Maps of Libya
Despite NATO intervention (lead originally by an increasingly reluctant US, a militant France, and now some guy from Canada), the civil war for Libya continues to oscillate back and forth along the coastal regions of Libya. Every day the front line moves through a familiar collection of towns, like marks on a ruler, as the rebels alternatively advance in the wake of airstrikes, or retreat in the face of artillery.
But who cares about that? What's important is that I figured out how to use Google's staticmaps API, so I thought I'd use that to post some pictures of key battlefield in Libya. After all, what matters is that I get to show off pretty pictures.
Here's a map of Libya that's been outdated for weeks (but any map will be outdated within a day of it being made):
Heading from west to east we pass along a chain from the Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte, where the loyalists gather, to the eastern city of Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya, and the heart of the rebellion, where the rebels man the barricades. In the middle is a scattering of small towns, which have formed the various battlegrounds, and between them, nothing.
Easternmost is Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, the town where he reputedly was trying to move the administrative function of his capital, and the kind of place where Gaddafi loyalism is not only thriving, it's probably genuine. Sirte also has the benefit of being square in the middle of the country, a barrier between rebels in the east and loyalists in the west. It's the rock on which Gaddafi's fortunes rest.
Sirte (Zoom 13):
The road running along the southern part of the map from east to west is the coastal highway, which for all practical purposes is Libya's main road, connecting the coastal cities along several hundred kilometers of desert and beach. At Sirte, the road bows away from the coast for a bit to let the town get its say. Immediately to the east of Sirte is what appears to be a rather large agricultural region, including some incredibly large reservoirs that you can't see on screen.
Sirte: Zoomed in (Zoom 14)
Zooming in a little closer we can see the city structure itself, the urban area along the seacoast, and then running towards the coastal highway, in the shape of a T. The area in the southwest of the picture seems to indicate a suburban type development, but I can't be sure. The town looks well organized - then again, south side Chicago looks well organized from space.
Sirte: Main Square (Zoom 17)
The main square shows some of the kind of architecture you would expect inside the town, close packed building that look like low apartment buildings, separated by fairly broad, paved streets. The square is one of several public-looking places, probably filled with expansive architecture and, if I know my third world dictators, some rather extravagant pieces of "dictator kitsch".
You can also see why the loyalists thought they could hold the place. Street fighting is an exercise in siegecraft, where each house, each apartment, each room is a fort that needs to be breeched. Every street becomes not just a skirmish, but an entire campaign, and Sirte seems to have a lot of streets. The rebels might have taken months to get through that close-packed city.
Bin Jawad (sp) (Zoom 14):
If you leave Sirte heading east, you eventually pass by Bin Jawad on the coast of Libya. Bin Jawad is the rebel high water mark of sorts, if they've reached it they're almost to Sirte and they're doing it fairly well. They reached it on March 6th, before being driven out, almost recaptured it on March 9th, and then again, after the NATO intervention, on March 27th. On March 29th, the loyalists counterattacked and pushed them out of it again.
For all the action Bin Jawad has seen, there's not much to see here. A light dusting of houses on the coast of the Mediterranean. Probably a wonderful place to visit in more peaceable times. It's road layout looks almost suburban, if it were not for the fact that Bin Jawad is a long way across the desert from any place that could be considered urban. It also parallels the road, reminding me of some of those towns in the United States that seem to stretch along the highway, providing innumerable gas stations, a few fast food chains, and not much else.
Ra's Lanuf (Zoom 14):
If you go farther east of Bin Jawad, you end up at Ra's Lanuf. Ra's Lanuf is one of the keys to the war, an oil city, and whoever controls it controls a fair chunk of Libya's oil export capacity. News reports often describe Ra's Lanuf as critical to the war and the center of the front lines, partially, I suspect, because Ra's Lanuf has a rather nice hotel:
One thing that Ra's Lanuf does not have, however, is an oil refinery. That's because the town of Ra's Lanuf (pictured above), is actually some distance up the road from the refinery of Ra's Lanuf, or at least, I think that's how it is. That explains why in several news reports, the rebels lose the town of Ra's Lanuf but manage to hang on the petroleum refinery. The town itself, or what there is of it, looks somewhat modern to my eyes - the streets with their cul-de-sacs and dead ends and separation from main thoroughfares look more like the product of suburban engineering rather then ancient practicality, but that could just be an illusion. What isn't an illusion is that the town of Ra's Lanuf, despite the fact that people have been fighting over it, is rather small.
