The dozen or so men clustered behind the last smouldering tank looked as if they had died while they slept
.
Their blankets bore no burn marks so perhaps it was the force of blasts – powerful enough to rip the turrets off the Russian-made tanks and toss them 20 metres or more across the open field near Benghazi – that killed Muammar Gaddafi's soldiers.
The air attack came at 4am , after the tanks pulled back from a day-long assault on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. The crews chose to rest in a field about 10 miles from the de facto capital of the anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries.
It must have seemed safe to the soldiers. The rebels were far away and the tank crews would have seen any threat approaching by road. They gathered to eat and sleep behind the tank furthest into the field.
But it was no protection from the threat in the sky. The tanks and their operators were sitting ducks in the open and probably never heard the planes. The French pilots did not even have to be concerned about the risk of harming civilians.
Within moments, three of the four tanks in the field were shells.
What was not immediately incinerated was mangled, thrown into the sky and dumped in bits on the earth. Machine guns twisted into grotesque shapes, broken engine parts and flattened shells lay among the wreckage.
Four hours later, two of the tanks were still smouldering. A flatbed lorry used to haul them to the edge of Benghazi was on fire. A handful of pickup trucks, one carrying tins of food for the troops, had been burned out. Scavengers were picking over the corpses of Gaddafi's dead soldiers.
Wreckage was strewn in similar scenes along nearly 15 miles of road beyond Benghazi, the result of air strikes on targets across the country that turned the struggle between Gaddafi and Libya's revolutionaries on its head in a moment.
The barrage of attacks led by France, Britain and the US on Libya's army, air bases and other military targets drew threats of a prolonged war from Gaddafi himself. But on the ground many of his forces were in disarray and fleeing in fear of further attacks from a new and unseen enemy.
The air assault halted and then reversed the advances by Gaddafi's army on Benghazi and other rebel-held towns. But the revolutionary leadership wanted more. On Sunday it appealed for an intensification of the air assault to destroy the Libyan ruler's forces and open the way for the rebels to drive him from power.
The first of the decapitated tanks sat just three miles outside Benghazi. Its turret lay flipped over a good distance away. The missile had torn out the heart of the armoured beast. But perhaps its crew was luckier than others. There were no bodies to be found and from the boxes of dates and long life milk lying on the ground a short walk across the field, it appears they may have been far enough away to survive the blast and flee.
Another seven miles farther on lay a larger tank graveyard, at al-Wafia, and beyond that many more miles of destruction on the road toward Ajdabiya. Eight tanks, brought up to Benghazi to continue the terrifying assault on the city that began on Saturday, were destroyed altogether. More than a dozen other armoured vehicles of various kinds were wrecked, their remnants scattered on the scorched tarmac.
A couple of multiple rocket launchers sat at the road side. One appeared to have no damage at all. Perhaps it broke down, or maybe its driver decided to get away from it fast – part of the intended effect of the air strikes to break the will of Gaddafi's army to fight.
Scattered among the ruined armour were thousands of bullets and empty tank shell boxes.
Young rebels, known as shabab, danced on the armoured carcasses. They fired guns and chanted: "Here come the shabab. Gaddafi is finished".
Western powers leading the air assault said again that the attacks are about protecting civilians from Gaddafi, not regime change. But many of the revolutionaries see the coalition forces as fighting on their behalf.
The air bombardment is regarded among rebel military commanders as creating a more level battle field by removing Gaddafi's advantage of heavy armour.
"There must be more attacks, to destroy his forces and heavy weapons," said Kamal Mustafa Mahmoud, a rebel soldier on the edge of Benghazi. "Then they can leave Gaddafi to us. We know how to fight him but we are afraid of his heavy weapons. I want them to destroy the ground forces of Gaddafi."
A rebel commander in Benghazi, Ahmed al-Diwani, said that the air strikes open the way for the rebels to retake the towns they have lost in recent fighting and then continue their campaign toward Tripoli. But he acknowledged that it would be wrong to assume that the government's army is a spent force because of the air strikes.
