Libyan rebel fighters' eyes on Tripoli

Rebels say they ousted Gadhafi's forces from Qawalish several days agoThe small village is 90 miles south of Tripoli The fighters appear spirited, flashing victory signs and posing for photosAided by NATO strikes, they are hoping to unseat the longtime Libyan leader

Qawalish, Libya (CNN) -- Almost all civilians have fled the western Libya area around Qawalish, hoping to avoid the worst of the violence wracking the nation.

Yet there is a buzz around this village, which is in the hands of rebel fighters eager to defeat forces loyal to longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Their optimism and energy are matched, in many ways, by their inexperience.

When spotters on a rooftop spy vehicles they believe belong to the Libyan army, a rebel rocket team wipes off desert grit from their weapon, oils it up and fires -- their aim, at best, approximate.

The group's commander, Fahti, knows the opposition forces are in many ways overmatched.

"They have tanks. You hear that? Rockets," Fahti said. "They have mortars, all the heavy weapons."

Dressed in everything from military fatigues to polo shirts to T-shirts, the rebels are not the stereotypical picture of a modern fighting force. But despite their challenges, the rebels here have had success.

That includes, they say, driving Libyan forces several days ago out of the village 45 kilometers (90 miles) south of Tripoli, a key north-south route in the North African nation.

One fighter said Gadhafi's men are "very afraid" that rebels will soon take another big step forward by taking his home city of Gharyan, which is 45 kilometers to the north and just 100 kilometers south of the Libyan capital.

While strongest in the east near Benghazi, the opposition remains active around much of Libya.

A fighter named Mahmoud told CNN on Saturday that his comrades had conducted night raids and ambushes, for instance, around his native Zamiya, a coastal city still in the government's hands about 50 kilometers from Tripoli.

"But on the coast Gadhafi is strong, he has his people everywhere," Mahmoud said.

The opposition continues to get help in the form of NATO strikes. The alliance announced in a statement Saturday that it had struck a missile-firing position near Tawhurgha, south of Misrata, that it claims was tucked within a set of farm buildings.

Libyan forces used this area to attack civilians in nearby Misrata through missile strikes and as a staging area for attacks, NATO said.

In Qawalish, the rebels had some good fortune after coming upon an abandoned army base, and its boxes stacked almost to the ceiling with mortar and artillery rounds. The find was a welcome one for a force that, until recently, was struggling to muster the weaponry to keep up the fight.

Those rolling through checkpoints around the village are almost exclusively rebel fighters, drawn to the battlefront by their commitment to a common cause. Their enthusiasm appears strong as they drive by, crammed into the back of pickup trucks, smiling broadly and flashing victory signs.

And even with the sounds of war in the distance, some rebels pose for pictures -- victory photos, they hope, in their quest to end Gadhafi's 42 years in power.

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Gaddafi can stay in Libya if he quits: rebel chief (Reuters)

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi is welcome to live out his retirement inside Libya as long as he gives up all power, Libya's rebel chief said in the clearest concession the rebels have so far offered.

Gaddafi has resisted all international calls for him to go and said he will fight to the end, but members of his inner circle have given indications they are ready to negotiate with the rebels, including on the Libyan leader's future.

Gaddafi is still holding on to power, five months into a rebellion against his 41-year rule and despite a NATO bombing campaign and an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for crimes against humanity.

"As a peaceful solution, we offered that he can resign and order his soldiers to withdraw from their barracks and positions, and then he can decide either to stay in Libya or abroad," rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil told Reuters in an interview.

"If he desires to stay in Libya, we will determine the place and it will be under international supervision. And there will be international supervision of all his movements," said Jalil, who heads the rebels' National Transitional Council.

Speaking in his eastern Libyan stronghold of Benghazi, Abdel Jalil, Gaddafi's former justice minister, said he made the proposal about a month ago through the United Nations but had yet to receive any response from Tripoli.

He said one suggestion was that Gaddafi could spend his retirement under guard in a military barracks.

