On the rebel road

A fuel pump is defaced with a graffiti caricature of Muammar Gaddafi in the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah. The exact position of the front line is difficult to know in a war of rapid movements in both directions across open desert, but one constant is the presence of the road, along which Libya's revolution has traveled, back and forth as each side advances and retreats across vast distances, leaving behind a wake of destruction and death.

"The metal carcasses littering the highway symbolize Qaddafi’s crumbling grip on power."
Reuters Photographer, Finbarr O’Reilly

It’s hard to know the exact position of the front line in a war of rapid movements across an open desert. But one constant is the presence of the road, along which Libya’s revolution has traveled back and forth as each side advances and retreats, leaving behind a wake of destruction and death.

The heaviest fighting has taken place along a single stretch of desert road, traveled by rebels and loyalist forces (and journalists). The coastal road runs just over 930 miles to Tripoli from Tobruk. The focal point of clashes has been around the oil refineries at Ras Lanuf and Brega.

This series is intended as a step back from the daily rush of imagery: rebels charging to the front and getting shelled. I used a full depth of field to provide as much detail as possible and evoke a feeling of distance.

The metal carcasses of blown-up vehicles littering the highway symbolize Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s crumbling grip on power. In turn, the infinite highway seems to suggest the long, hard road ahead for the rebels — and the country.

Yet for all the human drama and destruction unfolding along eastern Libya’s highway, it seems unlikely the country’s future will be decided by the daily skirmishes along its dusty curves. Any solution to the conflict will almost certainly be determined at the far end of the road, in Tripoli.