THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Troops loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya will "fight until the last man standing" to defend his regime, his son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, said as forces battled protesters in the capital Tripoli.
Col Gaddafi's second son and heir apparent appeared on television late in the evening to say there would be "rivers of blood" and that Libya was on the brink of a civil war that would burn its oil wealth.
"Our spirits are high and the leader Muammar Gaddafi is leading the battle in Tripoli, and we are behind him as is the Libyan army," he said. "We will keep fighting until the last man standing, even to the last woman standing...We will not leave Libya to the Italians or the Turks."
But he admitted that "civilians are driving tanks in Benghazi" and though he said only 84 people had died showed he was aware of the extent of the uprising.
"This is an opposition movement, a separatist movement which threatens the unity of Libya," he said. "We will take up arms, we will fight to the last bullet. We will destroy seditious elements. If everybody is armed, it is civil war, we will kill each other."
Opponents of the Gaddafi regime were in control of parts of Libya's second city Benghazi having driven back security forces who fired on them with high-velocity sniper rifles, machine guns and even anti-aircraft artillery.
There were less violent clashes in Tripoli, though there were also reports of gunfire and tear gas there as demonstrators gathered near Green Square and hurled stones at police. One protester told the al-Jazeera network they were chanting at the leader: "Where are you? Where are you? Come out if you're a man."
Human Rights Watch says that at least 233 people have died since last week in the unrest, which has spread from the eastern provinces. It said at least 60 people died in Benghazi yesterday, 50 deaths having been recorded at Al-Jalaa Hospital and ten more at 7 October Hospital.
The city was described to diplomats as a "war zone" by a senior regime official. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent Nabila Ramdani in Cairo | Monday, February 21, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi: a profile – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, had long been seen as the successor to his father before the wave of protests that has shaken the north African country. >>> | Monday, February 21, 2011
