Along the coast of the Gulf of Sirte, between Misratah and Benghazi, rainfall is rather less, so that the desert reaches the coast.
There is already rivalry between Islamists and secular-minded people, between tribesmen and urbanites, between east and west, between Tripoli and Benghazi, the original rebel headquarters in the east.
The climatic tables for Tripoli in western Libya (former province of Tripolitania) and Benghazi in eastern Libya (ancient Cyrenaica) are representative of conditions around the year in the coastal regions.
But the notable thing is that Mr. Obama has lost the media's loyalty at this critical moment of his presidency, as other scandals over the IRS and Benghazi continue to swirl.
Glassy buildings glint in the hot sun, as cranes and foreign construction-workers line the shores of Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya's first and second cities, where stretches of sand stood empty a few years ago.
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The attack marked the fifth in less than three months against the ICRC in Misrata and Benghazi and led Ishfaq Muhamed Khan, the head of the ICRC's delegation in Libya, to suspend operations in those two cities.
And the fact of the matter is, back at the time, we were dealing with a situation that was not just limited to Libya and Benghazi, but where there was a series of events and unrest around the region.
According to multiple sources, the interagency group met Saturday morning, and according to a congressional source, the paragraph acknowledging that the CIA had warned about "the threat of extremists linked to al Qaeda and Benghazi" in preceding months was removed from the talking points after that meeting.
And part of this effort, as we've said -- and we've been working this obviously ourselves with the United Kingdom and the French -- has been to push back regime assaults, go at regime assets that had been aimed at the citizenry of Benghazi, and indeed the threat to Benghazi and, again, that city of 700, 000 people is one of the key impetuses for Resolution 1973.
The alert order came a day after the State Department said it was advising U.S. citizens against all but essential travel to Tripoli and all travel to Benghazi and other locations in Libya.
The German government said on its website that it had been "made aware of a specific, imminent threat to Westerners in Benghazi" and urged "all German citizens to immediately leave the city and region of Benghazi".
When the President spoke at some length about the situation in Libya on Friday, he singled out a number of population centers, and the first two were Benghazi and Misurata.
Even though, as you said, you had at the beginning the French prepared to go out and begin to operate above Benghazi and the UK indicating that they would do that, they both indicated that as asset that the United States could bring was that command and control from the beginning -- giving the nature of our assets in the Mediterranean.
For CNN, the ambassador's writings served as tips about the situation in Libya, and in Benghazi in particular.
"We are now aware of a specific and imminent threat to Westerners in Benghazi, and urge any British nationals who remain there against our advice to leave immediately, " Britain said Thursday.
He said her department had yet to fully disclose all e-mails and other communication from Stevens and others in Benghazi, noting the American people, including the family and loved ones of those killed, deserved full answers.
Clinton added that Kerry has been "working closely with me and my team to learn the lessons of the tragedy in Benghazi, further protect our people and posts, and implement every single one of the Accountability Review Board's recommendations, " she said, referring to the killings of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans in Benghazi in September.
Later, a joint statement by the UK, France and the US demanded that Gaddafi's troops stop their advance on Benghazi and pull back from the towns on Ajdabiya, Misrata, and Zawiya.
Cyrene is reached from Benghazi and with an early start can also be visited in a day.
Germany asked its citizens to leave Benghazi and the surrounding area, citing knowledge of a specific threat.
The UK Foreign Office has been advising against travel to Benghazi and most parts of Libya since September.
It has a base in Benghazi and controls the al-Jala hospital, where two of its wounded men are holed up.
Further afield, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was holding services at its cemeteries in Libya in Tripoli, Benghazi and Tobruk.
Mr. Mehiri, 38 years old, grew up in a small town outside the eastern city of Benghazi and studied journalism there.
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Republican lawmakers, however, decried the emphasis on funding and characterized the Benghazi attack as largely the result of State Department incompetence.
The workers were apparently abducted at a checkpoint near the city of Benghazi and held for hours before being freed on Wednesday.
President Obama expressed indignant anger that Senator McCain and others have had the temerity to question White House accounts of Benghazi causes and events.
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Differences between groups from cities such as Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata could get ugly if one or other thinks they have been bested in the power game.
The medics, who deny the charges, had been working at a children's hospital in the northern city of Benghazi and have been in prison for almost three years.
Air Malta canceled its Thursday flights between Benghazi and Malta.
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