Ra's Lanuf (Zoom 13)
The oil complex is much larger (requiring a larger zoom size), and has been the subject of a lot of the fighting. Rebels took Ra's Lanuf on March 4th, and were able to hang onto it until the 10th, when the loyalists managed to retake it, although the rebels may have been able to hand onto the oil refinery for longer. Following the NATO airstrikes the rebels took it again on the 27th, and managed to hang onto it for a few days before the loyalists pushed them out again.
From here you can see the large port, which appears to only cater to oil tankers, and the oil refinery complex in the southeast, as well as the airport (which might be of significance if either side had any planes left). You'll notice that everything is on the seaward side of the highway - there's a lot of desert on the other side.
Ra's Lanuf - Misshapen Tetris Block (Zoom 15):
In the northwest corner of the previous image there is a set of roads that to me looks like a letter L, or possibly a transplanted tetris block. I have no idea what it is, warehouse and storage, a planned company town, or a few houses set aside of specific individuals, but it's relatively large. If it were not so isolated from the refinery, I would recommend it as the first line of rebel defenses. If they ever get back there.
Ra's Lanuf - Oil Terminal (Zoom 14)
The main oil complex itself (if this is indeed it), hooks directly into the harbor, and has the storage tanks you would expect from a terminal. Like most oil facilities (even in the states), the closer you look, the less you see, and here we see something less like the western forest of interlocking pipes and tanks that we expect when we hear the words "oil refinery" and more like a few tanks scattered in the desert. Certainly it's not the ground I would pick for holding an urban combat free-for-all, and I doubt the rebels were able to hold it for long when they had it.
Bishr (Zoom 15):
Bishr apparently lies between Ra's Lanuf and Brega, the two strategic oil terminals. Nobody knows much about it. There might not be much more to know. The fact that this is probably the largest human settlement in the 130km between Ra's Lanuf and Brega tells you a great deal about Libya, and why the front lines involve towns instead of points in the desert.
Brega (Zoom 13):
Brega refers to this town here, the correct method of spelling I am not qualified to comment on. This is the easternmost of the two oil terminals, and probably the more important to the rebels given its relative proximity to Benghazi. If the rebels are here, then they're starting to get into trouble.
Brega looks more like the oil town I thought Ra's Lanuf would be. The tight network of roads, the relative compactness of the urban zones in the northwest and the east side of the image have the hallmarks of a master-planned company town. Certainly it's a lot more dense then luxurious Ra's Lanuf, and a lot more suited to the intricacies of urban combat. The rebels thought so at least, they promised several times to fight to the last man in Brega after being pushed back there after the fall of Ra's Lanuf's oil terminal. It didn't happen; the government hit Brega on March 13th, and managed to push the rebels out by March 15th. The rebels returned on March 26th following NATO air strikes, but were pushed out again on March 30th by the government offensive. This brought air strikes back, and on March 31st, following an air bombardment by allied planes, the rebels had retaken Brega. Fighting is still continuing.
Brega NW (Zoom 16):
I don't know for certain, but this looks like the urban core of the town to me. Positioned in the northwestern corner of the complex it's small, compact, and to me looks very master-planned, given the shape and symmetry of the buildings. Approaching from the east this is probably what the loyalists seized when they were fighting for "the town" as opposed to the "oil complex". Given the density and the way things are interwoven, I really would not want to have to fight for it. It's a defender's paradise, and its biggest vulnerability is its small size.
Brega Oil Plant (Zoom 15):
The main oil facility at Brega (the tanks in the bottom right are from a water processing plant), the Brega facility is also clearly a fairly simple structure, and seems to consist mostly of flat land. While there's some space in there for people to hide, I can't imagine the rebels fighting for several days from the few control rooms in the center. Once they've lost the town, they've probably lost it.
Ajdabiya (Zoom 14):
North of Brega, on the road to Benghazi, lies the town of Ajdabiya. Ajdabiya looks like a real town, not a company town built around an oil refinery, or built around the coastal highway. It's an actual town. It's a very compact town, which is not much of a surprise, not much in the way of yards and lawns. There's both a stadium and a marketplace.
