Gaddafi 'attacking civilians' despite allied military action

THE head of US forces in Libya claimed yesterday that Col Muammar Gaddafi was continuing to attack civilians despite the allied military intervention.

Adml Samuel Locklear, who has joint responsibility for enforcing the no-fly zone, said that, according to US intelligence, Gaddafi had launched attacks on the rebel-held western city of Misrata, where four children were reportedly killed by shelling yesterday.

"It's my judgment that, despite our success, Gaddafi and his forces are not yet complying with the UN resolution due to the continued aggressive actions his forces have taken against the civilian population of Libya," he said.

His comments followed reports that Misrata was under siege by Gaddafi's forces. Tanks and snipers have been deployed to the city centre, killing more than 40 people and injuring 300.

Doctors described desperate scenes as hospitals struggled to cope with the number of injured. Surgeons were forced to operate on bullet and shrapnel wounds in hospital corridors because of a lack of space.

One doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "They are talking about a ceasefire, they are talking about a no-fly zone, for me that does not mean anything. My people here are under attack.

"In my hospital here, we have no electricity and we work with a generator. We are relieved to hear about the air strikes and the coalition forces, but on the ground we are dying every day."

Another doctor said: "Snipers are everywhere in Misrata, shooting anyone who walks by while the world is still watching. The situation is going from bad to worse. We can do nothing but wait. Sometimes we depend on one meal per day."

The dead children, two boys and two girls, were reportedly being driven out of the city when their car was hit by a shell. The oldest was 13.

"It's horrible. Their father has collapsed and is in total shock," said Saadoun, a resident.

Shelter

Gaddafi's forces were also trying to seize the western town of Zintan, near the Tunisian border, and launched attacks using heavy weapons. Many residents have already fled the town centre to seek shelter in mountain caves.

Several houses and a mosque minaret were destroyed by shelling.

Abdulrahmane Daw, a resident, said: "New forces were sent today to besiege the city. There are now at least 40 tanks at the foothills of the mountains near Zintan."

There was also fighting in the rebel-held town of Yafran, south-west of Tripoli, where at least nine people were reported to have died. One resident said: "We had been waiting for the coalition to stop the advance of Gaddafi's battalion.

"In the absence of such an intervention, the regime wanted to take the city quickly by bombarding it and carrying out massacres."

Despite the international intervention, the rebels had made little progress yesterday, raising concerns about their organisation and leadership. In eastern Libya they remained stationed outside Ajdabiyah, having made no further advance on the strategic town.

Ahmed al-Alroufi, a rebel fighter, said: "Gaddafi has tanks and trucks with missiles. We don't depend on anyone but God, not France or America. We started this revolution without them through the sweat of our own brow, and that is how we will finish it."

Adml Locklear added that Qatar's air forces would be "up and flying" by the weekend, making it the first Arab state to help enforce the no-fly zone. (? Daily Telegraph, London)

- Steven Swinford in Misrata

Irish Independent

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Gaddafi son 'dies in attack'

ONE of Muammar Gaddafi's sons is believed to have been killed in an air strike on the Libyan leader's compound in the heart of Tripoli.

Khamis Gaddafi, the dictators's sixth son, died in the attack which destroyed a three-storey administrative building, according to Arab newspaper reports.

Conflicting reports suggested that he was killed when a Libyan pilot deliberately crashed his plane into a barracks, but this claim was denied by sources in the capital.

Coalition forces bombarded Libya for a third straight night last night, targeting the air defences and forces loyal to Libyan ruler Col Gaddafi, stopping his advances and handing some momentum back to the rebels, who were on the verge of defeat just last week.

US President Barack Obama said the United States expects to hand over military leadership to its allies within days once the initial phase -- knocking out air defences to support the no-fly zone -- is complete.

However, Libyan anti-aircraft guns were in action in Tripoli for the third night, suggesting that the coalition was still some distance from the effective no-fly zone that it is aiming to achieve.

