Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan rebels and forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi fought over the cities of al-Brega and Misrata Monday as uncertainty lingered whether Western nations would arm the outgunned opposition.
An opposition officer in al-Brega said Monday that rebel forces had the oil town surrounded from the north, east and west and had been bombarding the area with rockets for much of the afternoon. Maj. Miftah Omar Hamzah told CNN that 50 carloads of loyalist forces remained in al-Brega, but he insisted that the Gadhafi troops were on the defensive.
New al-Brega, a suburban area of the homes of workers at a nearby oil refinery, was partially under rebel control. Opposition officers said they were still clearing the area of Gadhafi forces, and a resident fleeing the area told CNN that it is still unsafe.
There have been no NATO airstrikes in the area for at least 24 hours, he said.
The perceived lack of airstrikes enforcing a U.N. resolution to protect civilians from Gadhafi's forces and enforce an arms embargo brought criticism from a rebel spokesman on Monday.
"You are supposed to be implementing this resolution and clearly it's not implemented in Misrata, it's not implemented in Zintan or Zahwiya and we're wondering where are they?" said Mustafa Gheriani.
In Misrata, destruction permeated the city, which has been choked off by pro-Gadhafi forces.
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An opposition councilman in Misrata told CNN that a tank entered the outskirts of the city about 3 a.m. Monday and headed for the port area. Opposition fighters descended on the area and fought for two hours to force the tank to turn back, which it eventually did, the councilman said.
The councilman said he could hear NATO jets flying overhead Monday afternoon for the first time in 36 hours.
"We need a lot of help in Misrata. There's so much death there," said Mustafa Abdul Hamali, a 46-year-old taxi driver who lost half a leg. "I was driving in my car with my wife, and my car just blew up. I don't know what happened."
Two sources told CNN that 5 people were killed and 24 wounded in Monday clashes between pro-Gadhafi forces and rebels in Misrata.
On Monday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague ruled out his country arming the rebels but said it would provide them telecommunications equipment given the urgent need on the ground.
"We are prepared to supply nonlethal equipment which will help with the protection of civilian lives and the delivery of humanitarian aid," he said.
Libyan rebels have been hampered by a lack of organization and training on heavy weaponry when confronting the better-trained, better-armed forces of Gadhafi, who is under investigation for alleged crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
"We were fighting with light weapons, but they had so much more," said Khalid Moteridi, 32, a businessman who was fighting with the rebels when, he said, he was shot twice in the legs by a sniper. "Artillery, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank rockets -- that's how they were fighting back."
While Hague's statement seemed to rule out the United Kingdom arming the rebels, U.S. officials have yet to say whether they will do so. Both countries participated in airstrikes to weaken Gadhafi's military resources before NATO officially took command of the international operation.
Due to poor weather conditions in recent days, the United States approved a request by NATO to extend the use of some U.S. strike aircraft, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Sunday.
"This is a short-term extension, which expires on Monday," Lungescu said.
Moteridi said the situation in Misrata has turned dire.
"It's a tragedy by all means," he said. "No electricity, no food, no water. We're trapped from all sides by the Gadhafi forces."
A doctor in Misrata told CNN that government forces shelled a clinic, leaving one dead and 15 injured Sunday. Last week, a hospital official said 398 people have been killed since the Libyan conflict began last month. He feared there were more deaths that his hospital didn't know about.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the crisis seemed no closer to success Monday, though a source gave CNN an inside glimpse at what the Libyan government might be thinking.
An envoy sent by Gadhafi to the West is testing foreign governments' willingness to accept one of the embattled Libyan leader's sons as his successor, a source close to the Libyan leadership said.
Under the proposal, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, 38, would take over from his father and help to usher in swift reform, the source said.
Once thought to be a leading reformer inside the Libyan government, Saif has emerged as one of his father's most visible defenders since the start of the unrest.
As such, he is unlikely to satisfy the demands of the opposition, which has repeatedly called for more than cosmetic reform. The elder Gadhafi would also have to convince Libya's various tribes to support Saif, the source said.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi met with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Sunday. He arrived Monday in Turkey, where he was expected to continue talks.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Monday proposals outlined by an envoy whom Gadhafi sent to Greece were "not credible" and said his country would become the third to recognize the rebel Libyan National Transitional Council as the legitimate international representative of Libya. France and Qatar previously granted the rebel council similar status.
"From what the Libyan envoy said, it is clear that the administration is looking for a solution," said Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas.
CNN's Reza Sayah, Ben Wedeman, Nic Robertson and Eve Bower and journalists Houda Zaghdoudi and Elinda Labropoulou contributed to this report
