String of midnight explosions go off east of Libyan capital

(Washington Post) - Tripoli was rocked by a series of airstrikes by NATO forces in the early hours of the morning Sunday.

Libyan television reported that the “NATO crusader forces” had hit civilian and military targets in the eastern suburb of Tajoura.

Just after midnight Sunday, a series of dull rumbles and flashes could be seen to the east of Tripoli, illuminating huge plumes of smoke and accompanied by the sporadic tracers of antiaircraft fire.

The distant rumbling blasts continued for at least an hour, suggesting some kind of facility with explosive materials had been hit.

Aircraft could be heard soaring through the night sky, which was illuminated by a nearly full moon.

NATO fighters have been carrying out airstrikes against Libyan military targets as part of a U.N.-mandated operation to protect civilians.

The blasts come after three days of defiant speeches by Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi.

Al Qathafi said Saturday afternoon that his country will never surrender in the face of assaults by rebels and a NATO air campaign.

In an audio address directed at the city of Zawiyah where thousands demonstrated their support, Al Qathafi promised that Libya would keep fighting.

“After we gave our children as martyrs, we can’t backtrack, or surrender or give up or move an inch,” he said, his voice booming over loudspeakers in the centre of town. “Rest assured in your tombs, our martyrs, we will not betray you ever.”

The speech was the third in as many days, each addressing inhabitants of a town under his control while thousands chanted their support for the country’s leader of the past 41 years.

In his speech, also broadcast on national television, Al Qathafi said the NATO airstrikes on Libya must stop to save civilian lives.

The rally was staged in the centre of Zawiyah, a city once under rebel control in the early weeks of the revolt against Al Qathafi’s rule and only taken back after a brutal battle.

The centre of the city still bore scars of the fighting, with burned out and shattered buildings overlooking the cheering crowds swathed in green, Libya’s national colour.

“Here is Zawiyah. Where are the ... traitors and the agents that you depended on? Where are those you bought with your money, you brainwashed?” he asked, addressing NATO.

“Zawiyah can’t be ruled by agents, nonbelievers and traitors who are seeking help from the cross,” he added.

The speeches and rallies come after Libya’s main opposition group was recognised by more than 30 nations, including the U.S., as Libya’s legitimate government.

Friday’s decision potentially frees up billions of dollars in cash that the rebels urgently need.

Libya’s civil war has fallen into a stalemate since the mass uprising seeking to oust ruler Al Qathafi broke out in mid-February.

Rebels have set up an interim administration in the eastern city of Benghazi and seized control of the port city of Misurata and much of the western Nafusa mountain range.

Al Qathafi controls the rest of Libya from his stronghold in the capital Tripoli.

Rebel forces - mostly volunteers armed with captured weapons - have failed to make significant advances recently, even with NATO bombing Al Qathafi’s troops under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

On Saturday 10 rebels were killed in their latest advance on the strategic oil town of Brega. Rebel fighters said they were sweeping the outskirts for land mines so they could move in.

Rebels have been trying to take the town with its large gas and oil storage facilities for weeks.

Bombers blitz Tripoli

(UPI) - NATO bombers pummelled parts of Tripoli for nearly two hours Sunday, witnesses said.

The Centre for Research on Globalisation reported the initial airstrikes were followed about a half hour later by two more periods of explosions in the distance.

Five or six dozen bombs were dropped, leaving smoke and odours that lingered in the air, witnesses told the independent research and media organisation.

There also were signs of anti-aircraft activity, the report said.

It wasn't known how many casualties there may have been.

Libya has been mired in civil war that started in February with demonstrations seeking the ouster of strongman Muammar Al Qathafi.

Late night explosions rock Libyan capital

(The Daily Star/AP) - A series of NATO airstrikes rocked the Libyan capital before dawn Sunday, sending up huge plumes of smoke over the city after hitting what Libyan state television said were civilian and military targets.

As the explosions struck just after midnight, a string of dull rumbles could be heard and flashes seen to the city's east, as sporadic tracers of anti-aircraft fire arced into the night sky. State television said the strikes targeted the suburb of Tajoura.

The distant rumbling of blasts continued for at least an hour, suggesting some kind of facility with explosive materials had been hit.

NATO fighters have been carrying out airstrikes against Libyan military targets as part of a U.N.-mandated operation to protect civilians.

The blasts come after three days of defiant speeches by Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi.

Al Qathafi said Saturday afternoon that his country will never surrender in the face of assaults by rebels and a NATO air campaign.

In an audio address directed at the city of Zawiyah where thousands demonstrated their support, Al Qathafi promised that Libya would keep fighting.

"After we gave our children as martyrs, we can't backtrack, or surrender or give up or move an inch," he said, his voice booming over loudspeakers in the centre of town. "Rest assured in your tombs, our martyrs, we will not betray you ever."

The speech was Al Qathafi's third in as many days, each addressing inhabitants of a town under his control while thousands chanted their support for the country's leader of the past 41 years.

In his speech, also broadcast on national television, Al Qathafi said the NATO airstrikes on Libya must stop to save civilian lives.

