Pentagon practise. Under US law, the names of the SEALs are not classified, unlike those of Central Intelligence Agency officers.

The Defense Department's statement clarified reports about how many Navy SEAL commandos were killed in the crash, saying 17 SEALs had died while five other Navy sailors assigned to the SEAL unit were killed.

Officials had said previously that the dead included 22 of the Navy's elite Sea, Air and Land teams.

The dead included three Air Force special operations forces and the five-man Army crew of the Chinook helicopter.

A total of 38 people died when the CH-47 was shot down in the eastern province of Wardak, including seven Afghan troops and an interpreter.

The attack represented the most deadly incident for US and NATO forces since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001.

The Pentagon's press release did not confirm if any of the SEALs were part of the unit credited with the night raid that killed Osama bin Laden, known as "Team Six" or the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group.

The release only said 15 of the 17 sailors were assigned to an "East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit." Team Six is based in Virginia.

The highly-trained SEALs who died ranged in age from 24 to 44 years old.

Libya: Gaddafi Faces Fourth Month Without Gasoline Shipments

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi faces a fourth month without receiving gasoline cargoes by sea as motorists wait in line at filling stations in the capital.

Rebels opposing Gaddafi received three to four cargoes of gasoline a month in June and July while the leader got none, according to two traders, one shipowner, one analyst and one shipbroker surveyed. The rebels received about four cargoes in May and Gaddafi got none. That compares with eight cargoes in a normal month before an uprising erupted in February, they said.

“International sanctions and the tight monitoring of Libya’s waters by the NATO-led alliance have so far been very successful in denying the regime access to imported fuel cargoes, a situation which will not change over the coming month,” said Samuel Ciszuk, senior Middle East and North Africa energy analyst at researcher IHS Energy Group U.K. Ltd.

Libya’s refineries produced 5.2 million metric tons of diesel and gasoline in 2008, according to the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based adviser to industrialized nations. The plants will probably process no more than 90,000 barrels of oil a day this summer, compared with the usual 370,000 barrels, the IEA said in a report in May.

“The economic pressure on Qaddafi is tremendous,” Ciszuk said. “Qaddafi has to prioritize fuel for his military forces to survive.”

650,000 Cars

One gasoline shipment comprises about 34 million liters (9 million gallons) of the car fuel, enough to fill about 650,000 vehicles.

The fuel’s scarcity may be causing longer waiting times for motorists in Tripoli, said Alan Fraser, a security analyst at AKE Group Ltd. in London, citing contacts in the Libyan city. The capital is held by Qaddafi’s regime, while the rebels control the eastern port city of Benghazi.

“Queues are reportedly getting worse in Tripoli,” Fraser said. “I’ve heard reports of up to five days. In Benghazi, I’ve never heard of fuel shortages being a major issue.”

Libyan crude production fell to 100,000 barrels a day last month, compared with an average of 1.55 million in 2010, according to data.

U.S. May Call for Syria’s Assad to Step Down Amid Violence

The Obama administration may call on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down soon, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

Though the U.S. is concerned about the possibility of civil war in Syria, it is more focused on the prospect of sectarian violence promoted by the Assad government and the chance that the Syrian situation will spark instability in the wider Middle East, said the official, who asked not to be identified because the administration is still discussing the issue and considering the timing of a possible announcement about Assad.

A call for Assad to quit would be the strongest U.S. condemnation of his crackdown on dissenters who began an uprising five months ago. The demonstrations are the biggest challenge to Assad’s rule since he inherited power from his father 11 years ago. Human-rights activists who have compiled the names of the dead say Assad’s forces have killed more than 2,400 protesters and detained thousands since mid-March.

Assad yesterday responded to growing criticism about the crackdown by admitting “some mistakes” were made by his security forces in the “initial stages” of unrest. Diplomats representing Brazil, India and South Africa -- a bloc in the United Nations Security Council reluctant to punish Assad -- said in an e-mailed statement that they met in Damascus with the Syrian leader, who told them “efforts were under way to prevent” the mistakes from recurring.

