Outside the Beltway

Is the Libyan Civil War Spreading?

Dave Schuler · Friday, April 29, 2011 · 1 comment

Pro-Qaddafi forces have crossed the border with Tunisia in hot pursuit of rebels and have shelled a town just inside the border:

(Reuters) – Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi crossed into neighboring Tunisia and fought a gun battle with Tunisian troops in a frontier town on Friday as Libya’s conflict spilled beyond its borders.

Pro-Gaddafi forces fired shells into the town of Dehiba, damaging buildings and injuring at least one resident, and a group of them drove into the town in a truck in pursuit of anti-Gaddafi rebels.

The Libyan government troops were chasing rebels from the restive Western Mountains region of Libya who fled into Tunisia in the past few days after Gaddafi forces overran the border post the rebels had earlier seized.

FILED UNDER: Open Forum, Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, Reuters, Tunisia

About Dave Schuler

Over the years Dave Schuler has worked as a martial arts instructor, a handyman, a musician, a cook, and a translator. He's owned his own company for the last thirty years and has a post-graduate degree in his field. He comes from a family of politicians, teachers, and vaudeville entertainers. All-in-all a pretty good preparation for blogging. He has contributed to OTB since November 2006 but mostly writes at his own blog, The Glittering Eye, which he started in March 2004.

Comments

michael reynolds says:

Friday, 29 April 2011 at 15:50

I doubt Gaddafi’s mercenaries want to tangle with an actual army. I think they’re more the shelling-civilians type.