Libya Live Blog - April 2

Libya Live Blog - April 2

• Timestamp: 

  9:00pm

  US and Egyptian special forces have reportedly been offering covert armed training to rebel fighters in the battle for Libya, Al Jazeera has been told.
  
  An unnamed rebel source related how he had undergone training in military techniques at a "secret facility" in eastern Libya.
  
  He told our correspondent Laurence Lee reporting from the rebel-stronghold of Benghazi that he was sent to fire Katyusha rockets but was given a simple, unguided version of the rocket instead.
  

• Timestamp: 

  7:53pm

  NATO investigating reports that coalition jet struck pro-democracy forces in country's east, killing at least 13.

• Timestamp: 

  7:09pm

  Rebel forces tell Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee that American and Egyptian special forces are training them in Eastern Libya.

  A rebel fighter said that he underwent training in a secret facility in Eastern Libya where he received training by American and Egyptian secret forces.

• Timestamp: 

  6:40pm

  An EPA image shows a pro-democracy fighter brandishes homemade grenades in the colours of the Libyan rebel flag near Brega in Libya.
  
  
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  6:12pm

  The New York Times reports on Bernard Henri Levy the French man that managed to grant Libyan opposition group a hearing from the French president and the American secretary of state.
  
  
  It was Mr. Lévy, by his own still undisputed account, who brought top members of the Libyan opposition — the Interim Transitional National Council — from Benghazi to Paris to meet President Nicolas Sarkozy on March 10, who suggested the unprecedented French recognition of the council as the legitimate government of Libya and who warned Mr. Sarkozy that unless he acted, “there will be a massacre in Benghazi, a bloodbath, and the blood of the people of Benghazi will stain the flag of France.”

• Timestamp: 

  4:46pm

  Mustafa Gheriani, a Transitional National Council spokesman, told Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee that the loss of lives is very much regretted.

  However we understand that collateral damage may also take place and we do accept it, because we look at the big picture which saving more lives.
  
  So a few people being victims of circumstances or of being at the wrong time or the wrong place it is more or less very bad luck.

• Timestamp: 

  4:35pm

  Pro-democracy forces in Libya say at least 10 of their fighters have been killed in a NATO air strike on the outskirts of the eastern town of Brega, as the battle rages on for control of the oil port.
  
  Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reporting from the eastern city of Benghazi, said his team was told that Gaddafi's forces have stopped using tanks "because they can be easily spotted by NATO airplanes". Watch the full report here.
  

• Timestamp: 

  4:06pm

  Al Jazeera's James Bays describes the situation in Ajdabiya.
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  3:06pm

  Al Jazeera illustrates where the latest's fighting has taken place in Libya.
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  2:40pm

  Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that Libyan pro-democracy fighters have taken control of most the Libyan city of Brega after having engaged in clashes with Gaddafi forces.

• Timestamp: 

  1:32pm

  Check out the fresh story on the front page of our website with the latest from Libya: 'Libyan rebels killed in NATO air strike'

• Timestamp: 

  12:54pm

  Three Swedish fighter jets headed to Sardinia en route to taking part in NATO operations against the regime of Gaddafi, a military spokesman said. 
  
  The three JAS Gripen warplanes, of a total nine aircraft pledged by Sweden, took off from the Ronneby base on Sweden's southern coast, army spokesman Rickard Wissman told AFP.Another five Gripens and a C-130 Hercules usable for mid-air refueling were to leave early Sunday, he said. The deployment, decided Tuesday by the Swedish government, won parliamentary approval on Friday.

• Timestamp: 

  11:20am

  Check out this chilling footage coming from a pro-rebel YouTube channel. According to the website it shows a doctor lying on the ground injured and whom Gaddafi soldiers demand to repeat:

  "Long Live the Fatah, Long live Gaddafi." But the man answers instead: "Allah Akbar, Al Hamdillilah."

  A round of bullets is being fired and then the body of the same man is seen thrown at the back of a pick-up truck surrounded by some soldiers.