The rally was staged in the centre of Zawiyah, a city once under rebel control in the early weeks of the revolt against Al Qathafi's rule and only taken back after a brutal battle.

The centre of the city still bears scars of the fighting, with burned out and shattered buildings overlooking the cheering crowds swathed in green, Libya's national colour.

"Here is Zawiyah. Where are the ... traitors and the agents that you depended on? Where are those you bought with your money, you brainwashed?" Al Qathafi asked, addressing NATO.

"Zawiyah can't be ruled by agents, nonbelievers and traitors who are seeking help from the cross," he added.

The speeches and rallies come after Libya's main opposition group was recognized by more than 30 nations, including the U.S., as Libya's legitimate government.

Friday's decision potentially frees up billions of dollars in cash that the rebels urgently need.

Libya's civil war has fallen into a stalemate since the mass uprising seeking to oust Al Qathafi broke out in mid-February.

Rebels have set up an interim administration in the eastern city of Benghazi and seized control of the port city of Misurata and much of the western Nafusa mountain range.

Al Qathafi controls the rest of Libya from his stronghold in the capital Tripoli.

Rebel forces - mostly volunteers armed with captured weapons - have failed to make significant advances recently, even with NATO bombing Al Qathafi's troops under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

On Saturday, 10 rebels were killed in their latest advance on the strategic oil town of Brega. Rebel fighters said they were sweeping the outskirts for land mines so they could move in.

Rebels have been trying to take the town with its large gas and oil storage facilities for weeks.

Heavy casualties reported in Libya fighting

(Reuters) - Ten Libyan rebels were reported killed and 172 wounded in an attack on the eastern oil port of Brega on Saturday, while insurgents drove back forces loyal to Muammar Al Qathafi in the west.

In the latest of a series of speeches apparently designed to show he enjoys support in the areas he controls, Al Qathafi described the rebels as worthless traitors and rejected suggestions that he was about to leave the country.

"They said Al Qathafi will go to Honolulu," he said in a televised speech. "This is funny: To leave the graves of my forefathers and my people? Are you serious?"

His defiance came a day after Western and Arab powers, led by the United States, said the rebel leadership was the legitimate government of Libya. Reports have circulated that Al Qathafi is seeking a negotiated way out of the crisis.

Libyan television also reported what it called an "enemy attack" on Tajoura district east of Tripoli early on Sunday, the first such bombing raid by NATO near the capital in several nights, a Reuters witness said.

The television said the strike had hit "civilian and military sites" but did not specify what they were or mention if there had been any casualties.

Brega's oil resources make it a prize for the rebels, who have been trying to dislodge Al Qathafi's troops in the face of rocket bombardments, according to Al Jazeera television.

Most opposition fighters are about 20 km (12 miles) outside Brega, kept back by Grad rockets fired by government forces, the network reported. The rebels had however captured four government soldiers.

In the Western Mountains, where insurgents are trying to push toward Tripoli, heavy fighting erupted on Saturday.

Sustained gunfire and volleys of artillery could be heard from the village of Bir Ayad, 15 km (9 miles) south of the front line at the town of Bir Ghanem.

Rebels at Bir Ghanem hold the high ground on the outskirts of the town, their closest position to Tripoli, about 80 km (50 miles) away.

Ahmed, a rebel fighter in Bir Ayad, said a convoy of about 15 vehicles from Al Qathafi's forces tried to approach Bir Ghanem, but the rebels fired at it and the convoy retreated after a about an hour of shooting.

"They were in a column at first but when we started firing they split into groups of three or four vehicles and all of them fled," local rebel commander Fathi Alzintani told Reuters.

Assaults repelled

Rebels in the Western Mountains have made progress in recent weeks after repelling assaults by Al Qathafi's forces. Their next goal is Gharyan, a town that controls the highway south from Tripoli.

But the rebels have been hampered by divisions, ill-discipline and supply problems.

In Misurata, the rebels' main stronghold in the west, six rebel fighters have been killed and four injured in the past 24 hours, hospital staff said.

Away from the battlefield, Al Qathafi has made a series of audio speeches to coincide with state television broadcasts of rallies attended by thousands of people in Tripoli and elsewhere.

As loyalists gathered on the streets of the town of Zawiyah, near the capital, on Saturday, Al Qathafi said the rebels were "apostates" who had "become Christians."

Calling on the rebels to lay down their arms, he said: "Islam is being humiliated by the cross ... They are burning mosques with bombs."

"We have given martyrs, yes ... It's impossible to compromise or make the slightest concession."

Crowds were shown firing to the air at the end of the speech.

Rebel leaders received a boost in their campaign to oust Al Qathafi on Friday when they won recognition as the legitimate government of Libya from the United States and other powers.

Western nations said they planned to increase the military pressure on Al Qathafi's forces to make him to give up power after 41 years at the head of the North African state.

Recognition of the rebels by the international contact group on Libya is an important diplomatic step that could unlock billions of dollars in frozen Libyan funds.

The decision came as reports circulated Al Qathafi had sent out emissaries seeking a negotiated end to the conflict, although he remains defiant in public.

