Unit 12 libyan rebels fight back against government

This theme is dealt with in a lot of sources. The following citation is to illustrate this:

“Rebels in Libya have retaken control of a number of towns that they had recently been forced to leave by government troops.

Fierce fighting continues between the rebels and Libyan government forces, loyal to Colonel Gaddafi.

Amidst all the dramatic headlines about the rebel advances in Libya, two things are clear. Firstly: that the rebel forces still have a very limited offensive punch. Libyan government units seem to have dissolved in front of them, rather than being defeated in battle. Secondly: the retreat of the Libyan government forces has been caused by the damage they have sustained from the air. We do not know how extensive the air attacks have been, but they clearly have dented the Libyan government forces' morale.

Continuing air attacks will reach a point where they are no longer ensuring the protection of civilians, but aiding the offensive operations of the rebels. Some might argue that point has already come. Inevitably, this will cause strains within NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). No wonder then that diplomatic efforts are beginning to focus on the end game in this crisis.

A major conference involving the coalition countries and the Arab League is to be held in London. The Italians are already talking about an exit route for Colonel Gaddafi himself and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is casting himself in the role of a mediator to attempt to bring about a ceasefire.”

The complete version of this text is at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2011/03/110328_witn_libya_page.shtml

Assignments:

1. Read, listen and translate the text paying special attention to professional terminology.

2. Key words and expressions:

• rebel advances-progress made by anti-government fighters into government-controlled areas

• offensive punch-fighting strength or impact

• dissolved-melted away, or disappeared (as if giving up)

• dented-here, damaged

• civilians-ordinary people who are not in the armed forces or police

• offensive operations-organised warfare

• strains-tensions or disagreements

• the coalition countries-the foreign nations (including the UK and France) whose armies are fighting together in Libya

• an exit route-a way out

• a mediator-a person who tries to get agreement between groups or people who disagree with each other.

3. Give definitions to the following:

morale, attacks, civilians, battle, conference

4. Answer the questions on the text:

• Have rebels in Libya retaken control of a number of towns?

• What is clear about the whole situation in Libya?

• Where will the major conference be held?

• What do the Italians think about this situation?

5. Put questions to the underlined words.

6. Speak on this issue adding extra information from other sources.