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Press Conference Moussa Ibrahim, August 19, 2011 - Zlitan in 'Green' Hands[/h]
Every day the spokesperson of the Libyan Government, Moussa Ibrahim, gives a press conference in Arabic. Since most of us in the Western Countries don't understand a word of Arabic it can sometimes be difficult to get a grip on what is going on in Libya according to the Libyan Government.
Fortunately there are people willing to translate the briefings, or at least give a summary of events. I hope to be able to present these translations from this site. I could definitely use more people who speak Arabic and English to translate other video that are circulating on YouTube.
It seems to be that the Western media hardly talk to anyone who is a supporter of the Jamahiriya, but are heavily inclined to be embedded with the Rebel Troops, and spread words of Rebel spokespersons almost as fact. This is probably the result of the fact that the reporters are from NATO countries and from Qatar (Al-Jazeera), and that there are hardly any journalists who give an account from the other side of the conflict.
Together with the merciless bombing of NATO of all those who oppose their Rebels on the ground, it seems to make it all a very unfair and internationally illegal war. But since the stakes are so high, we hardly hear anyone complain. They prefer to repeat that Gaddafi is losing and has no support in the country, to hide the reality that many people DO support him and that NATO is creating situations in which the Rebels are allowed to kill off their fellow Libyans in street to street battles, with NATO slaughtering all opposition with their helicopters and war planes.
Every citizen that carries a gun to protect itself against the NATO Rebels seems to be regarded as a legitimate target to 'engage' (7, 9). Even CNN has made a report in which Micah Zenko expressed the illegal nature of the Mission Creep from 'Protecting Civilians' towards 'Killing off Everyone who fights Rebels' (10)
On August 18 there was a press conference by the Secretary General of the Peoples' Committee (the PM) who again pleaded for a ceasefire and an end to the violence because they don't want more Libyan blood to be spoiled in this war (1).
What follows are the main points of the Press Conference on August 19, 2011 (2) with thanks for the translations by 123VivaJazair (3)
For the security situation the important developments as follows.
A) A small group of rebels entered the refinery of Zawia but they have been chased away (also see (13, report day before)).
B) a small attack of about 8 cars tried a desperate attack from the southern areas of Zlitan in an attempt to force government forces to come out of Misrata to confront them but they were defeated and pushed away by the Tribes of Zlitan, with the volunteers from all over Libya who are there and a small Army presence (5)... moussa says don't believe the reports.. they are nonsense.
C) rebel supply routes in the west have been cut so they can't progress anywhere
D) the only major presence of rebels in the west is still Sorman with area controlled by rebels but in Sabratha there are pockets of them in some areas
E) there is fighting in el harsha west of Misrata and in Dafnia
F) he said there was intensified bombing on "military targets"-- residential areas-- in tripoli. 27 dead-- witnesses say they bombed a mosque, homes, a medical warehouse, a heart clinic (used to treat wounded). The bombing does not have a military purpose, but phycological. nato is using sonic-booms to frighten the women and children. they fly over a location and enter sonic speeds mimicking the sounds of bombs. zlitan: rebels are trying to draw the army away from misrata (this translation by Yelbihs, from (8).)
To give you an example of the two different 'realities' that are being spread. In (4) you can read about the Rebels that would have taken Zlitan, in the west of Misrata. In a Rayyisse video (5) you can clearly see the joy of the inhabitants of Zlitan after they were able to chase away the Rebels who are clearly very unwanted in this town. Who can blame them after the massacre that was committed by the airforce of the Rebels on August 9 (6)?
On August 19, 2011 we could see another example of the way NATO is upholding her one-sided weapons embargo, by allowing Qatari arms to enter Libya, but this time they were captured by the Green Anti-NATO Libyans (11). They have done this before which was reported on July 5, 2011 (12).