  Al Jazeera cannot verify the authenticity of the video. WARNING: this graphic footage may not be suitable for all viewers:

• Timestamp: 

  10:20am

  This video posted on Facebook shows rebels celebrating after one of Gaddafi's tanks was destroyed in the streets of Misurata.

• Timestamp: 

  9:58am

  Al Jazeera's correspondent reports that 13 Libyan rebels were killed and seven others were injured when NATO aircraft bombed four cars of rebels west of the city of Ajdabiya. The Libyan government says the air strikes killed six people and wounded 12 others.

• Timestamp: 

  9:30am

  Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reporting from Benghazi, says his team was told that Gaddafi's forces have stopped using tanks, because they can be easily spotted by NATO airplanes.

  Instead they are using pick-up trucks with mortars on the back which look a lot more like the rebel forces.

  Both sides now are basically mired in this stretch about 200km wide on the southeast tip of the Gulf of Sirt and that situation - it seems increasingly - can't change [...] So they have - despite all the bluster and the bravado - to find some sort of accommodation [...] Something's got to give.

• Timestamp: 

  8:34am

  The German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle says the situation in Libya demands a political resolution, the Associated Press news agency reports. 

• Timestamp: 

  7:41am

  Quick recap: - Reports say forces loyal to Gaddafi have attacked the rebel-held town of Misurata. A rebel spokesman told the AFP news agency Gaddafi's forces attacked Misurata on Friday night with tank and rocket fire.

  - State television says military and civilian areas east and south-west of the capital Tripoli came under fire, by what it calls western assailants, crusaders and colonialists.

  - In the east, Brega remains the frontline, but the battle appears largely deadlocked.

  - The Transitional National council said it was ready for a truce if forces loyal to Gaddafi withdrew from several key towns. But a government spokesman said the ceasefire offer was a trick:

  The rebels never offered any peace.....we are the ones who offered peace weeks ago, and we said we are going to talk, and let's sit down and everything. The rebels are not offering peace. If you are making impossible demands, it's a trick, it's a trick. So, okay, I could come to the rebels and say: 'rebels, I offer you peace, get out of Benghazi on a ship, this is my condition.' You can't do that. These are our cities, these are the cities of the Libyan government. You hate this government? You can hate it. Many people hate their governments.

  

• Timestamp: 

  7:10am

  The nations staging air strikes on Gaddafi's forces will be heading into a diplomatic minefield if they arm the rebels as well, experts and envoys at the UN told AFP news agency. 
  
  With international law specialists warning that any supplies would breach the UN Security Council arms embargo that the United States, Britain and France all voted for, diplomats say a council showdown would certainly follow if evidence emerges of deliveries.

  US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and British prime minister David Cameron have both said they believe UN resolutions on Libya allow arming the rebels.

  "Many countries would certainly strongly oppose any attempt to interpret the current resolutions as permitting arms supplies," one senior diplomat on 15-nation council responded, speaking on condition of anonymity.

• Timestamp: 

  6:55am

  Robert Fisk of The Independent offers some good advice in his latest dispatch: Let the images of war speak for themselves

  For the moment, however, watch Al Jazeera, have a look at my good friend James Bays – and pray that he doesn't have to retreat any more. Also, after this column, that he still lets me travel in his crews' cars.

• Timestamp: 

  6:38am

  The Gaddafi regime has initiated a concerted effort to open lines of communication with western governments in an attempt to bring the conflict to an end, the Guardian writes: Gaddafi regime starts talks with the west to end conflict

• Timestamp: 

  4:35am

  After anti-Gaddafi fighters lose ground in a week of fierce fighting, the Benghazi-based National Council offers a ceasefire deal - swiftly rejected by government officials.
  
  The offer came as UN envoy Abdelilah al-Katib visited both Gaddafi loyalists in Tripoli and opposition officials in Benghazi.
  
  Al Jazeera's James Bays reports from Benghazi on the latest efforts to exploit apparent divisions within Gaddafi's inner circle.

• Timestamp: 

  3:57am

  This video has emerged online in the past few hours, and purports to show anti-Gaddafi fighters in Misurata in the aftermath of NATO shelling earlier today. Because it's hosted on Facebook, we can't embed it on our liveblog -so, to watch it, you'll have to click here.