And ground forces loyal to Col Gaddafi were still fighting to gain and hold territory. They launched a fresh onslaught on Misrata, the last rebel stronghold in the western part of the country. Residents said water supplies had been cut off and government troops had encircled the city.

One resident suggested that the pro-Gaddafi forces were deploying human shields from nearby towns in the city, and claimed that when civilians had gathered in the centre of the town to confront the forces, they "started shooting at them with artillery and guns. The hospital told us that at least nine people were killed".

The British RAF backed up the claim that human shields were being deployed throughout Libya, admitting that a 3,000-mile mission to bomb Libya was aborted minutes from the targets on Sunday night because of reports that civilians were in the area.

INNOCENT

Major General John Lorimer, strategic communications officer to the British Chief of Defence Staff, said the decision to call the mission off illustrated the coalition's determination to "take all measures possible to reduce the chance of harming innocent civilians".

It remained unclear whether Col Gaddafi was using them as human shields.

The British Ministry of Defence denied reports that Royal Marines from 40 Commando had been put on five days' notice to leave for the Mediterranean.

In Cairo yesterday, Libyans infuriated by the international military intervention blocked the path of the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon, after his meeting with the Arab League secretary-general, Amr Moussa, who has been increasingly restive about the western attacks to impose a no-fly zone that his organisation backed 11 days ago.

The Libyans, carrying pictures of Col Gaddafi and banners criticising the intervention, stopped Mr Ban from walking round Tahrir Square, the scene of the protests which toppled Hosni Mubarak and helped to stimulate the uprising in Libya itself.

Meanwhile, four 'New York Times' journalists who had been held for six days after being detained in the east of the country were released yesterday. Bill Keller, executive editor of the newspaper, said that the paper was "overjoyed".

- Donald Macintyre in Tripoli

Irish Independent

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The hunt for Gaddafi

ALLIED forces were last night trying to establish the location of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi after the Libyan leader went underground amid the massive bombardment of his country.

Col Gaddafi disappeared from Bab al-Azizia, his compound in central Tripoli, as Libya was plunged into a second night of military conflict.

His disappearance could mean he has left the compound to evade probable attack, or could represent a double-bluff to fox the coalition.

The Libyan leader tried to prevent a second wave of air strikes by announcing another ceasefire from 7pm yesterday, but American F-16 fighters took off from Italian air bases within an hour amid widespread scepticism over the announcement.

Anti-aircraft fire was heard in Tripoli over Col Gaddafi's residence and the American authorities broadcast warnings to local residents to not interfere with the military operation.

Loud explosions were heard in the Libyan capital last night and a plume of smoke was reported to be coming from near the dictator's home.

Yesterday, an increasingly erratic Col Gaddafi initially refused to back down following the first round of air strikes from the UN-backed allies, declaring that he was arming more than one million of his people for a "long war".

However, as the second round began a spokesman for the Libyan military issued a statement ordering all units in the country to observe a ceasefire.

It is only likely to become clear today whether the ceasefire is genuine, or is the "sham" that last week's ceasefire has emerged to be.

"I question anything Gaddafi says," a spokesman for the US Pentagon said.

"He called a ceasefire last week then ordered his troops in to Benghazi."

Col Gaddafi's defiance led to suggestions that British ground forces might need to be deployed. Admiral Mike Mullen, the head of the US armed forces, warned of a potential stalemate as he admitted he was unclear of the "endgame".

British Defence Secretary Liam Fox raised the possibility that Col Gaddafi could be personally targeted in air strikes.

Senior British defence sources insisted no plans were being drawn up to send in forces on the ground but several ministers refused to rule out the possibility.

Foreign Secretary William Hague indicated ground forces could be used for specific missions under the terms of the UN mandate, providing they did not become an "occupying force".

US President Barack Obama has already ruled out the use of the American military and British Prime Minister David Cameron is likely to come under pressure today to clarify the UK's terms of involvement in the international mission.