Of strategic interest is the fact that there are two roads leaving the city, one to the north and one to the northeast. The road to the north goes to Benghazi, but the road to the northwest goes inland, bypassing Benghazi and heading for Tobruk.
Ajdabiya is the loyalist high-water mark. It was the loyalist seizure of Ajdabiya and their progression towards Benghazi that triggered the UN intervention. Ajdabiya was supposed to be the gateway to the rebel east, where the rebels would mount their do or die defense. They didn't, but it's back in their hands now.
Ajdabiya Southern Entrance (Zoom 17):
Zooming in on Ajdabiya's southern entrance, near the stadium, you can see why the rebels were originally confident. The buildings, showing the traditional lack of yards or empty spaces, are close enough that tanks would be vulnerable and most armored vehicles useless. There are enough of them to make the task of clearing them both time consuming and difficult.
Benghazi (Zoom 13):
And then there's the rebel capital of Benghazi.
For reference, two other cities at zoom factor 13:
Grozny (Zoom 13):
Grozny, the capital of the fractious Russian province of Chechnya, was the site of the first of the major post Cold War urban conflicts. Grozny is larger then it appears, the suburbs of the city stretch along the street routes like the arms of a starfish, reading out towards pool of suburban life. Many of the buildings are densely packed, in a style of architecture popular in Soviet Russia (and a bit of which is evident in some of the newer apartment blocks in Benghazi and Sirte).
Grozny was the site of battles in both the First and Second Chechnyan war. During the first Chechnya War the Russians approached the city with the same disproportionate firepower as Gaddafi's followers had against the rebels. Grozny held out for two months in 1994-95, until the Russians were finally able to overrun it. Thousands became casualties, and the artillery bombardment took weeks. This was the battle that was promised by the rebels repeatedly.
The comparison is not altogether apt. Geographically, the defense of Grozny requires a city of the same approximate size, and the only one capable of that was really Benghazi. It also requires the rebels to have nowhere to run. We never got to find out what the battle of Benghazi would have been like. We are, for that, fortunate.
Chicago (Zoom 13):
And then, my local metropolitan area. Just for a size comparison.
But who cares about that? What's important is that I figured out how to use Google's staticmaps API, so I thought I'd use that to post some pictures of key battlefield in Libya. After all, what matters is that I get to show off pretty pictures.
Here's a map of Libya that's been outdated for weeks (but any map will be outdated within a day of it being made):
Heading from west to east we pass along a chain from the Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte, where the loyalists gather, to the eastern city of Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya, and the heart of the rebellion, where the rebels man the barricades. In the middle is a scattering of small towns, which have formed the various battlegrounds, and between them, nothing.
Easternmost is Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, the town where he reputedly was trying to move the administrative function of his capital, and the kind of place where Gaddafi loyalism is not only thriving, it's probably genuine. Sirte also has the benefit of being square in the middle of the country, a barrier between rebels in the east and loyalists in the west. It's the rock on which Gaddafi's fortunes rest.
Sirte (Zoom 13):
The road running along the southern part of the map from east to west is the coastal highway, which for all practical purposes is Libya's main road, connecting the coastal cities along several hundred kilometers of desert and beach. At Sirte, the road bows away from the coast for a bit to let the town get its say. Immediately to the east of Sirte is what appears to be a rather large agricultural region, including some incredibly large reservoirs that you can't see on screen.
Sirte: Zoomed in (Zoom 14)
Zooming in a little closer we can see the city structure itself, the urban area along the seacoast, and then running towards the coastal highway, in the shape of a T. The area in the southwest of the picture seems to indicate a suburban type development, but I can't be sure. The town looks well organized - then again, south side Chicago looks well organized from space.
Sirte: Main Square (Zoom 17)
The main square shows some of the kind of architecture you would expect inside the town, close packed building that look like low apartment buildings, separated by fairly broad, paved streets. The square is one of several public-looking places, probably filled with expansive architecture and, if I know my third world dictators, some rather extravagant pieces of "dictator kitsch".