U.S. Freeze

Their appeal to both sides for an end to the violence came as European nations renewed a push for a UN resolution against the bloodshed and the U.S. imposed new financial sanctions on Syrian banks and telecommunications. Pushing back, Syria’s UN ambassador, Bashar Ja’afari, drew parallels between Prime Minister David Cameron’s response to U.K. riots and Syria’s approach to armed “gangs.”

Assad’s admission of errors at the onset of the protests in March doesn’t address the escalation in violence over the past week, said a western diplomat who isn’t authorized to speak publicly. At least four people were killed today in the northern province of Idlib, while one person died yesterday in the Damascus suburb of Saqba and another in the town of Nawa in Daraa province, Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, said by telephone from Damascus.

Deaths During Ramadan

At least 20 anti-government protesters were killed yesterday in Deir al-Zour, Homs and Idlib provinces in the second week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, said Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria. Protesters took to the streets late yesterday after breaking their Ramadan fasts and completing evening prayers in Homs, Deir al-Zour, Latakia, suburbs of Damascus and Daraa, Merhi said.

Merhi dismissed government assertions that the army had withdrawn from Hama, which came under assault on July 31, the eve of Ramadan, by tanks, heavy machine-gun fire and armored vehicles. More than 300 people have been killed, mostly in Hama, since security forces escalated the crackdown last week, according to activists.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who visited Assad two days ago, said today he hadn’t received evidence that tanks re-entered Hama late yesterday. Turkey contacted the governor of Hama late yesterday after seeing reports that the armed forces had returned to the city, and was told by the official that there were no tanks or heavy weapons there, Davutoglu said in televised comments from Ankara.

Signs of Tanks

Turkish journalists crossed the border into Syria today to report on conditions as part of an agreement between Davutoglu and Assad that included Turkey’s demand for the cessation of violence. Their work was restricted and they were escorted by Syrian officials on an indirect route to Hama, Turkey’s state- run Anatolia news service said.

Tanks were seen today about 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside Hama, Anatolia said. Buildings in the city were marked by artillery fire and the streets had signs of tank treads, it said.

Momentum may be building for bolder steps to stop Assad after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Damascus this week and Turkey said its neighbor is entering a “critical” period.

The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said Syria would be better off without Assad, repeating the Obama administration’s stance that the leader has lost legitimacy. The New York Times today cited a U.S. diplomatic official as saying the administration doesn’t expect Assad to remain in power and doesn’t rule out a civil war once he falls.

‘It’s the System’

“To the U.S., getting Assad out now would maybe save lives and avoid bigger regional pressures later,” said Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis. “However, even if he steps aside, that won’t take care of the problem because it’s not just the person, it’s the system itself.”

While further action is needed, getting the Security Council “on board” in light of Russia-led opposition may prove difficult, said George A. Lopez, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame who was on a UN panel of experts monitoring compliance with sanctions. “Only massive and tight arms embargo, oil sanctions and further financial freezes can work now,” he said.

Russia has indicated it isn’t convinced that a UN resolution is needed to stop the repression of protesters.

“What we are telling them is that they need to have serious reforms as soon as possible,” Russia’s UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters yesterday. “We realize that it takes time. Especially in a dramatic situation like this, you cannot carry out reforms overnight. We see encouraging signs.”

In Washington, the Treasury Department said it will freeze the assets of the Commercial Bank of Syria and a subsidiary, the Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, as well as mobile-phone company Syriatel.

“We are taking aim at the financial infrastructure that is helping provide support” to Assad, said David S. Cohen, U.S. undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Libyan Rebels Push to Take Town of Tawarga as Conflict Enters Sixth Month

Libyan rebels in the besieged city of Misrata launched an offensive to try and break through the eastern frontline and take the government-held town of Tawarga.

The attack began in the early morning and three rebel fighters were killed and 44 wounded by 3 p.m. local time, according to officials at Misrata’s Mujamma Aliadat hospital. There were no immediate reports on government casualties.

