Rebel fighters fall back from oil town under rocket fire and aerial attack as Gaddafi loyalists launch major offensive.
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| During clashes on March 9, government forces bombed a natural gas installation in Ras Lanuf [GALLO/GETTY] |
Opposition fighters have been forced to withdraw from the central port city of Ras Lanuf as forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi launched a major offensive against rebels fighting to end the Libyan leader's decades-long rule.
Pro- and anti-government forces are locked in intense fighting for control of several other cities and towns along the coastline to the east of Tripoli, including Brega and Bin Jawad, as well as in Az Zawiyah to the west of the capital.
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Rebel forces in the port city of Ras Lanuf, which is the site of a key oil installation, are now retreating from their positions and heading further east.
Opposition fighters were seen trooping into cars and trucks by the hundreds and fleeing eastwards, after coming under intense mortar and rocket fire, as well as aerial bombardment earlier in the day.
Pro-Gaddafi forces hit a natural gas installation, as well as bombing a civilian house and the area around a hospital, opposition forces said.
"We've been wondering for the last few days about why Gaddafi has not employed his full forces, and today we've seen those forces in action," reported Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, who is in Ras Lanuf.
"We were caught right in the middle as his forces out-flanked, and then out-bombed and out-shot the opposition forces. There was sustained aerial and artillery and mortar bombardment, and then following in by a flanking movement.
"There have been a number of casualties. We've seen trucks going along the highway, but that's being shelled by Gaddafi forces all the way along. I counted ... 50 shells falling.
"We've seen trucks with wounded lying in the back of pick-ups, and I think the casualty toll is going to be high. We also saw and heard extensive ground fire coming from the beach [in the north], we think there's been a flanking movement from the beach.
"But it seems like the major offensive that we thought was going to happen is underway now."
Birtley reported that while many opposition fighters had now left the town, a "hard core" was going back in to fight.
He said the attack showed the "professionalism of Gaddafi's troops, and it shows that ... he's hitting back."
Engineers at the town's oil facilities have been burning off poisonous gas in case of a direct hit on the refinery, rebels say.
"We've been defeated. They are shelling and we are running away. That means that they're taking Ras Lanuf," a rebel fighter, dressed in military fatigues who gave his name as Osama, told the AFP news agency.
Assault on Ajdabiya
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from Ajdabiya, said that the pro-Gaddafi forces are intensifying their counter-assault on the rebel forces there as well.
"The latest that we've heard on Thursday is that the Gaddafi forces are attacking by land from the west, along the coastal roads. They're also attacking from the south, from the desert," she said.
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| Flashpoint cities in Libya |
"And, a key development, they're attacking as well from the sea, to the north. This clearly is a concerted effort to route the rebels from their western-most positions, and it comes on the heels of intense fighting from the two sides the day before."
Hoda Abdel-Hamid, our correspondent in Benghazi, reported that officials confirmed that Ras Lanuf and Brega, another town with key oil installations, had come under attack from gunboats. Brega, a key oil and gas hub, was also under attack from the air.
She reported that rebels in Benghazi feel the tide "may be reversing", and that there is a "realisation that this is going to be a long, long uprising".
Gaddafi's men also pounded Az Zawiyah with tanks and war planes.
"The revolutionaries control the centre of Zawiyah and Gadhafi's forces are surrounding it. It's 50-50," a resident who fled the city said.
"There was no one in the streets, the town is completely deserted, and there are snipers on the roofs," he said, adding that he did not know which side they were on.
An official at one of Libya's largest refineries, which is located in Zawiyah, said it has remained shut for the fourth consecutive day, and would only reopen on Friday if there was no fighting overnight.
Conflicting claims
Forces loyal to Gaddafi say they have wrested the city from the hands of rebels, a claim denied by those fighting against the Libyan leader.
Any independent confirmation of the claims and counter-claims, however, is difficult since journalists are unable to reach the city.
The rebel fighters are largely inexperienced. Abdul Razik Bubakar, 32, car mechanic who has joined anti-Gaddafi forces, told the AP news agency that he is learning how to use anti-aircraft gun on the fly.
"I didn't know anything about it. I just learnt in two or three days. Now I know how to use it, thanks to God. Now I am really quick using it, cleaning it and fixing it," said Bubakar.
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"Maybe I don't have enough knowledge for this, but when I do it, thanks to God, it works out."
The battles are raging as rebels pile on pressure on the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to cripple Gaddaf's airforce.
While several world powers have backed such a measure, the modalities are yet to be worked out with Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, saying such a move should be driven by the United Nations and not the United States.
NATO and the European Union began fresh talks on a no-fly zone on Thursday, with Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato's secretary-general, saying that "further planning will be required" if a no-fly zone were to be enforced, under the UN's mandate.
Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the Interational Committe of the Red Cross (ICRC), on Thursday warned that Libya was in a state of "civil war", and appealed for aid workers to be given greater access to the country.
Amid such discussions, Gaddafi has launched his own diplomatic effort, sending emissaries to Brussels and Cairo.
Opposition forces vowed to continue fighting against Gaddafi, even if a no-fly zone was not imposed.
"If they implement a no-fly zone we will ask for other things. Even if they do not implement it, we will fight," Iman Bugaigis, a media officer with the rebel February 17 Coalition, told reporters in Benghazi.
"There is no return for us. This nation will not bear both of us. It is us or his (Gaddafi's) family. After what happened
in Zawiyah, how can we live with this person?" she said.
Journalists tortured
Meanwhile, Britain has condemned the arrest and torture of three BBC journalists in Libya, saying it was more proof of atrocities committed by Gaddafi's regime.
The three were subjected to mock execution after being arrested on Monday at a checkpoint nearly 10km south of Az-Zawiyah.
The three men were then taken to a military barracks in Tripoli where they "suffered repeated assaults" by members of Libya's army and secret police before being released 21 hours later.
One of the reporters said he had seen 10 or 12 men from Az Zawiyah in a prison cell who were "badly beaten", bearing signs of "torture on their faces and their bodies".
Two more journalists were reported missing on Thursday by their UK- and Brazil-based newspapers, though state authorities said that one of them was to be released shortly.
The Libyan government has restricted the movements of foreign journalists based in Tripoli and says they must only travel with official escorts.
URL du billet: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/201131041228856242.html
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