ZAWIYA, Libya – Hundreds of armed anti-government forces backed by rebel troops who control the city closest to the capital Tripoli prepared Sunday to repel an expected offensive by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi surrounding Zawiya. The Gadhafi regime, eager to show foreign reporters that the country is calm and under their control, took visiting journalists to Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tripoli. But an Associated Press reporter on the tour confirmed the anti-government rebels are in control of the center of the city of 200,000. They have army tanks and anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks deployed.
On the outskirts of the city, however, they are surrounded by pro-Gadhafi forces, also backed by tanks and anti-aircraft guns. There were at least six checkpoints controlled by troops loyal to Gadhafi on the road from Tripoli to Zawiya. Each checkpoint was reinforced by at least one tank, and the troops concealed their faces with scarves.
"To us, Gadhafi is the Dracula of Libya," said Wael al-Oraibi, an army officer at Zawiya who joined the rebels. He said his decision to defect was prompted in large part by the Libyan leaders use of mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa against the people of Zawiya. Gadhafi has launched by far the bloodiest crackdown in a wave of anti-regime uprising sweeping the Arab world. The United States, Britain and the U.N. Security Council all imposed sanctions on Libya over the weekend. And President Barack Obama said it is time for Gadhafi to go. Human rights groups and European officials have put the death toll at hundreds, or perhaps even thousands though it has been virtually impossible to verify the numbers.
Gadhafis son, Seif al-Islam, denied in a TV interview that his fathers regime used force or airstrikes against its own people. "Show me a single attack. Show me a single bomb," he told ABCs "This Week," according to a transcript. "The Libyan air force destroyed just the ammunition sites. Thats it." Seif al-Islam is the most visible of Gadhafis children and has since the anti-government protests broke out nearly two weeks ago been acting as a spokesman for the regime