Tripoli, Libya. The sound of jets flying high above comes through the open window. Boom, boom, boom. Everyone rushes to their balconies, trying to pinpoint the impact zone. Tracer fire laces the sky. An excited voice on the TV shrieks about 'crusader, invader' bombs striking civilian targets.
On the street below a couple of paramilitaries are shooting at stray cats, painted by kids with the colors of the Independence flag while others are shooting at helium balloons with the same colors, fading into the rosy twilight sky.
BOOM. It is much louder than anything heard since the NATO operation started. A mushroom cloud miles high can be seen to the south. We heard later that a NATO bunker-buster penetrated a Swiss-built underground ammo depot. In recent weeks the depot had been deemed impenetrable and even more ammunition moved and stored there. Once it was hit it went off like a nuclear bomb.
Life is hell in this beautiful city. Lines for gas extend for days (and miles) and often end up in deadly fights when the favored cut into the line. Don't even think of recording the scene with your phone. You'll probably never be heard from again. Prices are skyrocketing and the regime is hoarding everything.
News is scarce and rumor rampant. The one thing we all know, if state TV says something, assume the opposite. Fortunately, the satellites are still working so we get to hear the voices of independent journalists, until they too are killed, may Allah have mercy on their souls.
Still, much of what we hear even on the international news contradicts the trusted information that we get from time to time from our relatives and friends in Free Libya. Many repeated the Libyan TV hogwash that revolutionaries in Misrata were surrendering. In fact they are advancing on most fronts. Almost no one understands that the East has been ordered to stand pat and let NATO deal with Brega and Sirte.
This is not a stalemate, no matter what you may hear. We are getting stronger every day and Daffi is getting weaker. Osama's fate is stalking you Daffi. Inshallah!
(Compiled from twitter, blogs, dispatches, comments, etc, and fictionalized, but still I think closer to the truth than most official reports)
Cheers