Abdel Jalil's remarks stirred an emotional reaction in Benghazi, with a small protest against any talks with Gaddafi breaking out outside a hotel, and the rebel council playing down any speculation about a widening rift among its leaders.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, a council vice chairman, told reporters an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Gaddafi had now made any such proposal null and

Meanwhile Turkey, which had close economic ties to Gaddafi before the uprising, recalled its ambassador from Tripoli, cut off diplomatic ties to Gaddafi's administration and pledged $200 million in aid for the rebels on Sunday. That was in addition to a $100 million fund announced in June.

The rebels say they need more than $3 billion to cover salaries and other needs over the next six months.

"Public demand for reforms should be answered, Gaddafi should go and Libya shouldn't be divided," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in Benghazi.

He added that Turkey saw the rebel council as the people's legitimate representative. The Official Gazette in Ankara announced the recall of the ambassador from Tripoli.

DEADLOCK

The conflict in Libya is close to deadlock, with rebels on three fronts unable to make a decisive advance toward the Libyan capital and growing strains inside NATO about the cost of the operation and the lack of a military breakthrough.

Previous attempts to negotiate a peace deal have foundered, but some analysts say Gaddafi's entourage -- if perhaps not the Libyan leader himself -- may look for a way out as air strikes and sanctions narrow their options.

Gaddafi's daughter Aisha said last week her father would be prepared to cut a deal with the rebels though he would not leave the country.

But his son, Saif al-Islam, rejected calls for his father to quit Libya as the price of peace.

"To tell my father to leave the country, it's a joke. We will never surrender . We will fight. It's our country," he told French TV channel TF1.

"We have to fight for our country and you are going to be legitimate targets for us," he said of Western powers that have led air strikes against Libyan government forces.

In an address to supporters on Friday, Gaddafi urged NATO to halt its bombing campaign or risk seeing Libyan fighters descend on Europe "like a swarm of locusts or bees."

Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi -- part of a hardline camp which has clashed with Saif al-Islam on policy in the past -- said the Libyan people did not want Gaddafi to go.

"You see everyone, from small children to old men, all of them love Muammar Gaddafi, they all love him," he told Al-Arabiya television channel when asked if the Libyan leader would step down.

Libya's Jana news agency said on Sunday Gaddafi had sent a message to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to mark Germany taking over the leadership of the U.N. Security Council, without giving further details. Germany said it had no knowledge of any such a letter.

On the battlefield, both sides continued to slug it out in a fight which has seen many casualties but, for the past few weeks, only small parcels of land changing hands.

A rebel spokesman in Misrata, about 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli, said two rebel fighters had been killed on the outskirts of the city, where they are struggling to push back government forces and advance on the capital.

"The (pro-Gaddafi) brigades heavily bombarded Dafniyah and Bourouia last night. Two revolutionaries were martyred and 12 others wounded," the spokesman, who identified himself as Oussama, said from Misrata.

On the front closest to Tripoli, in the Western Mountains region, NATO aircraft dropped leaflets on the government-controlled town of Garyan, warning residents to stay in their homes, said a rebel spokesman called Mohammed.

The alliance last week launched air strikes on the town, which lies on the edge of rebel-held territory.

The rebel spokesman also said there was fighting with heavy weapons on Saturday between rebels and government forces around the village of Ghezaya, in the mountains near the border with Tunisia.

AFRICAN PEACE PLAN

Western governments and the rebels had hoped that African Union leaders would use a summit this weekend to join international calls for Gaddafi to quit.

But they did not do that, and also agreed that the African Union's 53 member states would not execute the international arrest warrant for Gaddafi, according to a document seen by Reuters.

While that may irk the West, it does leave open the possibility that Gaddafi could end the conflict by opting for exile somewhere in Africa.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Erika Solomon and Isabel Coles in Dubai, Lamine Chikhi in Tripoli, Tarek Amara in Tunis and David Lewis in Malabo; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Alastair Macdonald)

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NATO says its aircraft hit Libyan rebel column (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO said on Saturday its aircraft carried out an attack on a column of military vehicles this week that Libyan opposition forces said injured 16 of its fighters.

Rebel spokesman Farag al-Moghraby said on Thursday the air strike took place near Ajdabiyah, eastern Libya, and that six rebel pickup trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns had been destroyed.

"NATO can now confirm that the vehicles hit were part of an opposition patrol," it said in a statement after investigating the rebel report of the incident.

