The last supply lines of Gaddafi

Rebel fighters in North-Western Libya claimed to have seized two key towns along the last remaining supply lines that connect Tunisia to Tripoli. One of these supply lines enters the Libyan capital from the south, traversing through Gharyan, which rests on the easternmost point of the mountain chain. The other more important route passes through the refinery town of Zawiya along a well-paved coastal road which connects Tripoli to Tunisia. If both these towns (especially the much larger population center of Zawiya) fall under permanent control of rebel forces, Tripoli risks being cut off from its primary sources of fuel. U.N. sanctions bar the export of petroleum products to Libya, and it is primarily the poorly enforced border controls with Tunisia that allow for fuel shipments to enter Gadhafi-held territory. The direct coastal road from Ras Jedir is the primary route. A much more circuitous route does exist, passing from Ghadamis (at the nexus of the Libyan-Tunisia-Algeria border) along the southern rim of the Nafusa Mountains, and then northward through Gharyan, but it is less efficient than the coastal route. With NATO patrolling the skies and waters around Libya, rebel control of the two towns would force the Gadhafi regime to rely almost entirely on its fuel reserves for its energy needs, which, depending on their size, could prove devastating.