"Gaddafi's advantage was tanks and rockets. That was what was defeating us. When we did not face them we were winning. Now we can go forward again. We will still have to fight, but when they see that they cannot win, it will be over," he said.
As Gaddafi's soldiers fled from around Benghazi after the air assault, the rebels seized the advantage to move back toward Ajdabiya, a town the two sides have battled over for nearly a week. Late today, people in the town said Gaddafi's forces could no longer be seen.
The revolution's political leadership shares the fighters' view that the air assault is about regime change.
Salwa el-Deghali, of the national transitional council, said: "I'm happy the air strikes have started, but at the same time I'm worried that the international community will not keep up the attacks long enough to remove Gaddafi. There must be more attacks on Gaddafi's forces, and fast. We need these attacks until he is crushed."
Asked if she thought the goal of the air attacks was regime change, she replied: "Yes, it's to push him from power."
Deghali said that the revolutionary leadership is counting on the air assault to destroy Gaddafi's army, either by killing its soldiers or encouraging them to desert. She said that when the threat of violent repression is removed, the council plans to call on Libyans to rise up in cities across the country.
"When Gaddafi's forces are destroyed, he will have no power. It will be easy to press forward," she said.
Essam Gheriani, a spokesman for the national council, said that with the air strikes destabilising Gaddafi, the revolutionaries would organise fresh popular uprisings in cities still under the Libyan leader's control, in the belief that it will be difficult for him to find the forces to put them down.
However, beyond the broad plans to blend popular uprisings with armed resistance, the revolutionary council does not appear as yet to have decided how to take advantage of the shift in the military situation.
Some of its members fled Benghazi during the government's assault on Saturday. Others remain trapped in Gaddafi-controlled areas.
For all the revolutionaries' appeals for foreign help, there are limits. Deghali reiterated the condition laid down since the beginning of the uprising: the air assault is welcomed, but foreign troops will not be accepted on Libyan soil. The country's history of occupation by the Italians and strong views about the invasion of Iraq have created a deep-seated suspicion of foreign armies.
"We don't want what happened in Iraq with international intervention," she said. "Foreign troops on the ground, no. Just the air strikes."
.
Their blankets bore no burn marks so perhaps it was the force of blasts – powerful enough to rip the turrets off the Russian-made tanks and toss them 20 metres or more across the open field near Benghazi – that killed Muammar Gaddafi's soldiers.
The air attack came at 4am , after the tanks pulled back from a day-long assault on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. The crews chose to rest in a field about 10 miles from the de facto capital of the anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries.
It must have seemed safe to the soldiers. The rebels were far away and the tank crews would have seen any threat approaching by road. They gathered to eat and sleep behind the tank furthest into the field.
But it was no protection from the threat in the sky. The tanks and their operators were sitting ducks in the open and probably never heard the planes. The French pilots did not even have to be concerned about the risk of harming civilians.
Within moments, three of the four tanks in the field were shells.
What was not immediately incinerated was mangled, thrown into the sky and dumped in bits on the earth. Machine guns twisted into grotesque shapes, broken engine parts and flattened shells lay among the wreckage.
Four hours later, two of the tanks were still smouldering. A flatbed lorry used to haul them to the edge of Benghazi was on fire. A handful of pickup trucks, one carrying tins of food for the troops, had been burned out. Scavengers were picking over the corpses of Gaddafi's dead soldiers.
Wreckage was strewn in similar scenes along nearly 15 miles of road beyond Benghazi, the result of air strikes on targets across the country that turned the struggle between Gaddafi and Libya's revolutionaries on its head in a moment.
The barrage of attacks led by France, Britain and the US on Libya's army, air bases and other military targets drew threats of a prolonged war from Gaddafi himself. But on the ground many of his forces were in disarray and fleeing in fear of further attacks from a new and unseen enemy.
The air assault halted and then reversed the advances by Gaddafi's army on Benghazi and other rebel-held towns. But the revolutionary leadership wanted more. On Sunday it appealed for an intensification of the air assault to destroy the Libyan ruler's forces and open the way for the rebels to drive him from power.