The coalition suffered its first diplomatic blow yesterday when the Arab League criticised the operation, expressing concern about a "bombardment" rather than the enforcement of a no-fly zone. Russia and China also condemned the attack.

On Saturday, forces from the US, Britain, France and Canada launched a series of bombing raids on Libyan airfields, tanks and air defence systems. Qatari and Italian planes were due to join the offensive last night.

More than 110 cruise missiles were fired from ships and submarines to destroy dozens of tanks and aircraft.

Commanders said most of Libya's military air capacity was destroyed with few, or no, civilian casualties.

Senior military officials said they were "entirely comfortable" with the success of the attacks, which had struck "high-value targets" in Tripoli and other parts of Libya.

Adm Mullen said Col Gaddafi was no longer able to deploy helicopters and aircraft, meaning that "effectively the no-fly zone has been put in place".

However, he warned that the dictator could use chemical weapons, including a "significant quantity" of mustard gas in the Libyan desert.

Yesterday afternoon, there were reports that regime forces had entered the coastal town of Misrata. The regime was also said to be using civilians as "human shields" around key military sites.

Residents reported that Col Gaddafi's tank commanders had pushed through to the centre of the city, triggering clashes that had caused dozens of casualties. A spokesman for the rebels said: "There are so many casualties we cannot count them. He is using a scorched earth strategy. Burning and destroying everything in his way."

This presents coalition forces with a dilemma as air force cannot easily be used to stop Libyan aggression in dense urban areas without the risk of large numbers of civilian casualties.

- Robert Winnett and Damien McElroy

Irish Independent

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Gaddafi declares ceasefire but regime's bombs keep falling

THE WARPLANE streaked across the sky, emerging through low clouds as its missiles landed, orange flames rising under dark plumes of smoke.

A few minutes later came shattering volleys of artillery shells and rockets, announcing that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces were moving forward.

This was Libya's eastern front line, two hours and six minutes after the regime in Tripoli had officially declared a ceasefire following the UN resolution authorising military action in Libya.

In the west, tanks from Colonel Gaddafi's forces rolled into the town of Misrata, the last remaining pocket of resistance in the region, where forces shelled homes, hospitals and a mosque, killing six people, according to local doctors who pleaded that a blockade be lifted, allowing supplies of medicine and food to get in.

Last night, there were reports that instead of withdrawing from cities they had occupied, as US President Barack Obama had demanded, Colonel Gaddafi's forces were advancing further towards Benghazi, the eastern rebel stronghold.

Celebrated

The day had started with the promise of a new beginning Libya. People in what remains of 'Free Libya' celebrated the UN resolution, which they hoped would be their deliverance from Colonel Gaddafi's threat that they would be shown "no mercy".

Then came the announcement that he had ordered a cessation of hostilities and offered negotiations. But there was little joy at the news. Few in the crowds thronging Benghazi believed that peace was about to break out.

Many queued to implore the international community, which had acted at last, not to accept at face value the words of a man who had killed and persecuted so many of his fellow citizens.

What, they asked, would be the fate of those already in the clutches of Colonel Gaddafi's henchmen, facing retribution in the towns and cities recaptured from the revolution in brutal offensives over the past few weeks?

"There have been men dragged away from their wives and children on the words of masked informers. Would they simply be forgotten?" asked Hania Ferousi, a university lecturer.

Ninety six kilometres away in Sultan, where the retreating fighters of the revolution were making a stand, the war continued.

Eight were killed in Zuwaytina after leaving their house at Ajdabiya, under regime control following days of fierce fighting. The bodies of four adults and three children lay by the side of the road. Further on, propped up in the front passenger seat of a battered black Daiwa saloon, was an elderly man, still, mouth open as if he was asleep.

Faiz al-Beidi, who was driving by in his pick-up truck, tried to retrieve the corpses but had to flee when regime soldiers arrived. "They were just firing, at everyone, for no reason," he said. "We are Muslims, I wanted to see these poor people were given proper burial, but they stopped even that." (? Independent News Service)

- Kim Sengupta in Sultan, Eastern Libya

Irish Independent

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'North Africa's Claudia Schiffer' keeps eye on rest of Gaddafi clan

You would think that Aisha Gaddafi had nothing else to think about these days apart from shaping her eyebrows.