"This incident occurred in an area of conflict between Gaddafi forces and opposition forces," it said.

"A column of military vehicles including tanks was observed in an area where Gaddafi forces had recently been operating. In a particularly complex and fluid battle scenario, it was assessed these vehicles were a threat to civilians and they were subsequently engaged by NATO aircraft."

NATO has been concentrating the air campaign it took over in Libya on March 31 on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces but says it will target any forces it judges a threat to civilians it is mandated to protect under a United Nations resolution.

The statement said NATO regretted injury or loss or life.

NATO accidentally struck rebel positions on several occasions early in the air campaign. It said at the time that the similar appearance and equipment of rebel and Gaddafi forces in the desert terrain made targeting difficult.

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NATO hits rebel forces in Libya (AP)

By ADAM SCHRECK and DON MELVIN, Associated Press Adam Schreck And Don Melvin, Associated Press – 2 mins ago

TRIPOLI, Libya – NATO said Saturday it mistakenly struck a column of Libyan rebel vehicles in an airstrike near an eastern oil town two days earlier and expressed regret for any casualties that might have resulted.

The alliance has accidentally hit rebel forces before in its air campaign to protect civilians in the civil war between Moammar Gadhafi's military and the fighters trying to end his more than four decades in power. The rebels have also complained that NATO's strikes have not helped them gain decisive momentum against the Libyan leader's better trained and equipped military, which still has firm control over most of western Libya. The rebels control much of the east.

The alliance statement gave no figures on casualties from Thursday's airstrike, but said it regreted "any possible loss of life or injuries caused by this unfortunate incident."

NATO said its forces spotted a column of military vehicles near the frequent flashpoint town of Brega where forces loyal to Gadhafi had recently been operating and hit them because they believed they posed a threat to civilians.

"NATO can now confirm that the vehicles hit were part of an opposition patrol," the statement said.

International military forces have had some trouble in hitting government troops because of their proximity to civilians. Gadhafi's troops have also used civilian vehicles, making them difficult to distinguish from rebel forces.

Earlier Saturday, NATO accused Gadhafi's forces of using mosques and children's parks as shields for his military operations and said the Libyan leader is "brutally attacking" his people.

At least two explosions shook the capital, Tripoli, Saturday as NATO jets soared above the city, hours after Gadhafi lashed out against airstrikes in a speech Friday night, insisting "NATO will be defeated." It was not immediately clear what had been hit or if any casualties were reported.

In Brussels on Saturday, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu dismissed Gadhafi's speech as "outrageous."

The alliance, which has a mandate to protect civilians, has been ramping up the pressure on Gadhafi's regime as a four-month uprising devolved into a civil war. Though most airstrikes happen under cover of darkness, daytime raids have grown more frequent.

Libya's Health Ministry released new casualty figures that put the number of civilians purportedly killed in NATO airstrikes through June 7 at 856. The figure could not be independently verified, and previous government-announced tolls from individual strikes have proven to be exaggerated.

Lungescu rejected the casualty figures.

"We are saving countless lives every day across the country," she said. "We are conducting operations with utmost care and precision to avoid civilian casualties. Civilian casualties figures mentioned by the Libyan regime are pure propaganda."

She also accused Gadhafi and his regime of "systematically and brutally attacking the Libyan people," saying government forces "have been shelling cities, mining ports and using mosques and children's parks as shields."

Lungescu's comments also countered allegations from Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, who accused NATO on Friday of a "new level of aggression" and said the military alliance has intentionally targeted civilian buildings in recent days, including a hotel and a university.

Defense officials in London on Saturday gave details of British airstrikes over the previous two days, indicating an upswing in fighting along the Tunisian border in the far west.

Maj. Gen. Nick Pope, chief of the Defense Staff's Communications Office, said British fighter jets destroyed three armed Libyan trucks and badly damaged a fourth in the mountainous region around the rebel-held city of Nalut.

Abdel Salam Othman Abou el-Qassam, speaking by phone from the operations room of rebel Western Mountain military council, said Gadhafi forces tried to advance Friday on Nalut. They cut electricity and water supplies, after pounding the city with mortar fire for several days.

The rebels blocked the advance, he said, in heavy fighting with hundreds of pro-Gadhafi fighters. Eight rebel fighters died.

