Libyan Rebels Claim to Retake Key Oil Port Town

Libyan rebels are claiming to have captured the strategic oil port town of Brega Saturday as fighting continues against forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Popular protests are also continuing across the region, especially in Yemen and Syria.
News that the key oil port town of Brega had fallen to rebel fighters Saturday appeared to reverse the recent trend by pro-Gadhafi forces, which had pushed slowly eastward¹ toward the rebel-held town of Ajdabiya.
NATO warplanes bombed targets in and around Brega overnight, accidentally striking a pickup² truck manned by rebel fighters. A Libyan doctor told al Jazeera TV that NATO planes also blew up a Gadhafi arms cache hidden among houses, causing civilian³ casualties.
A rebel spokesman Mustafa Ghariani indicated that the rebels considered the strikes accidental, and considered that the air campaign would ultimately shorten the war on the ground.
Libyan state TV claimed that civilians⁴ were hit by another NATO airstrike over the Gadhafi stronghold of Sabha, which houses an important government airbase. The TV showed doctors treating civilians it says were wounded in the airstrike. The claims were impossible to verify.
Pro-Gadhafi supporters also chanted slogans in favor of their embattled leader, denouncing NATO intervention⁵. A pro-Gadhafi announcer on government TV insisted that Libyan media was "one million percent objective." while complaining that outside channels were "biased⁶."
Eyewitnesses⁷ in the besieged⁸ western Libyan city of Misrata told Arab satellite channels that pro-Gadhafi forces continued to fire tank shells, mortar⁹ rounds and field artillery¹⁰ into the city. On Friday, an opposition¹¹ leader in Benghazi, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, demanded that Gadhafi withdraw his forces from Misrata and other government-controlled cities before the opposition would accept a ceasefire.
Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim, however, denied that the rebels had agreed to a ceasefire, insisting that it was a ploy¹². "You are not offering peace if you are making impossible demands. It's a trick. We are the ones who offered peace, weeks ago, when we said we're going to talk and let's sit down and everything," he said.
Yemen
AP
Anti-government protesters react during a demonstration¹³ demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa, April 2, 2011
Elsewhere, ongoing¹⁴ protests continued in the Yemeni capital Sana'a and other cities across the country Saturday. In the southern port city of Aden, army forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired into the air as thousands of protesters hurled¹⁵ stones at them and blocked a key roadway by setting tires on fire.
Syria
In Syria, where unrest shook at least five cities Friday, human rights activists¹⁶ warned that dozens of protesters had been arrested by state security forces. Syrian government TV denounced Friday's violence, complaining it was the work of "armed gangs."

1 eastward   

adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部

参考例句：

• The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
• The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。

2 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

6 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

7 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

8 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

9 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

10 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。

13 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

14 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

15 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》