You can also see why the loyalists thought they could hold the place. Street fighting is an exercise in siegecraft, where each house, each apartment, each room is a fort that needs to be breeched. Every street becomes not just a skirmish, but an entire campaign, and Sirte seems to have a lot of streets. The rebels might have taken months to get through that close-packed city.
Bin Jawad (sp) (Zoom 14):
If you leave Sirte heading east, you eventually pass by Bin Jawad on the coast of Libya. Bin Jawad is the rebel high water mark of sorts, if they've reached it they're almost to Sirte and they're doing it fairly well. They reached it on March 6th, before being driven out, almost recaptured it on March 9th, and then again, after the NATO intervention, on March 27th. On March 29th, the loyalists counterattacked and pushed them out of it again.
For all the action Bin Jawad has seen, there's not much to see here. A light dusting of houses on the coast of the Mediterranean. Probably a wonderful place to visit in more peaceable times. It's road layout looks almost suburban, if it were not for the fact that Bin Jawad is a long way across the desert from any place that could be considered urban. It also parallels the road, reminding me of some of those towns in the United States that seem to stretch along the highway, providing innumerable gas stations, a few fast food chains, and not much else.
Ra's Lanuf (Zoom 14):
If you go farther east of Bin Jawad, you end up at Ra's Lanuf. Ra's Lanuf is one of the keys to the war, an oil city, and whoever controls it controls a fair chunk of Libya's oil export capacity. News reports often describe Ra's Lanuf as critical to the war and the center of the front lines, partially, I suspect, because Ra's Lanuf has a rather nice hotel:
One thing that Ra's Lanuf does not have, however, is an oil refinery. That's because the town of Ra's Lanuf (pictured above), is actually some distance up the road from the refinery of Ra's Lanuf, or at least, I think that's how it is. That explains why in several news reports, the rebels lose the town of Ra's Lanuf but manage to hang on the petroleum refinery. The town itself, or what there is of it, looks somewhat modern to my eyes - the streets with their cul-de-sacs and dead ends and separation from main thoroughfares look more like the product of suburban engineering rather then ancient practicality, but that could just be an illusion. What isn't an illusion is that the town of Ra's Lanuf, despite the fact that people have been fighting over it, is rather small.
Ra's Lanuf (Zoom 13)
The oil complex is much larger (requiring a larger zoom size), and has been the subject of a lot of the fighting. Rebels took Ra's Lanuf on March 4th, and were able to hang onto it until the 10th, when the loyalists managed to retake it, although the rebels may have been able to hand onto the oil refinery for longer. Following the NATO airstrikes the rebels took it again on the 27th, and managed to hang onto it for a few days before the loyalists pushed them out again.
From here you can see the large port, which appears to only cater to oil tankers, and the oil refinery complex in the southeast, as well as the airport (which might be of significance if either side had any planes left). You'll notice that everything is on the seaward side of the highway - there's a lot of desert on the other side.
Ra's Lanuf - Misshapen Tetris Block (Zoom 15):
In the northwest corner of the previous image there is a set of roads that to me looks like a letter L, or possibly a transplanted tetris block. I have no idea what it is, warehouse and storage, a planned company town, or a few houses set aside of specific individuals, but it's relatively large. If it were not so isolated from the refinery, I would recommend it as the first line of rebel defenses. If they ever get back there.
Ra's Lanuf - Oil Terminal (Zoom 14)
The main oil complex itself (if this is indeed it), hooks directly into the harbor, and has the storage tanks you would expect from a terminal. Like most oil facilities (even in the states), the closer you look, the less you see, and here we see something less like the western forest of interlocking pipes and tanks that we expect when we hear the words "oil refinery" and more like a few tanks scattered in the desert. Certainly it's not the ground I would pick for holding an urban combat free-for-all, and I doubt the rebels were able to hold it for long when they had it.
Bishr (Zoom 15):
Bishr apparently lies between Ra's Lanuf and Brega, the two strategic oil terminals. Nobody knows much about it. There might not be much more to know. The fact that this is probably the largest human settlement in the 130km between Ra's Lanuf and Brega tells you a great deal about Libya, and why the front lines involve towns instead of points in the desert.