While her elder brother Saif looks dishevelled and sounds almost as crazed as his father, she stands amid the crowd in her father's compound, Bab al-Azizia, looking immaculate.

Apart from the fact that she has stopped dyeing her hair blonde and now wears a veil, Ms Gaddafi, who is in her 40s, lives up to her reputation in the Arab press of being the "Claudia Schiffer of north Africa".

Given her glamour and Gaddafi's need to present an attractive face to the world, his only daughter should be as familiar an inhabitant of the pages of 'Hello!' as Queen Rania of Jordan.

In January, there was a tantalising rumour that she had had an affair with Silvio Berlusconi. It turned out to be no more than flippant speculation by an Italian newspaper.

Pout

But apart from one widely reproduced photo in which she sports tumbling blonde locks and a trout pout, she rarely ventures into the public eye.

The glamour shot was taken before 2006 when she married Ahmed al-Gaddafi al-Qahsi, a cousin and army colonel, and became a mother of three.

Since then she has maintained a low profile, despite heading up Wa'tassimu, Libya's largest charity group, and her role (terminated last month) as a UN Goodwill Ambassador. 'Princess of Peace', a 92-page biography of Ms Gaddafi by a Tunisian, is sadly not available in translation.

She gave an interview last October, when the Western world was still sucking up to her father, not shooting at him. It took place on a mermaid-shaped sofa in her vast villa in the suburbs of Tripoli.

When asked how people react when they find out who she is, she said that they "generally gasp, and then they become very friendly, and take the chance to send greetings to my father. No one has ever reacted badly".

Some inkling that the old man may not be as universally popular these days might explain why she attempted to fly to Malta last month. Like Saddam Hussein's daughters, who took refuge in Jordan, she might have preferred not to join her much-admired father in his last stand. But, having found herself turned back, she has been making the most of her situation. "I am steadfastly here," she told the Libyan public.

Now she is the Benazir Bhutto of north Africa, a woman attempting to uphold the family honour at a time which must bring back memories of childhood trauma. Aged nine, she was sleeping next to her adopted sister Hana when the child was killed by the US air raid on Tripoli. "I woke to the thunder of the bombs and the screams of my sister with blood spattered over me." Soon after, she was seen waving her fist to the camera.

Since then, she maintained that defiance in a number of ways. In 2000, two years after the Northern Ireland peace agreement, she proved herself an undiplomatic guest to Britain by giving a speech in support of the IRA at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park.

In 2004, she volunteered to be one of the team of lawyers who defended Saddam Hussein. "I studied law and felt duty-bound to defend anyone who feels he is wrongly accused."

Compared with her seven brothers' kleptocratic and violent ways, Aisha seems relatively mild-mannered. According to WikiLeaks, she has been given the task of "monitoring the ne'er do wells". (? Daily Telegraph, London)

- Cassandra Jardine in Tripoli

Irish Independent

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Gaddafi and sons face international investigation over war crimes

By Bruno Waterfield
Friday March 04 2011
COLONEL Muammar Gaddafi, his sons and Libya's most senior security officials are to be investigated for war crimes against the Libyan people by international prosecutors.
The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, warned Col Gaddafi yesterday that he would be held criminally responsible for his regime's violent suppression of protesters since February 15.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor, announced that his investigation would target "Gaddafi, his inner circle, including some of his sons".
He added: "There will be no impunity in Libya. The allegations are that peaceful demonstrators were attacked by security forces. During the coming weeks, the office will investigate who are the most responsible for the most serious incidents, for the most serious crimes committed in Libya."
Immediate members of Col Gaddafi's family who are under investigation were not named but prosecutors did single out the commander of Libya's elite 32nd battalion, a post that is held by his son Khamis.
Following a UN Security Council resolution last Saturday, court prosecutors have moved quickly to launch the investigation in an attempt to put pressure on Col Gaddafi to halt attacks on Libyan rebels. (? Daily Telegraph, London)
- Bruno Waterfield Irish Independent
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Gaddafi secretly tried to buy Knesset influence in 2007