The first of the decapitated tanks sat just three miles outside Benghazi. Its turret lay flipped over a good distance away. The missile had torn out the heart of the armoured beast. But perhaps its crew was luckier than others. There were no bodies to be found and from the boxes of dates and long life milk lying on the ground a short walk across the field, it appears they may have been far enough away to survive the blast and flee.
Another seven miles farther on lay a larger tank graveyard, at al-Wafia, and beyond that many more miles of destruction on the road toward Ajdabiya. Eight tanks, brought up to Benghazi to continue the terrifying assault on the city that began on Saturday, were destroyed altogether. More than a dozen other armoured vehicles of various kinds were wrecked, their remnants scattered on the scorched tarmac.
A couple of multiple rocket launchers sat at the road side. One appeared to have no damage at all. Perhaps it broke down, or maybe its driver decided to get away from it fast – part of the intended effect of the air strikes to break the will of Gaddafi's army to fight.
Scattered among the ruined armour were thousands of bullets and empty tank shell boxes.
Young rebels, known as shabab, danced on the armoured carcasses. They fired guns and chanted: "Here come the shabab. Gaddafi is finished".
Western powers leading the air assault said again that the attacks are about protecting civilians from Gaddafi, not regime change. But many of the revolutionaries see the coalition forces as fighting on their behalf.
The air bombardment is regarded among rebel military commanders as creating a more level battle field by removing Gaddafi's advantage of heavy armour.
"There must be more attacks, to destroy his forces and heavy weapons," said Kamal Mustafa Mahmoud, a rebel soldier on the edge of Benghazi. "Then they can leave Gaddafi to us. We know how to fight him but we are afraid of his heavy weapons. I want them to destroy the ground forces of Gaddafi."
A rebel commander in Benghazi, Ahmed al-Diwani, said that the air strikes open the way for the rebels to retake the towns they have lost in recent fighting and then continue their campaign toward Tripoli. But he acknowledged that it would be wrong to assume that the government's army is a spent force because of the air strikes.
"Gaddafi's advantage was tanks and rockets. That was what was defeating us. When we did not face them we were winning. Now we can go forward again. We will still have to fight, but when they see that they cannot win, it will be over," he said.
As Gaddafi's soldiers fled from around Benghazi after the air assault, the rebels seized the advantage to move back toward Ajdabiya, a town the two sides have battled over for nearly a week. Late today, people in the town said Gaddafi's forces could no longer be seen.
The revolution's political leadership shares the fighters' view that the air assault is about regime change.
Salwa el-Deghali, of the national transitional council, said: "I'm happy the air strikes have started, but at the same time I'm worried that the international community will not keep up the attacks long enough to remove Gaddafi. There must be more attacks on Gaddafi's forces, and fast. We need these attacks until he is crushed."
Asked if she thought the goal of the air attacks was regime change, she replied: "Yes, it's to push him from power."
Deghali said that the revolutionary leadership is counting on the air assault to destroy Gaddafi's army, either by killing its soldiers or encouraging them to desert. She said that when the threat of violent repression is removed, the council plans to call on Libyans to rise up in cities across the country.
"When Gaddafi's forces are destroyed, he will have no power. It will be easy to press forward," she said.
Essam Gheriani, a spokesman for the national council, said that with the air strikes destabilising Gaddafi, the revolutionaries would organise fresh popular uprisings in cities still under the Libyan leader's control, in the belief that it will be difficult for him to find the forces to put them down.
However, beyond the broad plans to blend popular uprisings with armed resistance, the revolutionary council does not appear as yet to have decided how to take advantage of the shift in the military situation.
Some of its members fled Benghazi during the government's assault on Saturday. Others remain trapped in Gaddafi-controlled areas.
For all the revolutionaries' appeals for foreign help, there are limits. Deghali reiterated the condition laid down since the beginning of the uprising: the air assault is welcomed, but foreign troops will not be accepted on Libyan soil. The country's history of occupation by the Italians and strong views about the invasion of Iraq have created a deep-seated suspicion of foreign armies.
"We don't want what happened in Iraq with international intervention," she said. "Foreign troops on the ground, no. Just the air strikes."
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