A day earlier, Pope said, jets used Paveway guided bombs to destroy a convoy of four armed trucks 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Misrata. Rebels have been fighting for weeks to break out of the port city toward Tripoli, 125 miles (200 kilometers) to the west.

Officials took journalists Saturday to visit a university building that the government claims was hit by a NATO airstrike.

Students and faculty told reporters that an explosion that tore a hole in a three-story building housing classrooms and offices happened sometime midday Friday, though accounts differed on the timing.

One English-speaking student interviewed by The Associated Press was being told what to say in Arabic by a plainclothes government official standing nearby.

No one was reported injured or killed. The campus sits a few hundred yards (meters) from what appears to be a military installation. The building that was damaged was an aging concrete structure next to what students said were new university buildings under construction.

A coalition including France, Britain and the United States launched the first strikes against Gadhafi's forces under a United Nations resolution to protect civilians on March 19. NATO, which is joined by a number of Arab allies, assumed control of the air campaign over Libya on March 31.

Senior delegates from the Arab League, the European Union and the African Union along with envoys from the U.N. and the Organization of the Islamic Conference met in Cairo to review the developments in Libya.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said the NATO mandate is not about bringing down Gadhafi's regime and a political solution is urgently needed.

"The situation has gone beyond what was expected. It is only natural that we speed up the search for a political solution and achieving a cease-fire," he said.

___

Melvin reported from Brussels. Associated Press writers Hadeel al-Shalchi in Dafniya, Libya, and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report.

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Libyan troops shell western rebel positions (Reuters)

MISRATA/KIKLA, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces shelled rebel positions in the Western Mountains on Wednesday, insurgents said, after rebels edged closer to the capital on three fronts.

A rebel spokesman, called Kalefa, in the town of Nalut said there were no casualties from the shelling.

"Gaddafi's forces bombarded Nalut ... Over 20 Grad rockets landed in the town. They bombarded from their positions ... around 20 km (12 miles) east of Nalut," he said, adding that they had also shelled the Wazin-Dehiba Tunisia border crossing.

The rebels have made advances in key areas in recent days but they have a way to go if they are to successfully march on Gaddafi's well-defended territory.

Fighting was subdued on Wednesday as rebels held positions toward Zlitan, east of Tripoli, and on other fronts.

NATO war planes bombed Tripoli on Tuesday night, causing loud explosions that filled the sky with plumes of smoke, but there were no further reports of bombing on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the rebels tried to advance in the east, setting their sights on the oil town of Brega to extend their control over the region, epicenter of the four-month rebellion against Gaddafi's four-decade rule.

In a sign that Gaddafi's forces may be getting stretched, the rebels seized the town of Kikla, 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Tripoli. They also pushed several kilometers west of their Misrata stronghold to the outskirts of government-held Zlitan.

A Reuters correspondent with the rebels said there were no further advances in the region on Wednesday.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron in London to discuss the nearly three-month-old operation, which has so far failed to oust Gaddafi or enable the rebels to capture Tripoli.

NATO defense chiefs met in Belgrade to discuss the mission on Tuesday. Ties are straining in the alliance, with some reluctant to commit additional resources needed to sustain the bombing mission in the coming months.

A senior NATO commander appeared to raise questions about the alliance's ability to handle a long-term intervention.

"We are conducting this operation with all the means we have ... If the operation were to last long, of course, the resource issue will become critical," General Stephane Abrial said.

Saad Djebbar, a former legal adviser to the Libyan government, told Reuters Gaddafi would continue to play for time and seek to demoralize and splinter the coalition.

"Gaddafi's mentality is that as long as my enemies haven't triumphed, I haven't lost," he said.

"The U.S. stance, that the major outside role should be played by the Europeans and Arabs, sends the wrong signal. Gaddafi will be very encouraged by it. His line is 'We are steadfast'. We can wait it out.'"

He said Gaddafi would be active in supplying Tripoli with food and fuel during Ramadan in August, to ward off revolution.

"The concerns being raised in the British parliament and the U.S. Congress, including questions like 'why are we spending so much?', will be of comfort to him."