The contact group also agreed on a road map whereby Al Qathafi should relinquish power and put forward plans for Libya's transition to democracy under the rebel National Transitional Council.

New blasts rock the Libyan capital

(Al Jazeera.net) - New blasts come as opposition forces try to regain control of Brega that has switched hands multiple times since March.

New blasts have rocked the Libyan capital as leader Muammar Al Qathafi vowed to remain in the land of his ancestors in the face of new calls for him to go and with rebels pressing their campaign to oust him.

At least 13 blasts were heard before and just after 2300 GMT on Saturday. An AFP journalist was unable to say immediately what the targets had been.

State television channel Al Jamahiriya reported that "the colonialist crusader aggressor," a reference to NATO, had raided civilian and military sites in the Ain Zara district and Tajoura in the eastern suburbs of Tripoli.

The television, quoting a military source, said there had been victims but did not give any figure.

Earlier on Saturday a Libyan medical official said 10 opposition fighters had been killed and 172 more wounded in an attack on a strategic eastern oil town controlled by forces loyal to Al Qathafi, the Libyan leader.

Mohammed Idris said that fighters entered the frontline town of Brega the night before and that government shelling and land mines killed the men.

He also said opposition forces had captured four government soldiers.

Brega, nestled at the southeastern tip of the Gulf of Sirte, has changed hands multiple times during Libya's civil war, which soon will enter its fifth month.

It was unclear whether any other government troops were killed and whether the fighting had advanced the opposition frontline.

"We are told that the bulk of the opposition fighters are some 20km outside of Brega, kept at bay with Grad rockets fired by Al Qathafi's fighters," Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from rebel-held Benghazi, said.

Brega's vast oil refinery and storage facilities could provide fuel and a much-needed income stream for the rebels.

A victory would also provide a major boost for rebel morale, which has been sagging amid months of stalemate.

Heavy clashes also broke out on Saturday at the frontline in the Western Mountains town of Bir Ghanem.

Anti-Al Qathafi fighters hold the high ground on the outskirts of the town, their closest position to Tripoli, just 80km away.

But the civil war has fallen into a stalemate, with the opposition forces unable to make significant advances, even while NATO bombs Al Qathafi's troops under a UN mandate to protect civilians.

Al Qathafi's speech

The battles in Brega and in Bir Ghanem took place on a day Libyan state television showed Al Qathafi addressing over phone a crowd in Az Zawiyah, in the country's northwest.

"I will die for my people, I will never leave my people. If you allow me to lead the fight, I will lead the fight and die for my country," he was heard saying.

"We need to go to Benghazi and Misurata to liberate it. The people are calling me, saying 'come and help us'. Families are telling us 'we are being used as human shields in Misurata, women are getting killed'.

"The Libyan people will die for its oil. We will not leave our oil for these gangs."

Al Qathafi described the opposition as worthless traitors and rejected suggestions that he was about to leave the country.

"They said Al Qathafi will go to Honolulu," he said. "This is funny: to leave the graves of my forefathers and my people? Are you serious?"

Loyalist positions

Earlier, Mohammed Zawi, an opposition military spokesman, told the AFP news agency that a light mobile force had breached loyalist positions around Brega late on Friday, before pulling back.

A group of about 50 reconnaissance troops entered the town from the north, then pulled back four kilometres before midnight, Zawi said.

The probing raid on the front-line between the east and the mainly government-held west came about 32 hours after the opposition command launched a three-pronged attack against Al Qathafi's forces, who were thought to have numbered about 3,000.

While the rebels' forward position to the north was four kilometres from the town centre, a second unit attacking from due east of Brega faced stiffer resistance.

"Most of Al Qathafi's troops seem to be at the centre," Zawi said.

Rebels were trying to dispose of more than 150 landmines already found outside the town, to make way for heavy artillery.

Detailing sorties carried out on Friday, NATO said key hits by its aircraft around Brega included one tank, a multiple rocket launcher, five armoured vehicles and seven armed vehicles.

In raids near the Libyan capital, Tripoli, aircraft took out a radar facility and a surface-to-air missile launcher, it said.

Contact Group boost

Libya's opposition received a boost on Friday from Istanbul, Turkey, where more than 30 nations - including the US - recognised their National Transitional Council (NTC).

The Contact Group on Libya recognised the NTC as "the legitimate governing authority in Libya" until an interim government is formed.

The Contact Group, which includes regional players as well as countries participating in the NATO-led air war, "encouraged" its members, in a final statement issued after the meeting in Istanbul, to release funds to the cash-strapped rebel administration.

It urged countries which have frozen Libyan assets under UN sanctions "to open credit lines to the NTC corresponding to 10 to 20 per cent of the frozen assets by accepting them as collateral".

Farhat Bengdara, Libya's former central bank governor, said on Saturday in Istanbul that a newly formed association of Libyan bankers was preparing recommendations to support the NTC in raising finance.

Bengdara, who defected in March, said the unofficial International Association of Libyan Bankers would offer support to the NTC in restructuring the Libyan banking sector.