Brega (Zoom 13):
Brega refers to this town here, the correct method of spelling I am not qualified to comment on. This is the easternmost of the two oil terminals, and probably the more important to the rebels given its relative proximity to Benghazi. If the rebels are here, then they're starting to get into trouble.
Brega looks more like the oil town I thought Ra's Lanuf would be. The tight network of roads, the relative compactness of the urban zones in the northwest and the east side of the image have the hallmarks of a master-planned company town. Certainly it's a lot more dense then luxurious Ra's Lanuf, and a lot more suited to the intricacies of urban combat. The rebels thought so at least, they promised several times to fight to the last man in Brega after being pushed back there after the fall of Ra's Lanuf's oil terminal. It didn't happen; the government hit Brega on March 13th, and managed to push the rebels out by March 15th. The rebels returned on March 26th following NATO air strikes, but were pushed out again on March 30th by the government offensive. This brought air strikes back, and on March 31st, following an air bombardment by allied planes, the rebels had retaken Brega. Fighting is still continuing.
Brega NW (Zoom 16):
I don't know for certain, but this looks like the urban core of the town to me. Positioned in the northwestern corner of the complex it's small, compact, and to me looks very master-planned, given the shape and symmetry of the buildings. Approaching from the east this is probably what the loyalists seized when they were fighting for "the town" as opposed to the "oil complex". Given the density and the way things are interwoven, I really would not want to have to fight for it. It's a defender's paradise, and its biggest vulnerability is its small size.
Brega Oil Plant (Zoom 15):
The main oil facility at Brega (the tanks in the bottom right are from a water processing plant), the Brega facility is also clearly a fairly simple structure, and seems to consist mostly of flat land. While there's some space in there for people to hide, I can't imagine the rebels fighting for several days from the few control rooms in the center. Once they've lost the town, they've probably lost it.
Ajdabiya (Zoom 14):
North of Brega, on the road to Benghazi, lies the town of Ajdabiya. Ajdabiya looks like a real town, not a company town built around an oil refinery, or built around the coastal highway. It's an actual town. It's a very compact town, which is not much of a surprise, not much in the way of yards and lawns. There's both a stadium and a marketplace.
Of strategic interest is the fact that there are two roads leaving the city, one to the north and one to the northeast. The road to the north goes to Benghazi, but the road to the northwest goes inland, bypassing Benghazi and heading for Tobruk.
Ajdabiya is the loyalist high-water mark. It was the loyalist seizure of Ajdabiya and their progression towards Benghazi that triggered the UN intervention. Ajdabiya was supposed to be the gateway to the rebel east, where the rebels would mount their do or die defense. They didn't, but it's back in their hands now.
Ajdabiya Southern Entrance (Zoom 17):
Zooming in on Ajdabiya's southern entrance, near the stadium, you can see why the rebels were originally confident. The buildings, showing the traditional lack of yards or empty spaces, are close enough that tanks would be vulnerable and most armored vehicles useless. There are enough of them to make the task of clearing them both time consuming and difficult.
Benghazi (Zoom 13):
And then there's the rebel capital of Benghazi.
For reference, two other cities at zoom factor 13:
Grozny (Zoom 13):
Grozny, the capital of the fractious Russian province of Chechnya, was the site of the first of the major post Cold War urban conflicts. Grozny is larger then it appears, the suburbs of the city stretch along the street routes like the arms of a starfish, reading out towards pool of suburban life. Many of the buildings are densely packed, in a style of architecture popular in Soviet Russia (and a bit of which is evident in some of the newer apartment blocks in Benghazi and Sirte).
Grozny was the site of battles in both the First and Second Chechnyan war. During the first Chechnya War the Russians approached the city with the same disproportionate firepower as Gaddafi's followers had against the rebels. Grozny held out for two months in 1994-95, until the Russians were finally able to overrun it. Thousands became casualties, and the artillery bombardment took weeks. This was the battle that was promised by the rebels repeatedly.
The comparison is not altogether apt. Geographically, the defense of Grozny requires a city of the same approximate size, and the only one capable of that was really Benghazi. It also requires the rebels to have nowhere to run. We never got to find out what the battle of Benghazi would have been like. We are, for that, fortunate.
Chicago (Zoom 13):
And then, my local metropolitan area. Just for a size comparison.