October 20th 2011

Just after dawn in the city of Sird, on the Mediterranean coast of Libya

A mud-spattered toyota land crews are squeashes through the Robelstrom Street

weaving between bombed out buildings

There is the incestant rasp of AK-47s all round, the Wush of Rockets, a bit of factual fighting reaches its crescendo

A series of popular uprisings has exploded across the Middle East and North Africa, known as the Arab Spring

It is marked by spontaneous revolts against decades of autocratic rule, against autocratic rulers

In neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia, the old regimes have already been toppled

Libya is the latest domino to fall

And the hunt has been on in Sird to locate a person of interest known to be hiding in the area

The military arm of the Western powers, NATO, has been intervening

Its fighter planes patrol the Libyan airspace

They're enforcing enough flyzo, launching ground strikes in support of the rebels of the NTC, the National Transitional Council

Suddenly, a loyalist convoy begins a high-speed breakout

Some 75 vehicles heavily armed, tear out of the city, hoping to punch through the rebel cordon

It's a bold move, but a conspicuous one

French Rafale jets circling above alerted to the development on the ground

One of them looses off a missile

In the dirt and sulfur of the fireball, debris flies, smoke swirls, mangled car wrecks lile around

Damaged but somehow not destroyed, the land cruiser in question slams to a halt

And its stunned occupants stagger out

They cast a round for cover, desperate to get off the road and out of sight

...