Libyan rebels retake eastern oil town Brega

(Al Arabiya) - Libyan rebels on Saturday retook the eastern oil town of Brega after breaching its defences in a late night reconnaissance raid, Al Arabiya TV reported.

Rebel military spokesman Mohammed Zawi told AFP that a light mobile force had breached loyalist positions around Brega late on Friday, before pulling back for an offensive early on Saturday.

A group of around 50 reconnaissance troops entered the town from the north, then pulled back four kilometres (2.5 miles) before midnight (2200 GMT), Mr. Zawi said.

The probing raid on the front line between the rebel-held east and the mainly government-held west came some 32 hours after the rebel command launched a three-pronged attack against Col. Muammar Al Qathafi’s forces, who were thought to have numbered around 3,000.

It also followed a morale-boosting recognition by major powers of the rebel administration as the legitimate governing authority in Libya, during a meeting in Turkey on Friday.

Brega’s vast oil refinery and storage facilities - if intact - could provide fuel and a much-needed income stream for the rebels.

A victory would also provide a major boost for rebel morale, which had been sagging amid months of stalemate.

While the rebels’ forward position to the north was four kilometres from the town centre, a second unit attacking from due east of Brega faced stiffer resistance and was about 10-20 kilometres (six to 12 miles) from the town.

“Most of Al Qathafi’s troops seem to be at the centre,” Mr. Zawi said.

Rebels were trying to dispose of more than 150 landmines already found outside the town, to make way for heavy artillery.

But the assault took a bloody toll, with at least 10 dead and 172 wounded, according to medics.

At a hospital in nearby Ajdabiyah, Dr. Ahmed Dinari said most of the casualties were now caused by landmines rather than Mr. Al Qathafi’s heavy artillery, as earlier on in the offensive.

“We have had five more injuries this morning, all of them from mine explosions,” he said.

Lying prone in “Bed 2,” 19-year-old Ali Saleh said he had been in the central rebel column in the early hours of the morning when his armoured personnel carrier hit a mine.

“We were very close to Brega at around three in the morning. Then we got instructions from NATO to fall back and as we were falling back the vehicle hit a mine, destroying the chain track.”

He was suffering from shock and a lightly damaged knee.

To the south of the town, where the rebels had made initial gains but suffered large numbers of casualties, Mr. Al Qathafi forces had pushed back harder wounding many rebels with rocket fire.

Brega, nestled at the southeastern tip of the Gulf of Sirte, has changed hands multiple times during Libya’s civil war, which soon enters its fifth month.

Detailing sorties carried out on Friday, NATO said key hits by its aircraft around Brega included one tank, a multiple rocket launcher, five armoured vehicles and seven armed vehicles.

In raids near the Libyan capital Tripoli, aircraft took out a radar facility and a surface-to-air missile launcher, it said.

Southwest of the capital, a rebel checkpoint commander Shaban Aaboz said Al Qathafi troops had fired five missiles at their forces who responded with rockets.

“There has been no fighting in the valley (near to Qawlish); it is quiet. Mr. Al Qathafi’s forces have carried out several operations but they are sufficiently far from us not to pose any problems,” he added.

Qawalish has changed hands several time, the latest being on Wednesday when Al Qathafi forces briefly seized most of it back, only to be driven out later towards Asabah.

Another commander said rebel forces were still positioned near Asabah, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Tripoli and serving as the last barrier between the rebels and the garrison town of Gharyan.

“The position is secure; we are discussing with Asabah people how civilians can get out of town before we launch an assault,” said commander Mokhtar Lakhdar.

Rebels were buoyed on Friday by the news that in Istanbul the Contact Group recognized the rebels’ National Transitional Council as “the legitimate governing authority in Libya” until an interim government is formed.

A defiant Al Qathafi called the Contact Group’s recognition of the rebels “insignificant.” He said he could not imagine the day “the heroic Libyan people would be represented by a fistful of traitors who opened the doors of Benghazi to crusaders.”

NATO disputes Libyan claim of coordinated push on al-Brega

(CNN) - NATO sloughed off an assertion of the Libyan government on Friday that the alliance and anti-government rebels were carrying out a coordinated air, sea and land attack on the strategic town of al-Brega.

"NATO's mission is to prevent attacks and threats against civilians and that is what we are doing," the alliance said in a statement. "NATO has no military forces on the ground and no direct contact with opposition forces.

"However, we do receive information from allied sources in Libya. We take this information into account to ensure that our actions are consistent with our U.N.-mandated mission to protect civilians."

In an unexpected late-night appearance before a hastily assembled group of journalists, a Libyan government spokesman on Thursday called the attack "heavy, merciless and surprising."

CNN was not able to reach anyone from NATO or the rebel Transitional National Council, based out of the opposition-held eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, to confirm reports of the al-Brega attack.

The government spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, also issued a warning that he said he hoped would make headlines around the world.

"We will die for oil. We will kill for oil," Ibrahim said. "We will kill everyone who comes near our oil. Rebels, NATO, we don't care. We will defend our oil to the last drop of blood that we have."

His comments came shortly after Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi used similar imagery in pledging not to knuckle under to international demands that he cede the power he has held tightly for nearly 42 years, and instead said he would remain "until the last drop of my blood."

