Libyan rebels tighten noose around Gaddafi

Libyan rebels took control of the key oil hub of Brega, in Eastern Libya, today. Brega is an important center of the Libyan oil industry, but its production has been at a standstill since an uprising began against strongman Muammar Gaddafi in the spring. Yesterday, the rebels seized several strategically important towns to the West of Tripoli, severing the Gaddafi government's precious supply lines to Tunisia. Among the towns seized was Zawiyah, whose oil refinery had been the last remaining source of fuel for Gaddafi-controlled Tripoli, and was therefore essential to the survival of the Gaddafi regime. Starved of oil and other necessities, it is suddenly only a matter of time until Gaddafi falls; the long stalemate has been decisively broken, leaving messy questions to be answered: just what kind of government will emerge from his ouster? Will the new government be moderate, and, furthermore, will it be able to sustain itself without Nato's air power and military advisers?

The hunted: Muammar Gaddafi