A NATO air strike destroyed 45 vehicles of Muammar Gaddafi's forces after they had killed at least five civilians in fighting in two east Libyan towns, an oil official and a rebel spokesman said on Sunday.
Gaddafi forces entered the towns of Jalu and Awlijah, south of the eastern frontline near Ajdabiyah, early on Saturday and opened fire, killing at least five civilians and wounding more than 10, the rebel military spokesman said.
That was a hefty convoy by Libya War standards. The loyalists made a mistake by not dispersing. Perhaps they thought that by being well away from the coast they were immune to NATO attack. It is surely more difficult for NATO to spot, track, and attack that far inland, but not tough enough to protect loyalist units.
As the article notes, taking those towns would hem in the rebels into the northeast. Controlling this area would also allow the loyalists to cut off oil flows from the deep southeast around Kufrah. I still haven't heard anything more about the clashes from a few days ago there. That area is both outside the no-fly zone and so far inland that it probably really is mostly secure from NATO air strikes other than pre-planned strikes.
If the loyalists take Jalu, they would cut off the north-south road and isolate any rebels in the south from receiving support from the main rebel bastion on the coast.
