In the city of Misrata, the only city in the West of Libya not under control of Gaddafi’s forces, the situation is desperate. The whole of the city is besieged with no escape except by Mediterranean Sea, its only lifeline.

To come to the city and listen to its sounds is confusing to anyone with any preconception of war. The sound of bird song and the call to prayer from the minarets is accompanied by the new music of Misrata; gunfire and the sound of explosions.  The story of war is one of confusion, any attempt to understand it seems to be ultimately futile.  Every day that goes by in this city is a crime against humanity. The world cannot allow this siege to continue if it does not want to see a repeat of Sarajevo.  Virtually nowhere in this city is safe, schools, hospitals and mosques have all been targeted by RPGs, SPGs and mortar attack, bread lines in the city have also been targeted and snipers hold the centre of the city hostage. There is no option left for the people of Misrata but defend themselves from annihilation.

‏The rules of war do not apply here, there is no exit strategy and no escape route, the motto of the people in Libya is “victory or death”. This is not a war of two sides, but a civilian population held captive by a well equipped military force. 42 years of dictatorship at the hands of Gaddafi has taught them the alternative to defense, if his military forces overrun this city it means nothing but certain death for everyone.

‏The organization for the defense of the city is manned only by civilians. Roadblocks on the streets constructed from scrap metal and sand, are controlled by the ‘Shabab’, the youth armed only with smalls arms and some only with Molotov Cocktails, to defend themselves against the possibility of invasion by tanks.

‏Today [13th April] on Tripoli Street, the epicentre of the city’s fighting that has now become a sniper alley, we met the rebels desperately trying to rid their home of threat.  A number of Gaddafi snipers have taken up positions here, shooting at anything that moves. On a corner the rebel’s red, black and green flag flies, ridden with bullet holes it has become a surrogate target when humans are not available.  At the position, we met ordinary people, teachers, engineers and students . They were eating chocolates captured from Gaddafi forces. “They eat sweets and drink Pepsi and bring us nothing but guns!” one fighter shouts. Most had never handled a gun before the insurrection started, they did not wish for this fight. While the Gaddafi forces indiscriminately shell the city, the rebels tell us that they cannot use all of the weapons that they have at their disposal.

‏”We have some weapons we have taken from the Gaddafi militias, like SPGs” says Muhamed Agila, a Misrata resident, “but we will not use them, it is not safe, people live here, this is our home we don’t want to destroy our home. We don’t want to hurt the people. They [Gaddafi's forces] don’t care what they use. You can see the destruction everywhere.”

‏Even a cursory tour of the city demonstrates the extent of the destruction here. In the western area of the city cleared a few days ago, almost every building bore the scars of mortar attacks and gunfire. However, buildings can be rebuilt, human life cannot.

‏Yesterday, we visited the city’s hospitals and spoke with a number of doctors who explained the impact that the fighting is having on the city. Tens of people die every day here under bombardment from Gaddafi’s forces most are injured by shrapnel from tanks, mortars and bullets.

‏Children are suffering in this siege with 20 children killed in Misrata alone, the youngest victim aged only nine months. We saw with our own eyes the body of a three year old girl shot through the head by one of Gaddafi’s bullets. Her father, a doctor working in one of the city’s hospitals had been kidnapped only a day earlier.  Grenade rounds lie unexploded around the streets and children have been finding them and picking them up to play with.

‏The tactic of kidnapping and abduction is commonly practiced against the civilian population. One worker at the hospital had collected the names of 30 civilians from just one small area of the city, Zawiat al-Majohb, that have been removed from their homes and disappeared. The figures for the rest of the city are not known, but they are estimated to be around 2000. No one knows of their whereabouts.

‏As medical teams here struggle to save the lives of those caught in this conflict they also come under fire. Ambulances come under regular fire from troops, with snipers aiming for the petrol tanks in attempts to blow them up. We met one young driver from the Red Crescent, who was shot in the arm, he was lucky, with many of his colleagues having been killed.

‏Other than the hundreds of cases of people suffering from bullet and shrapnel wounds from snipers and shelling, a psychologist in one of the city’s hospitals tells us of other damage being inflicted by the conflict. The captive civilians are suffering numerous psychological disorders including insomnia, acute psychosis and epilepsy as well as psychosomatic disorders including diarrhea, vomiting and headaches.

‏The people of Misrata remain defiant in the midst of this chaos. At the candle lit vigil for two young men killed in yesterday’s fighting the whole of Zawiat al-Majohb’s population turns out to chant in a show of unity surrounding the two shrouded bodies in coffins. The people here do not have any clear ideological or political aspirations. The two most common chants, “Free Libya, Gaddafi has to go” in Arabic, along with cries of “Allahu Akbar”, “God is great” would encompass their principal motivations. The people here are religious, but they look more to western democracy for their political influence than to political Islam and Al-Qaeda.  In Benghazi, people make their calls to NATO help them win their fight. For now, the people of Misrata must rely on their own resolve and faith to defend themselves as NATO seem to sleep while the people here cannot.