Qaddafi’s forces regain control of Zawiyah centre

Clinton says no-fly-zone must not be led by US, fresh artillery barrage in eastern Libya.

TRIPOLI:

Forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi regained control of the centre of Zawiyah on Wednesday, after using tanks and snipers to drive rebels out of their stronghold in the western city’s main square, residents said.

A fighter told Reuters pro-Qaddafi forces had entered the main square as rebels pulled back. A local doctor confirmed the report and said the death toll in the day’s fighting was at least 40 and probably many more.

“We have pulled back and they are inside the square but we will attack them again and have it back,” the fighter said by telephone. “We will do that tonight. This is not the end.”

The doctor said there were many dead in the streets, including old people, women and children.

Rebels in the east, facing a fresh barrage of artillery fire on their desert frontline outside the oil port of Ras Lanuf, renewed an appeal for outside powers to impose a no-fly zone to at least shield them from air attacks.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear, however, that imposing a no-fly zone is a matter for the United Nations and should not be a US-led initiative.

A rebel fighter and a resident had said earlier the rebel forces were surrounded in Zawiyah’s main square. “They have surrounded the square with snipers and tanks. The situation is not so good. It’s very scary. There are a lot of snipers,” said a Zawiyah resident.

City sealed off

A Tunisian man who crossed the border on the way from Tripoli to Tunis in mid-afternoon said Zawiyah was encircled and the sound of explosions could be heard.

Many foreign governments are wary of moving from sanctions alone to military action.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama agreed in a telephone call to plan “the full spectrum of possible responses, including surveillance, humanitarian assistance, enforcement of the arms embargo, and a no-fly zone.”

“They had a no-fly zone in Iraq. Why is Qaddafi their darling and Saddam Hussein was not?” said volunteer Naji Saleh near Ras Lanuf.

Rebels captured Ras Lanuf last week and began pushing down the strategic coastal road towards Sirte, Qaddafi’s home town. But they were beaten back and are now on a stretch of no man’s land desert between Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad, 550 km east of Tripoli.

Qaddafi  loyalists launched a bombardment near rebel positions around the oil terminal of Sidra near Ras Lanuf, on Wednesday, blowing up storage tanks at the facility.

Rebels retaliated by firing back with rockets as a fireball exploded from one of the oil tanks and the sky above the terminal filled with black smoke.

An air strike was reported on Ras Lanuf, which has sustained several attacks in the past days.The Libyan authorities on Wednesday offered a bounty of 500,000 Libyan dinars ($400,000) to anyone who captured rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil and handed him in.

Qaddafi envoy en route for Portugal: EU

A Libyan government emissary was en route Wednesday for Portugal for talks with the country’s foreign minister on the eve of key talks on Libya in Brussels, an EU source told AFP.

Asked to comment on reports that Muammar Qaddafi was sending emissaries to Europe ahead of a series of key diplomatic meetings in Brussels this week, the source said: “there is a plane going to Portugal with a moderate member” of the Qaddafi regime. The emissary was planning to meet Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado, the source added. Amado on Thursday will be attending a gathering of the European Union’s 27 foreign ministers that was hastily called ahead of a crisis summit on Libya taking place in Brussels on Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2011.