Gaddafi Controls Northwest

As Libyan rebels in the east celebrated their continued resistance to Col. Gaddafi’s attacks—most recently in the town of Brega—Gaddafi seems to have taken control of the northwest of the country, even going so far as to give foreign journalists a tour of the locked-down region. Government forces have been searching people and even their phones at checkpoints, and detaining many. Still, the government is wary enough of plans for a protest in Tripoli Friday that they’ve flooded the streets with tanks and armored cars and reportedly shut down the internet. As for Brega, the town where rebels repulsed Gaddafi’s troops, Gaddafi’s son Saif said the bombing raids reported there was intended “to frighten them to go away, not to kill them.”