LIBYA - Rebels storm Sirte

 Bin Jawwad (AP):

Rebel forces bore down yesterday on Moammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, a key government stronghold where a brigade headed by one of the Libyan leader's sons was digging in to defend the city and setting the stage for a bloody and possibly decisive battle.

The opposition made new headway in its rapid advance through oil towns and along stretches of empty desert highway toward the capital, Tripoli. Their run would have been impossible without international airstrikes that have battered the regime's armor and troops, even as NATO insisted it was only seeking to protect civilians and not to give air cover to an opposition march.

That line looked set to become even more blurred. The airstrikes reversed a government offensive a week ago on the grounds that it was threatening civilians and now is clearly enabling rebels keen to overthrow Gaddafi to push toward the final line of defence on the road to the capital.

The rebels took control of the eastern half of the country early on in the uprising that began a month and a half ago, setting up their capital in the country's second-largest city of Benghazi.