 
Photo by: REUTERS By GIL SHEFLER 
03/04/2011 10:34 Talkbacks (2) Libya secretly offered to give Israelis of Libyan descent an undisclosed sum of money if they agreed to form a “Libyan political party,” the leader of a Jewish group told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
Meir Kahlon, chairman of the World Organization of Libyan Jews, said that between 2005 and 2007, he and two other members of his organization had secretly traveled to Amman to meet with a representative of the Libyan government over the unresolved issue of Jewish assets in the North African country.


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Libya: Rebels await counter-attack; Gaddafi defiant

 
Photo by: Asmaa Waguih / Reuters By REUTERS 
02/28/2011 11:42 Rebels awaited a counter-attack by Muammar Gaddafi's forces on Monday, after the Libyan leader defied calls for him to quit in the hardest-fought of the Arab world's wave of uprisings.
Rebels holding Zawiyah, only 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, said about 2,000 troops loyal to Gaddafi had surrounded the city.


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US ramps up pressure on Gaddafi with summit

By Oliver Wright in Washington
Monday February 28 2011
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last night flew to Geneva for talks with European foreign ministers and diplomats from the Middle East and Africa in an attempt to further coordinate the international response to the crisis in Libya.
The UN Security Council on Saturday unanimously imposed what Washington claimed were "biting sanctions" including travel bans and asset freezes on Col Gaddafi and his family.
The resolution adopted by the 15-nation council also called for the immediate referral of the crackdown to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for investigation and possible prosecution.
Washington is also considering including a "no-fly" zone to try to stop Gaddafi's suppression of anti-government protests.
Yesterday both Mrs Clinton and President Barack Obama toughened their rhetoric, saying Gaddafi must depart now.
In London, Foreign Secretary William Hague, who will also attend the Geneva talks, said the international community was not prepared to negotiate. He said: "Clearly we're not going to get into a negotiation with Colonel Gaddafi... he must go."
He added: "Throughout these crises in Egypt and Tunisia we've been careful to say it's the people of these countries who must own the solution. But the people of Libya have risen up against Colonel Gaddafi."
He also added: "Last night, I signed a directive revoking his diplomatic immunity in the United Kingdom but also the diplomatic immunity of his son, his family, his household. So it's very clear where we stand on his status."
US officials said Mrs Clinton's trip is aimed at coordinating the international response, insisting that the world "speak with one voice" on stemming the violence and bringing Col Gaddafi to justice.
The Obama administration had been criticised by human rights groups for moving too slowly on Libya. But White House officials said fears for the safety of Americans in the country had tempered Washington's response to the turmoil.
In a statement on Saturday, Mrs Clinton said the US was working to mobilise a strong and unified response from the international community, and echoed Mr Obama's demand for Col Gaddafi to step down.
"We are also working with partners to determine how to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need," she said.
- Oliver Wright in WashingtonIrish Independent
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Gaddafi: ‘My people love me'

Foreign powers accelerated efforts to help oust Muammar Gaddafi on Monday as rebels fought Libyan government forces trying to take back strategic coastal cities on either side of the capital. The besieged strongman continued to strike a defiant tone, telling Western correspondents he remained beloved by his countrymen and dismissing unrest in eastern Libya as the work of al-Qaida.
European Union governments approved sanctions against Libya on Monday, implementing a UN resolution sooner than expected. The UN Security Council on Saturday slapped sanctions on Gaddafi and other Libyan officials, imposed an arms embargo and froze Libyan assets.


