Alexandre Meneghini / AP Photo
Libyan rebels have made a habit of claiming cities long before fighting ends. In many allegedly rebel-dominated cities, Gaddafi forces are still putting up a violent fight. Rebels claimed Sirte on Friday, and yet Gaddafi loyalists still had militias set up in the city. Meanwhile, in Bani Walid, the hometown of the old government's most powerful tribe, rebels had almost reached the city center on Friday when Gaddafi forces fought back, killing at least four people, wounding 70 more, and forcing the rest to flee. While rebels outnumber defenders, they're disorganized, tired, and in some cases losing the will to overthrow a regime that seems all but destroyed anyway. In the past two weeks alone, at least 10 former rebels have been killed because of firearm accidents, many of them with their own weapons, according to a spokesman for Tripoli Central Hospital. And yet a rebel spokesman declared on Saturday that "Sirte wil be completely cleared today ... And I believe Bani Walid will not take much longer."