“We are in the town, we made a big attack this morning,” wounded rebel fighter Loie Mohammed, 19, said from his hospital bed, referring to Tawarga. “Our guys went in a circle to get around the town and attack from behind it.”

The conflict between the rebels and forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi is in its sixth month, with little recent progress on either side. Qaddafi retains control of the capital, Tripoli, while the rebels are holding on to Benghazi in the east and Misrata in the west. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has supported the rebel fighters with an air campaign that began in March.

Misrata’s eastern front has been comparatively quiet for the past two months with most rebel offensives focused on pushing west toward the town of Zlitan. Government forces hit the center of Misrata with missiles on Aug. 9 for the first time since May, injuring one man.

Heavy shelling could be heard from the direction of Tawarga throughout the day and a stream of ambulances arrived in the city from the front line 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the east.

Mohammed said he was wounded by shrapnel as he was manning a mortar. He had bandages over a wound on his side and lay covered in a green sheet with drip feeds in both arms.

“When they tell me it’s OK, I am going back,” he said, referring to the front line.

Libyan Attempt To Bring Back Oil Cos Fails To Ignite Interest

A new attempt by Libya's government to bring back foreign oil companies to the war-torn country has failed to ignite interest, people familiar with the contacts said in recent days.

The government of Col. Moammar Gadhafi is battling a rebellion by the rebel Transitional National Council which, surfing on recent international recognition, has also got in touch with international oil giants.

According to industry officials, which include Libyan oil sources, Eni SpA (E), Total SA (TOT), Repsol SA (REP.MC) and OMV AG (OMV.VI) as well as U.S. companies were recently contacted by Tripoli to return to Libya.

Last month, the country's National Oil Corp., or NOC, "sent a circular to U.S. and European companies asking them to resume operations" and also sent one of its executives to Europe for this purpose.

A manager at a foreign company with interests in Libya said Omran Abukraa, the recently-appointed head of the National Oil Corp., "is trying to convince them to come back and do business in Libya, but he got nothing."

Both sides also appear to disagree on the significance of the approach.

Abukraa said they were part of "continuous contacts with our [foreign companies] partners.

"They were very positive with us because of their keenness to maintain their interests in Libya," he said.

But without commenting on whether it had received any letters from Abukraa, OMV said it "isn't in talks with the Libyan government nor with the transitional government." Total and Eni declined to comment and a Repsol spokesman couldn't immediately comment.

OMV said that "production has been stopped; we are waiting to see how the situation develops."

Foreign oil companies pulled out of Libya late February when civil war erupted there, triggering the shut down of most of its oil production. They are also unable to conduct financial transactions with NOC due to sanctions.

Abukraa said that: "Because of the so-called force majeure state, these companies aren't returning back. But according to the contracts signed with these companies such force majeure should be discussed with the NOC."

However, he said: "Any of our foreign partners who would like to return back to work in Libya is welcome. Libyan oil fields are fine and the security situation in Libya is well."

Syrian protesters demand action to halt killings by Bashar al-Assad regime

Syrian protesters in Hama chanting their resistance song, 'Come on Bashar, leave' amid escalating violence from regime troops.

Syrian opposition activists have appealed to the international community to increase pressure on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad as condemnation mounts over escalating bloodshed.

Omar Habal from the central city of Hama, where four more people were reportedly killed by shellfire on Monday, said protestors wanted foreign governments to withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus and expel Syrian diplomats from their capitals in response to a brutal crackdown in which more than 100 people were killed across Syria on Sunday.

"We want action but not military intervention, we don't need that," Habal told the Guardian by telephone. "We need pressure, strong political pressure."

The appeal came as the UN security council was preparing to meet in New York to discuss the crisis after rare condemnation of the violence by Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, as well as unusually harsh words from the leaders of its neighbour Turkey.

The US, Britain and France have all used strong language to condemn events on Sunday, the eve of Ramadan and the bloodiest day of the uprising so far.

