Though allied forces destroyed his compound in Bab al-Aziza, Libyan strongman leader Moammer Gadhafi appears to be fine, as he gave a speech to rally loyalists and denounce the allies last night, "These people are crazed fascists. We will win this historic battle." But a British official says, "Effectively, [Libya's] air force no longer exists as a fighting force" and the U.S. military says it's stepping up its actions in rebel cities.
Still, Gadhafi offered statements like, "We will not be defeated by the fireworks they are throwing at us... We shall win. We are ready for the battle. The best air defenses are people... The fascists will go into the garbage of history... We are living hours of glory against imperialism. I do not fear them. I am steadfast. This is my home, my tent - here I am, here I am, here I am."
There have been fierce airstrikes in the towns of Ajdabiya and Misrata—CNN reports that a doctor in Misrata said that "more people were killed in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to at least 95 in the last seven days. A man who died Wednesday morning was shot by a pro-Gadhafi sniper, the doctor said."
U.S. Rear Adm. Gerard Hueber said today, "We are interdicting and putting pressure on Qaddafi’s forces that are attacking population centers... It’s an extremely complex and difficult environment. Our primary focus is to interdict those forces before the enter the city, cut of their lines of communication and cut off their command and control."