"It is impossible for me to leave my loyal people," he told an enthusiastic crowd numbering in the thousands in the western city of Agelat, in a speech that was broadcast over state television.

"I will remain with my people and with my firearm until the last drop of my blood. We will win over this unjust campaign. We will win over the campaign of colonization, the campaign of hatred."

After Al Qathafi spoke, dozens of young men dressed in civilian clothes and carrying shiny new Kalashnikov rifles in a crowded square fired their weapons into the air in celebration.

One of the participants in the pro-government demonstration said he had a message for Libyan rebels who have been fighting Al Qathafi's forces on three fronts: "I would tell our brothers in Misurata and Benghazi, stop the bloodshed," said Walid Khaila, a 22-year old medical student.

Libya has been riven by a civil war since shortly after peaceful anti-government protests in February were met by violent crackdowns by government forces. That prompted NATO forces in March to launch a campaign of airstrikes against government troops and command-and-control centres, as well as the Libyan leader's compound in Tripoli.

Al Qathafi said he would welcome warm relations with Europeans, who compose many of the NATO forces. "We want a strong relationship, cooperation and peace with the European people, and not with the war criminals, who must leave immediately," he said.

He added, though, that he and his followers are prepared to endure privation to ensure he remains the leader of Libya. "We are ready to live without electricity, without benzene, without buildings, and without air conditioning," he said. "But our firearms are in our hands to fight until the end."

Their statements came on the same day that Libya's prime minister warned Western governments they were looking at their last opportunity to engage in oil deals with Tripoli.

"Now is the last chance for any nation contributing to the aggression to review their policy," Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi said after meeting with top Libyan oil industry executives.

He said any future oil deals with Italy and its energy giant ENI were already off the table. Rome and Tripoli were close trading partners until the conflict erupted in Libya last winter. Tripoli has said that ENI alone invested tens of billions of dollars in Libya's oil and natural gas industry.

Italy scrapped a friendship treaty with Libya last February, in the wake of Colonel Muammar Al Qathafi's bloody crackdown on peaceful opposition demonstrators. Later, Italy joined the NATO bombing campaign of Al Qathafi's forces, after the United Nations Security Council passed two resolutions authorising the use of force to protect Libyan civilians.

Also Thursday, the United Nations reported it completed a four-day humanitarian assessment mission to the port city of Misurata, site of intense fighting in recent months. Though aspects of normalcy have returned to the city, it remains surrounded by government forces and exposed to intermittent rocket attacks, the world body said in a release.

Misurata is 210 kilometres (130 miles) east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean and, because of the government forces around it, can be reached only by sea.

Though some shops and markets have reopened, rising food prices, a shortage of supplies and a lack of cash mean that most residents have been short of food.

The World Food Programme said that, since April, it has distributed 2,634 metric tons of food in Misurata to 125,000 people.

Al Qathafi: Recognition of rebels 'worthless'

(UPI) - Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi, in a speech broadcast on state TV, told his supporters the international recognition of the rebels is "worthless."

An audio broadcast was transmitted Friday night after the Libyan Contact Group at a meeting in Turkey said the rebels are the country's legitimate government, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who attended the Istanbul meeting, said the United States joined in the move.

"Trample on those recognitions, trample on them under your feet. They are worthless," Al Qathafi said. "Their decisions, their recognition, they are all now under your feet. Stomp on them."

Britain announced Friday it is increasing its military support for the rebels. Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said four additional RAF Tornados equipped for aerial reconnaissance were being dispatched.

Twelve British aircraft were already participating in the NATO military effort to support the rebels.

Al Qathafi supporters rally for him in former rebel city

(CNN) - As fighting raged around the eastern Libyan oil town of al-Brega on Saturday, supporters of Muammar Al Qathafi's internationally isolated government staged a rally hundreds of miles to the west.

This was the third pro-Al Qathafi rally in as many days. Much like previous rallies in the towns of Zlitan and Ajilat, more than 10,000 portrait-waving demonstrators gathered amid a sea of green flags in Zawiyah's cratered and pock-marked central square.

But this time, there was a much larger security presence and members of the crowd were much more aggressive toward foreign journalists who were bussed into the city by government minders.

Zawiyah was the scene of intense fighting last winter, in the early days of the anti-Al Qathafi uprising that has left this country bitterly divided.

Al Qathafi's forces eventually succeeded in capturing the city. But months later, recovery appears to have barely begun in the war-torn heart of the city, less than a half-hour's drive from the Libyan capital.

Municipal buildings and a hotel overlooking the central square still stand gutted, windows broken and facades still singed by fires. A vacant lot filled with sand marks the spot where a government minder said a mosque once stood. The mosque was apparently completely bulldozed in the months since Zawiyah was re-captured.

Meanwhile, the rooftop of a conference centre was still littered with sandbags, bullet casings, several military helmets, and bottles stuffed with rags apparently for use as petrol bombs -- evidence that rebels fought from this roof before their defeat last winter.

The men, women and children who attended the rally, many of whom traveled by bus and car from nearby Tripoli, appeared fanatically devoted to Al Qathafi.

