Rebel forces defending the Libyan city of Misrata from government troops are making "meter-by-meter" gains despite heavy shelling and rocket attacks, a Western journalist inside the city said Tuesday.
Units that remain loyal to longtime Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi have been firing rockets and artillery shells into residential neighborhoods, leaving a nearby emergency room full of women, children and old men, Marie Colvin, the Middle East correspondent for Britain's Sunday Times, told CNN.
"The rebels are very much trying at a minimum to push back Gadhafi's lines so he simply can't do that," Colvin said. Meanwhile, the rebels are asking why NATO forces aren't targeting the pro-Gadhafi gunners.
NATO warplanes and missiles have been pounding Gadhafi's forces since March as Gadhafi's troops try to quash a nearly 3-month-old revolt against his regime. In Misrata, two months of fighting and the ongoing shelling of the city's port have prevented most aid ships from docking there, leaving the city "at the forefront" of U.N. humanitarian concerns, a top U.N. official told the Security Council on Monday.
A ship carrying aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross docked in Misrata on Tuesday, but the ongoing fighting has deterred many captains from trying to enter the port, Colvin said. The ICRC said the vessel carried medical supplies, spare parts to repair water and electrical supply systems and 8,000 jars of baby food.
Meanwhile, on the front lines of the battle, bullets are whizzing past "like very angry hornets," Colvin said. At least 70 rebels have been wounded -- but they have held their line, "and meter by meter were able to advance," she said.
Comentary: I think if the otan still bombing the lybia city they will ha a war and will cause alot of dead in the lybia and it will cause a bad economy in the word and cause a world war and I don't like this.