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Gaddafi air raid increases pressure to intervene

By Adrian Blomfield in Benghazi
Tuesday March 01 2011
Col Muammar Gaddafi showed he still retained some air capacity after war planes bombed rebel-held eastern Libya yesterday.
Despite the defections of several of his fighter pilots, at least one target -- an ammunitions depot that has fallen into opposition hands -- came under attack near the town of Adjabiya, 100 miles south of Benghazi, headquarters of the insurrection.
There were contradictory reports of what actually happened. Residents claimed the depot was struck by fixed-wing fighter jets.
But revolutionary officials said the attack was carried out by two helicopters, whose pilots deliberately fired at open ground near the camp and then defected.
"They were supposed to hit a military camp, that was their goal," said Hana el-Gallal, a spokeswoman for the new civilian administration in Benghazi. "But they refused and have now defected."
Residents of Benghazi said military aircraft flew close to the city later in the day but made no attempt to bomb it.
Col Gaddafi's efforts to win back eastern Libya, which he lost over a week ago, have suffered repeated blows after the defections of some of his top pilots, who have either flown to Malta or ejected from their cockpits after being ordered to bomb rebel positions.
The development will raise pressure on the West to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
Mrs Gallal said yesterday's bombing raids were meant both to deplete the uprising's ammunition supply and spread fear.
"We are supposed to be scared, but we are not," she said.
Leaders of the insurrection say they have as many as 15 war planes in their possession, ready to bomb Col Gaddafi's main base in Tripoli if called on by their supporters in the city. (? Daily Telegraph, London)
- Adrian Blomfield in BenghaziIrish Independent
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Gaddafi family show of unity a sham, leaked cables show

By Elizabeth Piper
Friday February 25 2011
Greed, jealousy and ambition poisoned relations inside Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's family and often destroyed the careers of officials who got in the way, according to US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.
The five Gaddafi children used threats and occasional violence to try to ensure their business and political interests won out in the major oil exporting country.
"While internecine strife is nothing new for the famously fractious . . . family, the recent escalation of tension comes during a particularly momentous period," said a diplomatic report dated March 2009, shortly before Libya celebrated the 40th anniversary of the revolution that brought Col Gaddafi to power.
The family is now operating as a tight unit against unrest which threatens to end Col Gaddafi's rule, but the US reports document a family split between Col Gaddafi's second eldest son and supposed heir Saif al-Islam and four of his siblings.
It lists several officials who were forced to resign, sent abroad or sacked for refusing the children's requests, failing to keep them in order or simply for becoming too close to one or other of the factions.
The chairman of the National Oil Corporation quickly resigned after he declined a request for $1.2bn (€870m) from Gaddafi's security adviser, his fourth eldest son Mutassim, to create his own security unit.
The cables offer little hope for the family. One child, Saif al-Arab who lives in Germany, is referred to only briefly and is guilty only of spending "much time partying".
- Elizabeth PiperIrish Independent
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Gaddafi blames bin Laden for chaos

A protester holds a weapon as he shouts slogans against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during a demonstration in Tobruk (AP);
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has accused al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden of being behind the uprising which has plunged the country into chaos.

He spoke as forces loyal to him struck back against rebels in clashes in cities close to the capital Tripoli.
Army units and militiamen attacked a mosque where many were holding an anti-government sit-in and battled with others who had seized control of an airport. A doctor at the mosque said 10 people were killed.
Col Gaddafi blamed bin Laden for the uprising in a rambling phone call to state TV. The Libyan leader said the more than week-long revolt has been carried out by young men fired up on hallucinogenic pills given to them "in their coffee with milk, like Nescafe".

"Shame on you, people of Zawiya, control your children," he said, addressing residents of the city outside Tripoli where the mosque attack took place.
"They are loyal to bin Laden," he said of those involved in the uprising. What do you have to do with bin Laden, people of Zawiya? They are exploiting young people ... I insist it is bin Laden."

