Libyan rebels in Zlitan capture key government commander
General Abdul Nabih Zayid arrested during rebel advance and questioned over Misrata civilian killings, says opposition
Chris Stephen in Misrata
21 July 2011
Libyan rebels claimed to have made significant advances against Muammar Gaddafi's forces on Thursday amid signs that the regime is feeling the strain of offensives backed by Nato air power.
Rebels in the western city of Misrata said they had captured the chief of operations of government forces in Zlitan on the first day of their attack.
General Abdul Nabih Zayid was caught late on Wednesday after advancing fighters overran his command post at Souk Talat, a small village on the outskirts of Zlitan, opposition commanders said.
"We have him in custody. He is being well looked after," said Mohamed Frefr, in charge of detainees for the rebels. "After three days talking with him, we will hand him to the military prison."
Growing confidence was also expressed by rebel officials from Misrata, who met Nicholas Sarkozy, the French president, and reportedly told him that with help, they could be in Tripoli within days.
In apparent evidence of the toll taken by the continuing fighting, Libyan state TV on Thursday broadcast an appeal for volunteers to join the army. An announcer told viewers there were vacancies in all units, including special forces, and that soldiers would be well paid.
Libyans using the state-run cellphone network said they had been receiving text messages calling on them to fight in the western mountains, the frontline closest to Tripoli. "The clock of action has struck. The time for cleansing has come," one of the messages said.
State TV also showed what it said were new pictures from Zlitan and the oil town of Brega in an apparent attempt to demonstrate that they were still in the regime's hands. In Zlitan, dozens of Gaddafi supporters were shown chanting slogans.
Libyan opposition sources claimed that Abdullah Senussi, Gaddafi's intelligence chief and chief enforcer, had been killed in an attack on regime figures in Tripoli. But there was no confirmation of that.
In Zlitan rebels said the captured general was being interviewed by intelligence officers and had been supplied with insulin because he has diabetes.
A member of the Misrata military council, Hassan Duwa, said the general was captured as rebel units advanced towards Zlitan late on Wednesday. "He was in his house. Eleven guys surrounded the house."
Zayid's capture is regarded as a major feather in the cap for rebel forces. The general gained notoriety among rebels when he helped co-ordinate the deployment of tanks on the streets of Misrata in March, triggering two months of street fighting that saw much of the city wrecked and hundreds killed.
Misrata's war crimes investigators say the general, who was the operations officer at the city garrison before the war, is a "person of interest" for his role in what they say were widespread and systematic attacks against civilians.
Misrata's Human Rights Activists Association, made up of volunteer Libyan lawyers, is assembling evidence it hopes can later be used by the international criminal court. Khalid Alwafi, one of its lawyers, said: "For sure we need to interview him. There are lots of questions that need answers from him."
Rebel units say they are now deploying on the outskirts of Zlitan. The offensive has been launched simultaneously with a push by forces on the eastern front to capture the key oil town of Brega.
Both offensives have been supported by heavy Nato air strikes over the past few days, with alliance aircraft flying over Misrata on Wednesday night. Loud explosions could be heard from behind the frontline. Several rebel commanders in Misrata have told the Guardian in recent days that pro-Gaddafi forces are running short of manpower.
The rebel National Transitional Council, based in Benghazi, is keen to demonstrate that it can break a six-week deadlock and gain the initiative in the runup to Ramadan, which begins on August 1.
The rebels have meanwhile asked France to supply extra weapons to help them overrun Tripoli. Military leaders from Misrata made the request in Paris on Wednesday to French president Nicolas Sarkozy. "With a little bit of help, we will be in Tripoli very soon. Very soon means days," Suleiman Fortia told reporters.
The talks were also attended by the French writer and supporter of the rebels, Bernard-Henri Levy, who said the rebels told Sarkozy that they can seize Tripoli by attacking from Misrata and from rebel-held mountainous territory to the south.
France is playing a leading role in the Nato co-ordinated strikes against Gaddafi's military assets and was the first outside state to formally recognise the rebels' Transitional National Council.