A Woman on Libya's Front Lines - NYTimes.com

 

Sarah Elliott for The New York Times 

Dr. Mariam Talyeb, seven months pregnant with her first child, stood at the final rebel checkpoint in the city of Bani Walid, Libya.

NEAR BANI WALID, Libya — The rebel fighter, in a billowing white “Free Libya” T-shirt, jeans, scarf and camouflage cap, was leaning against a car, talking in a businesslike manner with other rebels.

It took a few long stares to realize that this fighter was a woman, the only Libyan woman in sight.

She was one of hundreds of rebels at this roadside outpost — a mosque, clinic and store dwarfed by the desert landscape massing for a possible assault on the pro-Qaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid. They had been there for days, and the sleeves of her shirt were brown with desert dust.

Her name was Miriam Talyeb. She was 32 years old, a dentist and seven months pregnant with her first child. Her husband was part of the brigade of fighters who carried assault rifles and drove trucks mounted with rocket launchers.

“I don’t care if I get shot or if I die,” she said. “I want to do this for God and for Libya. I want to be free. You must fight to take your freedom, especially here in Libya.”

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