"Allah, Muammar (Al Qathafi), Libya only," chanted many men and women, some of whom beat their chests in devotion as they repeated the slogan.

For the third straight day, Al Qathafi addressed his supporters with an audio message that denounced the rebel-held enclaves in the west, centre and east of the country. He also denounced the foreign governments that recently declared the rebel Transitional National Council based in the eastern city of Benghazi as the sole legitimate government in Libya.

"You agents, you traitors, start looking for survival," Al Qathafi said, in comments that were simulcasted on Libyan state TV. "There will be no survival anywhere, get out of Benghazi, you traitors."

Saturday's rally looked like a victory celebration as well as a declaration to Libya and the rest of the world that Zawiyah was now firmly in Al Qathafi's hands.

But there were signs Al Qathafi's forces still had concerns about security in Zawiyah.

A CNN journalist driving through the city hours before the rally officially took place saw security forces lining up three men who had apparently been detained against a wall.

And the reinforced presence included soldiers and police who used their vehicles to block off side roads leading to the main road running through the city.

Heavy fighting reported in Libya

(Irish Times/Reuters) - Heavy clashes between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Al Qathafi broke out today in Libya's Western Mountains as insurgents sought to push towards Tripoli.

Sustained gunfire and volleys of artillery could be heard from the village of Bir Ayad, 15km south of the front line at the town of Bir Ghanem.

Rebels at Bir Ghanem hold the high ground on the outskirts of the town, their closest position to the capital, Tripoli, about 80km away.

Ahmed, a rebel fighter in Bir Ayad, said a convoy of about 15 vehicles from Al Qathafi's forces tried to approach Bir Ghanem, but the rebels fired at it and the convoy retreated after a about an hour of shooting.

Rebels in the Western Mountains have made progress in recent weeks after repelling assaults by Al Qathafi's forces. Their next goal is Gharyan, a town controls the highway south from Tripoli.

But the rebels have been hampered by divisions, ill-discipline and supply problems.

Away from the battlefield, Al Qathafi has sought to demonstrate that he enjoys widespread support in the areas he still controls. Libyan state television has broadcast footage of rallies attended by thousands of people in Tripoli and elsewhere.

Rebel leaders received a boost in their campaign to oust Col Al Qathafi yesterday when they won recognition as the legitimate government of Libya from the United States and other powers.

Western nations said they also planned to increase the military pressure on Col Al Qathafi's forces to press him to give up power after 41 years at the head of the North African state.

Recognition of the rebels, announced by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton at a meeting in Turkey of the international contact group on Libya, is an important diplomatic step that could unlock billions of dollars in frozen Libyan funds.

The decision came as reports circulated Col Al Qathafi had sent out emissaries seeking a negotiated end to the conflict, although he remains defiant in public.

In a speech last evening broadcast as thousands of his loyalists rallied in street demonstrations, Col Al Qathafi rejected international recognition of the rebels.

"Trample on those recognitions, trample on them under your feet," he told his supporters.

"They are worthless." He said he enjoyed the support of millions of Libyans who yearned for death, martyrdom and suicide.

The Istanbul conference attended by more than 30 countries and world bodies also agreed on a road map whereby Col Al Qathafi should relinquish power and plans for Libya's transition to democracy under the rebel National Transitional Council, or TNC.

"Until an interim authority is in place, the United States will recognise the TNC as the legitimate governing authority for Libya, and we will deal with it on that basis," Ms Clinton said.

The decision to recognise the rebels, who have been waging a five-month military campaign against Col Al Qathafi, meant the Libyan leader had no option but to stand down, Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said.

The UN secretary-general's special envoy to Libya, Abdul Elah al-Khatib, will be authorised to present terms for Col Al Qathafi to leave power, but Britain said military action against Col Al Qathafi would be stepped up at the same time.

The political package to be offered Col Al Qathafi will include a cease-fire to halt fighting.

In the rebels' stronghold of Misurata, the head of the local council, Khalefa Zawawi said:

"What happened today at the conference in Turkey was a boost for the National Transitional Council." British foreign secretary William Hague said that at the same time as Mr al-Khatib pursued a political settlement, "the military pressure on the regime will continue to intensify."

China and Russia, which have taken a softer line towards Col Al Qathafi, were invited to the contact group meeting for the first time, but decided not to become involved.

Libya rebels desperately short of funds

(LA Times) - Even as rebel commanders predict victory is near, the rebel leadership is short of cash to fight the rebellion and run civilian affairs. The lucrative oil industry has been shut down by the fighting.

In early April, Mazin Ramadan left his American wife and two children in Seattle and flew to this Libyan rebel stronghold to help the opposition sort out its shaky finances.

Three months later, things are looking as bleak as ever.

"We're broke," said Ramadan, a Libyan American who founded a software tech company in Seattle and advises the rebel Transitional National Council on finances and oil.

Even as rebel commanders predict that victory over Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi is near, the rebel leadership is desperately short of cash to fight the rebellion and run civilian affairs.