NATO spokesman Major General Nick Pope said air strikes had destroyed three ammunition bunkers in Waddan and that NATO ships were patrolling the Libyan cost to enforce the arms embargo.

AUSTRIA OVERTURE TO REBELS

Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger will on Sunday visit the rebels in Benghazi to offer "concrete support," his office said, the latest in a string of such visitors.

Austria's oil and gas firm OMV used to get 10 percent of its oil, about 33,000 barrels per day, from Libya but says it has not had contact from either side since the conflict.

The rebel push to Kikla followed weeks of deadlock between the rag-tag rebel army and government forces, though air strikes by NATO have taken their toll on Gaddafi's better-equipped troops.

The rebels said a NATO leaflet warning of helicopter strikes had prevented them from pushing toward the town of Zlitan on Tuesday, and had prompted some rebels to retreat from their newly-captured positions about 10 km (6 miles) outside the city toward their base in Misrata, east of Tripoli.

A NATO official said the alliance dropped the leaflets west of Misrata, and closer to Zlitan.

A Reuters correspondent in Misrata said there were no further advances toward Zlitan on Wednesday.

A rebel leader in the Mediterranean port city said the oil refinery there was still out of action after Gaddafi's forces shelled it on Monday, but petrol stations were working.

"The oil refinery ... will resume again soon," said Khalifa Zuwawi, chairman of the transitional council in Misrata.

Even without the threat of NATO attack, the rebels said they would not attack Zlitan, citing tribal sensitivities. Instead they would wait for the local inhabitants to rise up.

A NATO official said warplanes had hit an ammunition store at Waddan, not far from Al Jufrah, after Libyan television said Al Jufrah, in central Libya, had been bombed for a second day.

(Additional reporting by Nick Carey in Tripoli, William Mcclean in London, Sylvia Westall in Vienna, Maria Golovnina in Benghazi, Sami Aboudi in Cairo, Souhail Karam in Rabat and Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algers; writing by Tim Cocks and John Irish; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Libya rebel boss pushes for recognition

Washington (CNN) -- A top Libyan opposition leader was urging formal U.S. recognition at the White House on Friday, a day after the interim council secured strong support from Britain.

Mahmoud Jibril's meetings with top Obama administration officials came as the Italian foreign minister raised the possibility that embattled leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi has been injured.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said he did not have any evidence as to Gadhafi's fate, but Monsignor Giovanni Martinelli, the Catholic archbishop of Tripoli, told him that Gadhafi was wounded, the Italian ANSA news agency reported. Martinelli said Gadhafi was most likely not in Tripoli anymore, Frattini said.

However, Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said Friday that Ghadafi was in "good health and high spirits" in Tripoli.

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Four rockets struck Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound Thursday and killed at least three people, according to a Libyan government official. The Libyan government took journalists near the site of the blast, from where smoke could be seen still rising from the compound.

NATO military spokesman Mike Bracken said NATO had struck a command and control center but did not know whether anyone was inside.

Libyan state television broadcast video late Wednesday that it said showed Gadhafi meeting with tribal elders in a Tripoli hotel, marking the strongman's first public appearance in nearly two weeks.

The camera panned from a television program bearing the date of May 11 to the group of more than a dozen men, including Gadhafi.

Gadhafi, wearing sunglasses and dark clothing, had not been seen on television since April 30, the same day a NATO airstrike hit the Tripoli compound reportedly housing him and one of his sons. Libyan officials said at the time that Saif al-Arab Gadhafi was killed but that his father had escaped.

In Washington, Jibril said he intended to clear up "misperceptions" about extreme elements in the opposition and ask the Obama administration for formal U.S. recognition of Libya's Transitional National Council.

"We need the recognition as the sole legitimate interlocutor of the Libyan people," said Jibril, the interim prime minister of council, who was meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and national security adviser Tom Donilon.

In talks Thursday with the council's chairman, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, British Prime Minister David Cameron invited the group to establish a formal office in London. Cameron said Britain would also boost its presence in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital.

The United States has not recognized the opposition formally, although it has provided aid. Italy and France have recognized the opposition group.

As the opposition sought greater support, the International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Netherlands said it will unveil Monday the names of those who are "most responsible for crimes allegedly committed in Libya."

