Unlike the main diamond mining area 400 or so miles south of this rebel-held city in the northeast, diamond digging here is mostly small-time.

Banks are open in rebel-held cities for the first time since 1991, thanks to deposits in dollars from the rebel treasury, officials say.

Hours before, they had clambered over a railroad embankment - a berm, to the engineering-minded - and started their advance into this rebel-held city.

Foreign reporters began leaving the rebel-held city the next day as Iraqi Army troops approached.

Ajdabiya, the last rebel-held city before Benghazi, had been subjected to loyalist airstrikes for three days.

In Kisangani, the rebel-held city in Congo, the brewery is reportedly still going even though the diamond trade has disappeared.

They also shelled the rebel-held city of Zuwara.

The "pre-election offensive" against the Iraqi resistance continues in the rebel-held city of Fallujah, with air-strikes killing at least 16, including women and children.

As rebel-held cities are retaken, commanders say, tips from residents have picked up, but more information is needed.

They were not afraid to give their names, even after the police in this rebel-held city arrived at the market.