The lucrative Libyan oil industry, which normally earns billions of dollars in hard currency, has been shut down by the fighting.

Salaries for the rebel government's workers haven't been paid in two months. There is precious little cash to buy the imported fuel needed for the war effort and for the economy in eastern Libya, which the rebels control.

The council is beseeching Arab and Western nations to offer cash or credit.

"We're getting decimated on the financial front lines," Ramadan said this week.

As he spoke, the lights flickered and died in the conference room at a villa dating to the Italian colonial era that serves as a council office in downtown Benghazi. Fuel shortages have forced daily six-hour brownouts.

The council has been buying fuel in Europe on credit. But last week, a European financial company that had provided $500 million in loans told the council that it could no longer shoulder the risk and shut down the credit line.

About $100 million donated by Qatar has nearly been spent, Ramadan said, and $200 million promised by Turkey has yet to arrive. Several tankers loaded with fuel from Europe have left the Benghazi port without unloading after the council couldn't pay cash, he said.

The vast petrochemical complexes at Port Brega and Ras Lanuf, seized from the rebels by government forces this spring, have been shut down. Also closed is the natural gas pipeline that normally fuels electricity production in Benghazi and other eastern cities.

That means that rebel leaders in the country that is the world's 17th-largest producer of oil must import all their fuel. Several nations have promised to provide cash, Ramadan said, but only Qatar has delivered.

"We hear a lot of promises, but it's a lot easier to promise than to deliver," he said. "We don't count on it unless it's sitting in our account."

Ramadan said he is pursuing new credit lines. His two cellphones rang constantly as he spoke.

The council has sought loan guarantees backed by billions of dollars in frozen Libyan government assets overseas. But weeks of negotiations have failed to pry loose guarantees, Ramadan said.

In a July 7 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, four U.S. senators led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked Clinton to help unlock the assets for Libyan humanitarian aid.

The letter reminded Clinton of her recent promise to help put the rebel council "on firmer financial footing."

Rebel finances "are in a perilous state," the letter said.

The United States has authorized $25 million in nonlethal military assistance to the rebels and $53 million in humanitarian aid.

But Ramadan said loan guarantees backed by frozen Libyan assets would have a much bigger effect on the effort to topple Al Qathafi, a declared U.S. policy goal.

The main crisis in the east is financial, not humanitarian. Thanks to unusually heavy winter rains, eastern Libya is flush with grains, fruits and vegetables.

Many shops and restaurants have reopened in recent weeks, stocked with goods imported from Europe and the Middle East through rebel-controlled ports in Benghazi and Tobruk and overland through Egypt.

"Yes, we have food, but what good is it if people don't have the cash to pay for it?" said Mustafa Gheriani, a former council spokesman now in business.

Britain has rejected council requests to deliver 1.4 billion Libyan dinars ($1.15 billion) printed by a British company and impounded in London, Ramadan said.

Millions of dollars in cash reserves that were in the Libyan national bank branch in Benghazi when the eastern rebellion erupted in mid-February have been spent.

To conserve currency, banks that recently reopened in Benghazi now limit customers to monthly withdrawals of 200 Libyan dinars, equivalent to $165, Gheriani said.

Ironically, the one commodity people can still afford is gasoline, which sells for about 45 U.S. cents a gallon, cheaper than bottled water. The council has decided not to raise gasoline prices, which are set by the Libyan government.

"Cheap gas is considered a Libyan right," Ramadan said.

Ramadan, 43, was born in the United States but raised in Libya. After high school he returned to the U.S., earned a master's degree in computer science at Clemson University in South Carolina and has advised tech start-up companies in the U.S.

Finding ways to run a temporary government in a country starved of cash is far more challenging.

"We're surviving day to day," he said. "We're robbing Peter to pay Paul."

Al Qathafi's government faces even worse cash and fuel shortages. Gasoline lines stretch for blocks in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, and basic commodities are reportedly in short supply.

The Libyan leader had stockpiled 120 to 140 tons of gold, by some estimates, and is selling some to raise cash, Ramadan said. Al Qathafi also has stockpiles of cash, fuel and weapons but is being strangled by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation-enforced embargoes.

"Yes, things are critical here in the east," said Gheriani, the former council spokesman. "But things are even tougher in Tripoli. We just have to outlast them."

Libya Rebels Get Formal Backing, and $30 Billion

(NY Times) - The United States formally recognized the rebel leadership in Libya as the country’s legitimate government on Friday, allowing the rebel government access to $30 billion in Libyan assets held in the United States. It is not yet clear how and when the money would be released.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said at an international gathering held to discuss the Libyan conflict that Col. Muammar Al Qathafi’s government no longer had any legitimacy, and that the United States would join more than 30 countries in extending diplomatic recognition to the main opposition group, known as the Transitional National Council.

“We will help the T.N.C. sustain its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Libya,” Mrs. Clinton said, “and we will look to it to remain steadfast in its commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The decision by Washington not only increased diplomatic pressure on Colonel Al Qathafi to step down, but also held the prospect of funnelling money to rebels to propel an offensive that has proceeded in fits and starts.

