Troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi battled to retake the oil port of Ras Lanuf yesterday, intensifying their counteroffensive against the out-gunned insurgents.
Government forces, with air supremacy and a big advantage in tanks, appear to have regained the momentum in the three-week old conflict and if their push proceeds apace it could overtake sluggish international efforts to halt Qaddafi.
The sound of explosions and small arms fire came from Ras Lanuf yesterday and smoke rose from the town. Rebel forces said they were still inside the residential area of the oil port and fighting government tanks as well as troops who landed by boat.
“Four boats carrying 40 to 50 men each landed there. We are fighting them right now,” rebel spokesman Mohammed al--Mughrabi said, but he declined to say exactly where he was.
Insurgents withdrew their last main checkpoint in Ras Lanuf yesterday, setting it up 15km to 20km to the east.
“This is our last checkpoint, ahead are clashes. The clashes are in the residential area [of Ras Lanuf],” rebel fighter Youssef Mohannad said at the checkpoint.
The insurgents were angry at the international inaction.
“Where is the West? How are they helping? What are they doing,” one angry fighter shouted.
As international bodies agonize over whether, or how, to impose a no-fly zone, Qaddafi’s warplanes carried out an air strike behind enemy lines near Uqaylah, witnesses said, and rebels reported another bombing further east near Brega.
West of Tripoli, the revolt in Zawiyah appeared all but crushed, with insurgents clinging to only parts of the shattered city. Residents described scenes of carnage, with women and children among the dead.
Qaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam told the rebels they faced a full-scale assault to crush their uprising which began after Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in neighboring Egypt a month ago.
“It’s time for action. We are moving now,” he said in an interview on Thursday.
He said the government had given the rebels two weeks for negotiations.
“Time is out now,” he said.
As EU heads of government prepared to meet in Brussels yesterday, Libya’s insurgent leader repeated his call for a no-fly zone and warned any delay could let Qaddafi regain control.
“The Libyans are being cleansed by Qaddafi’s air force. We asked for a no-fly zone to be imposed from day one, we also want a sea embargo,” head of the National Libyan Council Mustafa Abdel-Jalil said. “We urgently need some arms and we also need humanitarian assistance and medicines to be sent to the cities besieged by Qaddafi troops.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the EU must step up measures to isolate Qaddafi. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has already recognized the Libyan National Council as the legitimate authority, and he and Cameron urged the EU to do the same.
In practice, any military action will require the participation of the US, which, along with NATO, has expressed doubt over the wisdom of imposing no-fly zones without full international backing and a legal justification.
US National Intelligence chief James Clapper said Qaddafi was “in this for the long haul” and was likely to prevail.
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