Syria's opposition is divided, with some groups calling for the overthrow of the Assad regime while others still hope the president will launch genuine reforms.

Foreign governments say that Assad has lost legitimacy but have not explicitly and directly called for his overthrow.

"The international community needs to act quickly to prevent further atrocities in Syria," said Ausama Monajed, a leading exiled dissident. "What are they waiting for? A million Syrians to be killed? It is shameful by any standard to see human beings being shot and killed and not a single condemnation from the UN Security Council. What message does that send to brutal dictators?"

The EU announced on Monday that it had imposed travel bans and assets freezes on five unnamed Syrian officials, but measures imposed on 30 other senior figures have been shrugged off in Damascus.
Russia said it was "seriously concerned" about the level of casualties but implied government and opposition were equally at fault. "The use of force against civilians and representatives of state structures is unacceptable and must cease," the foreign ministry statement said. Western diplomats said it was unclear whether this meant Moscow was dropping its objections condemning Syria.

China has also been reluctant to back the US, Britain and France in demanding punitive gestures, let alone action. Moscow and Beijing are unhappy at the way their support for the UN at the start of the Libya crisis was turned into a mandate for a Nato bombing campaign they now see as pursuing regime change.
India, South Africa and Brazil have also opposed a resolution.

William Hague, Britain's foreign secretary, said he wanted a resolution to condemn the Syrian violence and admitted there was no possibility of military action of the type seen in Libya. "There is no prospect of a legal, morally sanctioned military intervention."

Libya rebels pledge Ramadan cash handout

Libya’s civilian rebel council has pledged to distribute a small cash donation to families to help ease the rising costs of food during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Abdul Hafiz al-Ghoga, deputy leader of the National Transitional Council, told a satellite channel that the handout was made possible by the unfreezing of assets in Turkey, a supporter of the rebel council.

France also said it was handing over $259m of Libyan assets to the National Transitional Council for “humanitarian purchases”. The announcement came after a meeting on Monday between Alain Juppé, the French foreign minister, and Mansour Sayf al-Nasr, the NTC’s new ambassador in Paris. Mr Nasr said the funds, frozen in French banks, “belong to the Libyan people” and would be used “for the purchase of medicines and food products”, as required by European law.

The rebel donation to families only amounts to 200-300 dinars ($300-$450 at market rates) per family, a fact that he said reflected the tough circumstances of a region at war. Many said the money would not go far as costs rise during this family-oriented festival.

With many state salaries unpaid and private sector workers taking pay cuts, families have been forced into a more modest Ramadan, when, despite the daytime fast, consumption normally rises as people eat much more after sunset.

The rebel-held east on Monday broke its first fast of Ramadan since the uprising against the regime of Colonel Muammer Gaddafi, but last week’s assassination of General Abdel Fattah Younes, its military commander, and ensuing fears of factionalism have cast a shadow over this important Islamic festival.

Banks are expected to distribute the promised payments but few were optimistic, saying funds had yet to return to the system. “There is no money in the vault – but let’s see if the Turkish money comes though, that could be a solution,” said Haifa al-Saefi, a bank teller in central Benghazi.

Residents have been lining up outside lenders amid rumours that bank liquidity will rise, allowing them to recover some of their savings. Nizar Mafraks, owner of Nizar Supermarket, said prices of domestic produce, such as meat, had only risen slightly. But some imported items, including staples such as powdered milk, have seen prices rise by two-thirds.

The war has cut off lines to a large tuna factory in Al Khums, forcing shops to import more expensive cans from Europe and Thailand, he said. Many Libyans mistrust foreign food, with one shopper saying the poor-quality tuna imports were “only good enough for the cat”. When asked the price of meat, quipped one shop assistant: “I don’t know, I only eat chicken now.”

Mr Mafraks was charged with “economic crimes” in 1996 by Col Gaddafi’s government, and only managed to avoid a jail sentence by paying a fine. “At least we don’t have that situation any more, the only thing now is to get rid of [Gaddafi] for good,” he said.