American officials explained Saturday that the vast bulk of the roughly $30 billion of Libyan assets frozen by the United States was not liquid, since much of it consists of property.

About $3.5 billion of the sum is liquid, the officials said, and could be provided to the Transitional National Council over time.

Although the officials expressed hope that the newly recognised Transitional National Council would use the money for traditional public services - to pay for health care and electrical power, for example - one of the council’s immediate priorities is arming and training its fighters so they can finally defeat the forces loyal to Colonel Al Qathafi.

But even a major increase in financing for the rebel war effort is not expected to yield immediate results on the battlefield, according to senior officials involved in the NATO-led air campaign against Colonel Al Qathafi.

The rebels are severely lacking in training as well as equipment, and NATO has been frustrated by the rebels’ inability to organize themselves into a force strong enough to topple the government, even with thousands of airstrikes on Colonel Al Qathafi’s strongholds.

With a “no boots on the ground” policy in Libya, Western nations have found it hard to dislodge Colonel Al Qathafi from power, as his forces have dug in around the capital, Tripoli, and other strategic cities where he retains at least some support among the civilian populations.

Possibly reflecting their frustrations, several countries, including Britain and France, have sent arms, ammunition and other military supplies to the rebels in an effort to accelerate the development of their war-fighting capacity.

While the opening of the money spigots holds out some hope that the rebels can eventually turn the military tide against Colonel Al Qathafi, it has also raised concerns about controls on the money and the potential for corruption.

“The Transitional National Council, in its discussions today, did pledge that this assistance would be delivered in a transparent manner and that it would indeed be inclusive in how it was delivered to the Libyan people,” said Mark C. Toner, the State Department’s deputy spokesman.

Mr. Toner acknowledged that there was “a sense of urgency” in transferring funds to the rebel group, and he stressed that the Departments of State and Treasury would keep watch to ensure “that accountability and transparency and monitoring is in place.”

In the early stages of the war, Western nations were reluctant to extend recognition to the rebels, uncertain of who they were and worried about possible ties to Al Qaeda and other militant groups.

Over the months, though, those fears have been assuaged, and most nations are lining up behind the transitional government.

Mahmoud Shammam, a rebel spokesman, tried to address the concerns of Western nations, saying that the Transitional Council had “assured them in many ways that we are heading towards a democratic state, and with the support of allies, friends we would make that happen.”

Colonel Al Qathafi lashed back in a speech on Friday night, dismissing the significance of the broad recognition of the rebel government.

“Trample on those recognitions, trample on them under your feet,” he told thousands of supporters in a speech broadcast to a televised rally in the coastal city of Zlitan, news agencies reported. “They are worthless.”

The Transitional Council issued a statement after the Istanbul meeting emphasising Colonel Al Qathafi’s loss of legitimacy. It said: “Al Qathafi has not yet realised that Libyans have moved on.

"His rhetoric focuses on aggression and intimidation but no one is interested.

“We have had 42 years of looking over our shoulder in fear and now we want to face forwards in hope for a great Libya.”

One chronic problem for the anti-Al Qathafi coalition is that its various members have not always spoken with one voice, diplomats said.

The Istanbul meeting provided an opportunity, they said, to try to forge a consensus on the core elements of a Western negotiating position: what will happen to Colonel Al Qathafi and his family, the mechanics of a political transition and the formation of a unity government.

The intention of the gathering was also to stop Colonel Al Qathafi from trying to play one country off against another, by dealing separately with the French, the African Union, the Turks and the Russians, the diplomats said.

Some countries appear willing to have Colonel Al Qathafi and his family remain in Libya if they give up power either to the rebel council or to a new, negotiated national unity government. In other words, there seems to be a new distinction being made between giving up power and going into exile.

While everyone speaks of Colonel Al Qathafi’s “leaving” or “going,” they are much vaguer now about whether he must leave Libya, or whether leaving power is sufficient.

The Libyan government has made similar overtures in the past, with the proviso that Colonel Al Qathafi’s son Seif succeed his father - a condition that is absolutely unacceptable to the rebels, and to the Western powers.

How that fits with the indictment of Colonel Al Qathafi on war-crimes charges by the International Criminal Court, or with the United Nations Security Council resolution calling on all member states to bring him to trial, is unclear.

But as the war drags on in Libya, and Colonel Al Qathafi remains in power in Tripoli, there is more pressure to find a negotiated solution.

Matters seemed simpler in the rebel-held city of Zintan, on the high plateau of the mountains in western Libya, where a group of elderly men sat in the shade beside the main mosque.

They were buoyed by the news from Istanbul, which all of them had heard.

“The recognition of America has opened a door for us, from Africa to the world,” said one of them, Mohammed el-Judaya.

Beyond the geopolitics, the men made it clear that they still had practical concerns. Much of the mountainous area is short of food, fuel and water, phone service has been mostly cut off and the Al Qathafi forces are not far away. The war goes on, with life stalled and hardships ahead.

“We have no money for Ramadan,” which begins Aug. 1, said another man at the mosque, Muftah Benghazi. “This is difficult for us.”

Morgan Strong,
- Contributing Editor, New York