Libyan rebels seize hamlet in push on Tripoli

The rebels launched an assault on the Gualich area Zintan - AFP Libyan rebels seized the desert hamlet of Gualish on Wednesday, the first day of their push on the capital some 50 kilometres (30 miles) to the northeast, an AFP correspondent reported. During the operation, they captured a number of mercenaries, some of whom were seen in a pick-up truck and told AFP they were from Ghana and Mali. Rebel fighters were seen searching houses in the hamlet, while gunfire could be heard in the distance. It was not immediately clear if the shooting was in celebration, or if sporadic fighting was continuing. Libyan rebels launched the promised assault on the key gateway city to Tripoli early Wednesday.  Buoyed by controversial French arms drops and intensified NATO-led air strikes on the regime's frontline armour, the rebels attacked positions in the Gualish area, in the plains north of their enclave in the Nafusa mountains southwest of Tripoli. After a retreat from around the plains town of Bir al-Ghanam last week, spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani had pledged on Saturday that the rebel army would soon try to push the front line northwards. "In the next two days, the (revolutionaries) will come up with answers. Things will change on the front line," he said. A rebel leader from the hilltown of Zintan said the rebels had coordinated their assault with NATO. "We waited before launching this assault and finally got the green light from NATO this morning and the offensive began," the rebel leader said. There were intense exchanges of artillery, mortar and cannon fire between the rebel fighters and government troops dug in around Gualish, the AFP correspondent reported. NATO-led warplanes flew over the battlefield but there were no immediate air strikes.