The shelling began 18 minutes after the end of Friday prayers, round after round crashing in off the coast, the first time the navy has been used in this conflict and a fresh sign of how Colonel Gaddafi's forces had prepared themselves for the battles ahead as they attempt to re-conquer the land lost to the revolution.
The attack from the sea was followed by air strikes; a warplane streaking across the sky with the rebel forces opening up with everything at hand at the target above with loud cries of "Allah hu Akhbar". A little later two missiles came down, flashes of fire followed by black plumes of smoke spread rapidly by a gusting wind into a clear blue sky. |