[Sainters7]

Protestors take military garrison in Benghazi.
http://english.aljazeera.net//indept...840189620.html

Benghazi, Libya - If Benghazi, Libya's second city, has become the symbolic heart of the revolution in this north African nation, then the battle to overwhelm the military garrison here was the revolt's key turning point.

Over the course of three days, civilians opposed to the 42-rule of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi managed to outlast and overpower a fortified base guarded by detachments of several Libyan military units, one of them the feared and reportedly highly trained Khamis Brigade - a special forces unit led by Gaddafi's youngest son.

In the end, both anti-government protesters and Gaddafi loyalists lost hundreds dead and many more wounded, and Gaddafi's forces fled the city. Benghazi fell completely into opposition hands and became the seat of the national coalition bent on ending the Gaddafi regime. The once-feared ramparts of Gaddafi's security forces sit smoldering and crumbled, a site for tourists.