The names will be submitted to the court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who has been seeking warrants for three individuals in crimes against humanity allegedly committed since February, when the Libyan uprising erupted.

Gadhafi has been firm in his attempt to retain power in Libya. Loyalist forces and rebel fighters, aided by NATO airstrikes, have been fighting each other for weeks.

The bloodshed continued Friday.

Libyan state television reported Friday that NATO airsrikes hit a guest house in the eastern oil town of al-Brega, killing 11 people and injuring about 45 others.

Ibrahim condemned the attack, calling NATO "barbaric" and inhumane" in its actions for striking attendees of a religious conference while they were asleep. He showed a video that showed the imams in prayer and then bodies being taken away.

"Now is this protection of civilians?" Ibrahim asked. "Is this legitimate under any Security Council resolution to kill people in their sleep?"

NATO's military office confirmed that NATO conducted an air strike in al-Brega earlier Friday but said the target was clearly identified as a command and control structure, which was being used by Gadhafi regime to coordinate attacks against the civilian population.

And Ahmed Bani, a rebel military spokesman, denied that civilian casualties were caused by NATO strikes.

All civilians have left the al-Brega area, Bani said. The remaining population are pro-Gadhafi forces and have taken up positions in civilian neighborhoods, hiding equipment and ammunition, he said.

In the contested western city of Misrata, a doctor said rebels were able to maintain control of the airport and a civil defense base beyond the airport.

The doctor said that at least 10 people, including two babies, were killed and at least 20 were injured Friday in sporadic shelling.

A rebel spokesman, who asked to be identified only as Mohamed, also said rebels were controlling Misrata's airport and civil defense base, which are about 17 kilometers (10 miles) from the city center.

In Jibril's first official visit to Washington, the opposition leader is scheduled to meet Friday with Donilon as well as other senior administration officials and members of Congress.

Jibril said Thursday that the United States should turn over some of Libya's frozen assets to his group because "a human tragedy is in the making right now." He said Libyan rebels are facing a "big hurdle" in getting the U.S. government to free up some of the $30 billion-plus in frozen Libyan assets to help those suffering under Gadhafi's regime.

"Time is the crux of the matter, because having solved this problem in a matter of four or five weeks might be too late," Jibril told a group gathered at the Brookings Institution.

He said he wanted to clarify a misunderstanding about the council: that it was not a political organ but an administrative one that was managing the situation in Libya until the fall of Gadhafi's regime.

"The political question of who should rule Libya and how he or she should rule it, this is for the Libyan people to decide through a political democratic process based on constitutional grounds, based on an active civil society, based on equal rights and natural human rights for everybody," he said.

In March, Jibril met privately with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she was in Paris for a meeting with the Group of Eight foreign ministers. At the State Department on May 5, Clinton said, "Clearly on our agenda is looking for the most effective ways to deliver financial assistance and other means of supporting and helping the opposition."

CNN's Amir Ahmed contributed to this story.

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Pro-Gadhafi forces hit rebel fuel depots

Libyan rebel fighters attempt to put out a fire Saturday at a fuel depot in Misrata.NEW: Libyan rebels say Italy has agreed to arm themNEW: Italy denies such a dealMissiles destroy six fuel containers in Misrata, says rebel spokesmanThe fuel there was used for electricity and generators

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces bombed key fuel depots in the contested city of Misrata Saturday, destroying six containers and causing a massive fire, a rebel spokesman said.

Meanwhile, in the de facto rebel capital, Benghazi, the Libyan opposition said Italy has agreed to arm the rebels.

Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of the National Transitional Council, said opposition representatives have flown to Italy to finish the deal.

The Italian Foreign Ministry categorically denied it will send weapons to Libya. A press office spokesman said Italy will only go as far as sending non-lethal weapons such as satellite and radar systems to aid the rebels.

The rebels, intent on winning on the ground without foreign troops, have been asking for arms supplies as a grinding war rages in cities like Misrata.

Three green helicopters with the internationally recognized symbols of the Red Cross and Red Crescent were seen flying over Misrata's port early Saturday, said rebel spokesman Ahmed Hassan. He said Gadhafi's forces are using aid helicopters to bomb the city.

The fuel depots were located 2 kilometers from the port. The oil stored there was used for electricity and generator plants.

