Updates From Sirte

Source: February 17 Sirte Revolutionaries (facebook)

Latest news received from contacts in Sirte, categorized by date of occurrence. News subject to alterations in accordance with updates.  

Names of men arrested on Sept 6th:
1- Zargoun AlHussein Al-Shibani Zargoun.
2- Ahmed Al-Tuhami Al-Shawish
3- Yusuf Muhammad Raheel

Names of men arrested on Sept 7th:
1- Gheith Muhammad Gheith Al-Haj

Sept 12th martyrs inside Sirte (#1 residential area)
1- Ussama Muftah Al-Safrouni
2- Elhadi AbdelSalam AL-Safrouni
3- Izzideen Faouzi AbuZeid

Names of people injured during clashes with Gaddafi thugs in #1 area, Sirte:
1- AbdelRaouf Rajab Rweiha
2- Muftah Al-Safrouni (Abducted from the hospital)
3- Al-Siddeeg Muftah Al-Safrouni (Same fate as his father)

Names of people arrested Sept 12th:
1- Emhemed AbdelHafeedh Buhreiba Al-Guntshi
2- Mansour Emhemed AbdelHafeedh Buhreiba Al-Guntshi
3- Salem Jamal Ehweidir
4- Hamza Emhemed Al-Mahdi Abdelaali
5- Naser Bueljiya

Names of people arrested on Sept 14:
1- Ahmed Al-Tayib Al-Zein
2- Unknown (arrested at #2 traffic lights)

Names of prisoners (undated)
1- Mustafa Elhadi Alaboub

2- Someone from Al-Mabsout family (name not mentioned)

Hana S.

Waiting For Sirte...

Isn't it weird... that there exists on earth... at the heart of Africa's northern coast... the center of our planet's map... a city that's isolated from the outside world?

Bitter, and strange.

In the past, every time we went to Libya for our summer vacation, I always felt that our trip would be incomplete had we not been to Sirte. For me, that city is Libya. The people there are my family. I can't explain my love for its atmosphere, I just feel... home.

I love how, whenever we enter the city, Dad would turn off the a.c. and we'd roll down our windows. The blast of warm Mediterranean air is so soothing, let alone that we normally arrive there around dusk, a time when the city's crawling back to life :)

Sigh...

What's it going to be like, when I go there again (hopefully soon) and it's post Gaddafi? Will it be different? Will the people change? How will Pros and Antis get along?

How will my family get along?

Sometimes I like to believe that my distant relatives who are Pro-Gaddafi are already sick of him and can't wait to see him behind bars. Wouldn't that be a relief! I felt extremely happy when my cousin (who's from the Gadadfa tribe) visited my folks in Misurata over a month ago and was cursing Gaddafi! :) Wow!

Come to think of it, my side of the family who are Gadadfa are not that well off because of him. Yeah, except those who are established members of the regime's military brigades... those have doorsteps made of marble! But in the end, they just adore him to pieces -___-" 

Many a times we've been wondering how is it Gaddafi forces are fighting for him? Yes, there are extremely relentless ones whom we've seen on countless videos torturing and killing innocent civilians with cold blood. But then, there are the ones who have one of two choices: either to refuse fighting and be executed, or to go to the battlefield and get killed either by NATO or Freedom Fighters.

What I know for sure, is that if a gun were pointed to my head, and I was ordered to say, "Allah, Muammar, and Libya only"... I wouldn't say it. Yes, it's just a phrase and one can recite it to save one's life... but there's the issue of principles and beliefs. Strength, Bravery. And people differ in that respect. Like, I can't ensure to anyone that any of the ones I know who are in Sirte right now (regardless of their opinions and backgrounds) would do the same under pressurized circumstances. I know a guy who stood in the middle of Sirte's biggest square and declared that he denied his family in one of the liberated cities in Libya. 

Okay, this guy didn't have a gun at his head but surely there's some other means of pressure that led him to do so. Could be fear of losing rank? Wealth? Or the usual, his life? Right. He might still be a loyalist for all we know. We're just talking.

And we're still waiting...

Hana S.