Libya's Revolution

Foto : Time

 Noon prayer at the Ajdabiyah checkpoint is ominous. For most of the men on the ever-shifting front line in Libya's revolution-turned-civil-war, it's their first taste of war. They are low-ranking soldiers, technically mutineers from the military of Muammar Gaddafi, and volunteer fighters, wearing mismatched army fatigues; their heads and faces wrapped in checkered red or yellow keffiyehs. Light of experience, they nevertheless man the heavy weapons that the revolutionary army has seeded along the main highway that traces Libya's coastline and links the rebel capital Benghazi to Gaddafi's capital Tripoli in the west.

The newly armed and barely experienced force fires off bullets and rocket-propelled grenades constantly, and at random. In a week, the rebels managed to advance westward from Ajdabiyah, which is 100 miles south of Benghazi, taking Brega then the oil town of Ras Lanuf. The next major mark on the map, standing between the rebels and Gaddafi's capital, is the regime stronghold of Sert, Gaddafi's hometown. Military officers in Benghazi says Hariri's appointment will signal a shift to a more organized fighting force.

Wanis Kilani, an engineer-turned-volunteer fighter shakes his head at the chaos.

 Source: Time