"We lost a lot of fuel which is used for the daily life of the city," Hassan said.

Misrata, the only city in western Libya held by the rebels, has been the scene of heavy fighting for weeks as Gadhafi's forces try to reclaim control.

The international community has accused Gadhafi of attacking his own citizens and NATO took control of airstrikes in late March to protect Libyans.

NATO said it struck ammunition facilities in the Misrata area Friday as well as other military targets in Tripoli, Zintan, Mizdah, Sirte, Ras Lanuf and al-Brega.

As time wears on, human rights groups have expressed increasing concern for besieged Libyans in Misrata.

Ealier this week, Amnesty International said Gadhafi's attacks in the port city may amount to war crimes.

A report issued by the monitoring group accused pro-Gadhafi forces of the "unlawful killing of civilians due to indiscriminate attacks, including use of heavy artillery, rockets and cluster bombs in civilian areas and sniper fire against residents."

It also documented "systematic shooting at peaceful protesters and enforced disappearance of perceived opponents, which can amount to crimes against humanity."

The scale of the relentless attacks that we have seen by Gadhafi forces to intimidate the residents of Misrata for more than two months is truly horrifying," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's senior adviser who is currently in Libya.

CNN's Mitra Mobasherat and Amir Ahmed and journalist Livia Borghese contributed to this report.

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Car bomb explodes at rebel headquarters in Libya

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The general in charge of Libya's rebel forces says a car bomb exploded in front of their headquarters in northeast Benghazi.

A rebel fighter stands guard at a check point in the town of Al-Mekheili on Tuesday.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Younis says no one was injured, but an APTN cameraman saw a person with an arm cut by shattered glass.

The blast apparently blew out windows in a high-rise near Benghazi courthouse, where the rebel committee has its headquarters.

Younis visited the courthouse to assess damage late Tuesday. He said it was the first car bomb to explode in the rebel capital.

Forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi also shelled a rebel supply route and a besieged opposition stronghold in western Libya on Tuesday, even as the embattled Libyan leader's international isolation deepened with a demand by Turkey that he resign now.

Turkey is a key regional mediator and in the past tried to nudge Gadhafi to meet demands for change from the opposition. However Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan adopted a much tougher stance Tuesday, saying that Gadhafi must "immediately step down."

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron said the international community will act with determination to enforce U.N. resolutions calling for the protection of Libyan civilians. "And that means continuing to turn up the pressure (against the regime) ? sanctions pressure, diplomatic pressure and military pressure," Cameron told parliament.

NATO said its warplanes would keep up the pressure on Gadhafi's regime for as long as it takes to end the violence in the North African nation. Italian Navy Vice Adm. Rinaldo Veri said, having disrupted the regime's ground forces on the front lines, NATO was now focusing on cutting Gadhafi's lines of communications with his troops.

The bombing by a U.S.-led international force started seven weeks ago. NATO took over command of aerial operations at the end of March. The bombing campaign has stymied Gadhafi's efforts to retake rebel territory, but the ill-trained and badly equipped opposition has been unable to press the advantage and make advances against government forces.

Rebels in western Libya, reached by telephone, said loyalist forces fired dozens of rockets at a road Tuesday to disrupt supplies transported from Tunisia through the rebel-controlled Dhuheiba border crossing to rebel towns in a nearby mountain area of Libya. Shelling has caused the road to intermittently close.

The Libyan leader has been fighting rebels in the east of his vast oil-rich nation since an uprising against his rule began in February. His forces control most of western Libya save for a string of villages along the mountainous western border and the port city of Misrata.

In Misrata, under siege by Gadhafi's forces for two months, fighting continued on the city's edges, where regime loyalists have taken up positions. The two sides fired shells, and medics reported one dead and 22 wounded, most of them rebel fighters. Late Monday, loud booms from NATO airstrikes were heard, and the intensity of fighting appeared less on Tuesday than in previous days when regime forces pounded the city with shells, rockets and mortars.

The U.N. refugee agency, meanwhile, said Tuesday that fighting in the Libya-Tunisia border region has caused an uptick in the number of civilians fleeing Libya into southern Tunisia after a brief interruption last week.

UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said some 8,000 people, mostly ethnic Berber women and children, arrived in Dhuheiba over the weekend. Migrants, many from sub-Saharan Africa, are also crossing the Mediterranean to Italy again, he said.

The U.N. envoy to Libya, Abdelilah Al-Khatib told the Security Council that more than 665,000 people have now fled Libya since the fighting began.

"As hostilities in the Nafusa/Western mountains continue, fighting in Zintan, Nalut and around Wazin has led to around about 39,000 people crossing into Tunisia to date, and more than 21,500 since April 21," he said, adding that there was fighting in the southeastern oasis town of Jalu as well.

About 3,200 people arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa during the past five days.

Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration said it was desperately trying to get permission from NATO for its ship, the Red Star One, to dock at Misrata so that it can evacuate some 1,000 migrants and wounded civilians from the city.

Misrata, a city of some 300,000 people, has been besieged by Gadhafi troops for two months, leaving it entirely dependent on food and medical supplies arriving from the sea. The city has also been intensively shelled by loyalist troops.

IOM spokesman Jumbe Omari Jumbe said NATO was holding back permission for the ship to dock even as 36 people need urgent evacuation. He did not know the reason for the delay.

Nine of the 36 were in Misrata hospital's seven-bed intensive care unit, and two seriously ill civilians have died while waiting for the ship to pick them up, he said.

"We are going to hang on until there is a clear indication that we can't go in," Jumbe said.

He said 23 journalists were also hoping to leave Misrata with IOM's help.

For his part, al-Khatib of the U.N. said the International Office of Migration has evacuated about 12,000 people, mostly third country nationals, from Misrata and estimates that a further 500-1,500 people need to be evacuated.

Outside pressure for Gadhafi to resign significantly increased on Tuesday. Erdogan told a news conference in Istanbul that Gadhafi has ignored calls for change in Libya and instead preferred "blood, tears and pressure against his own people."

"Gadhafi must take a historic step and withdraw, for the future of Libya, its peace and prosperity," he said.

Turkey initially balked at the idea of military action in Libya, but citing its responsibilities as a NATO member it took part in the enforcement of an arms embargo on Libya while volunteering to lead humanitarian aid efforts.

Turkey has vast trade interests in Libya, where Turkish companies have been involved in lucrative construction projects worth billions of dollars, building hospitals, shopping malls and five-star hotels before the uprising and resulting chaos began.

The Swiss government, for its part, said Monday it had identified 360 million Swiss francs ($415 million) of potential assets to be frozen belonging to Gadhafi or his entourage.

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McCain Travels to Libya to Meet With Rebel Forces

Associated Press

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WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in Congress of the U.S. military intervention in Libya, is heading to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi for a meeting with forces fighting to overthrow Muammar Qaddafi, an aide told The Associated Press.

McCain was scheduled to arrive in Benghazi on Friday, said Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the senator.

The visit by McCain was shrouded in secrecy due to heightened security for the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee in a country fiercely divided by the 2-month-old anti-Qaddafi rebellion.

McCain's trip comes as Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday that President Barack Obama has authorized armed Predator drones against forces loyal to Qaddafi. It is the first time that drones will be used for airstrikes since the United States turned over control of the operation to NATO on April 4.

The rebels have complained that NATO airstrikes since then have largely been ineffective in stopping Qaddafi forces.

Invoking the humanitarian disasters in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s, McCain pressed for U.S. military intervention in Libya in February, weeks before the U.N. Security Council authorized military action to protect civilians and impose a no-fly zone.

When Obama acted with limited congressional consultation, McCain defended the president, saying he couldn't wait for Congress to take even a few days to debate the use of force. If he had, "there would have been nothing left to save in Benghazi," the rebels' de-facto capital.

But as the U.S. handed operational control over to NATO -- and withdrew U.S. combat aircraft -- McCain criticized the administration.

"For the United States to withdraw our unique offensive capabilities at this time would send the wrong signal," McCain said. He said the U.S. must not fail in Libya and said he spoke as someone experienced in a lost conflict, a reference to his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

McCain also has pushed for arming the rebels, saying the U.S. and its partners cannot allow Qaddafi to consolidate his hold on one section of the country and create a military deadlock.

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