• Timestamp: 

  3:19am

  A spokesman for the anti-Gaddafi fighters in Misurata told AFP that 28 people had died in the city in the past three days of fighting. He denounced the "disproportionate use of force", saying:

  The criminal's [Gaddafi's] forces fired at the city with all kinds of shells, rockets and bombs.

  Today they tried to reach the port, destroying everything on their path.

  The Libyan foreign ministry said Monday that an anti-rebel offensive in Misrata had been stopped after security was restored.

• Timestamp: 

  3:15am

  Fighting in north Libya continues through the night, with reports of explosions in Homs and ongoing shelling in Misurata.

  A resident of Homs, 120km east of Tripoli, told the AFP news agency he heard explosions coming from a local naval base, which had earier been targeted by NATO forces.

  Libyan State TV, however, reported the air strikes had hit residential neighbourhoods, saying:

  Military and civilian areas in the Al Khums [Homs] and Al Rojban regions were targeted in raids by the Western assailants, crusaders and colonialists.

• Timestamp: 

  2:40am

  International news media were yesterday taken by Libyan government officials on a tour of areas reportedly shelled in NATO air strikes. An unidentified doctor told journalists in Sabha:

  Many, many houses are around the hospital. I thought maybe it hit hospital. It was near the hospital. The fire was looking like a nuclear bomb.

  
  Libyan government spokesperson Mussa Ibrahim said were 13 people were killed and 185 wounded in the attack.

• Timestamp: 

  1:40am

  More on the Nicaraguan - Libyan diplomatic twists. First it was announced that Miguel D'Escoto, a former Nicaraguan foreign minister, would be the Gaddafi administration's new representative to the UN - after beteran Libyan diplomat Ali Treki was reportedly denied a visa.

  Then US officials poured cold water on the idea, saying D'Escoto, a 78-year-old former Catholic priest and ex-Sandinista revolutionary, was only in the United States on a tourist visa - which didn't allow him to work, let alone work as a national envoy to the United Nations.

  Now president Daniel Ortega has appointed D'Escoto as Nicaragua's deputy UN ambassador, which could pave the way for D'Escoto to legitimately speak at the international body, potentially using his position to speak up for Gaddafi's regime.

  UN officials have said they have yet to recieve official communication from Tripoli naming Libya's new representative.

• Timestamp: 

  1:01am

  Former Libyan Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al Abidi, who was appointed head of the rebel forces after defecting, arrives at a checkpoint near the frontline, outside Brega in eastern Libya.

  

  [Picture: Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  12:40am

  The west Libya city of Misurata continues to be under heavy bombardment, residents tell Reuters.

  Gaddafi loyalists have attacked shops and homes in the city centre, as the rebels' hold on the city begins to weaken. A a rebel spokesman called Sami told the news agency:

  They used tanks, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and other projectiles to hit the city today. It was a random and very intense bombardment. We no longer recognise the place. The destruction cannot be described.

  The pro-Gaddafi soldiers who made it inside the city through Tripoli Street are pillaging the place, the shops, even homes, and destroying everything in the process. They are targeting everyone, including civilians' homes. I don't know what to say, may Allah help us.

• Timestamp: 

  12:30am

  Italy has not ruled our arming the anti-Gaddafifighters in Libya. But the country is exercising  "caution at the moment". Foreign minister Franco Frattini said:

  Italy believes this is an extreme measure that should be discussed again when it becomes the only possible option to protect civilians.

• Timestamp: 

  12:25am

  Civilian and military areas in Khoms and Arrujban have today been hit by air strikes  - "by the bombardment of the colonial and crusader aggressors" - on Friday, Libyan state TV has quoted a military official as saying.
  
  Khoms is about about 100 km east of Tripoli, while Arrujban lies is about 190 km southwest of the capital.

• Timestamp: 

  12:02am

  Hello and welcome to today's liveblog. We'll be keeping you up to date with breaking news and reports as they emerge from Libya. But if you feel there's something you've missed, you can always check out yesterday's blog by clicking here.

  And don't forget, you can also tune into our live TV feed online: Watch Al Jazeera