The attacks aimed to push back a revolt that has moved closer to Col Gaddafi's bastion in Tripoli. Most of the eastern half of Libya has already broken away, and parts of Gaddafi's regime have crumbled.
In the latest blow to the Libyan leader, a cousin who is one of his closest aides, Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, announced that he has defected to Egypt in protest against the regime's bloody crackdown against the uprising, denouncing what he called "grave violations to human rights and human and international laws".
In Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, an army unit attacked the city's Souq Mosque, where regime opponents had been camped for days in a protest calling for Col Gaddafi's removal, a witness said.

The soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons and hit the mosque's minaret with fire from an anti-aircraft gun, he said. Some of the young men among the protesters, who were inside the mosque and in a nearby lot, had hunting rifles for protection. A doctor at a field clinic set up at the mosque said he saw the bodies of 10 dead, shot in the head and chest, as well as around 150 wounded.
Press Association

We'll fight to death in civil war, says Gaddafi army

FORCES loyal to Muammar Gaddafi carried out their threats to trigger a civil war in Libya last night.
They took up positions across Tripoli and began a rearguard action against rebels in major cities.
Residents in parts of the capital were trapped in their homes as "thousands" of soldiers patrolled the streets, accompanied by African mercenaries.
Tanks took up positions around important public buildings, while sandbag defences were also being built.
"We will fight until death," a pro-Gaddafi soldier in his early 20s said outside a military compound near Tripoli's Green Square, which had been cleared of demonstrators.
"The country needs stability at a time like this. The people are on our side."
Residents said bodies were still piling up in hospitals from the shootings of the previous two days.
"Anywhere we go there is danger," said a 28-year-old mother of four who asked not to be named. "All we want is food and fresh water for our children but it is impossible to find."
As ministers, generals and diplomats defected, government spokesmen loyal to Col Gaddafi were trying to rally people to his side.
The Libyan leader signalled a fightback in a speech on Tuesday, when he called on supporters to "chase away the rats and terrorists".
General Jameel al-Kadiki, deputy commander of the air force, denied that his jets had bombed civilians but said they had been forced to prevent opponents using military supplies "against the Libyan people". Later, the deputy foreign minister, Khaled Khaim, claimed to EU ambassadors that al-Qa'ida had set up a base in the rebel city of Darnah.
But the area under government control was shrinking. Most of the east is held by protesters and is relatively peaceful, though there were reports of dozens of deaths in al-Bayda. The total numbers who have died was not certain. Franco Frattini, Italy's foreign minister, said reports of 1,000 dead were "credible".
Maj Gen Suleiman Mahmoud al-Obeidi, a former eastern commander, was with defecting troops in Tobruk. Misrata, a coastal city east of Tripoli, and Zawiya to the west, were also said to be under rebel control.
But opposition groups said the Khamis Brigade, loyal to Col Gaddafi's youngest son, was moving against these towns.
Sanctions
A resident of Misrata said loyalist forces were attacking its TV station. Loyalist forces were also fighting back in Sabratha.
Col Gaddafi and his sons seemed to be planning to regroup in Tripoli and the province of Sirte, his birthplace, before fighting back.
Two crew of a Sukhoi-22 attack jet ejected after refusing to bomb Benghazi, the eastern city where the revolution started. But Mohammed Ali Abdullah, of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, an exile group, said defecting soldiers had shown no willingness to fight for the revolution. In Washington, President Obama was said to be reviewing his options, including sanctions, to pressure Libya to halt the brutal crackdown.
It also emerged that Middle Eastern airports were turning away planes carrying members of Col Gaddafi's family.
Questions were still being asked about the statement read by the former public security minister, Abdul Fattah Younis, that he had changed sides. But the government claimed he had been kidnapped.
The role of the army remains unclear. One senior retired general said he was leading troops in defence of the protesters in Tobruk, while large numbers of other units have laid down their weapons. But it was not known how many would fight against brigades that remained loyal.
Diplomatic missions around the world have gone over to the opposition en masse. (? Daily Telegraph, London)
- Richard Spencer in LondonIrish Independent
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Gaddafi warns people of 'swift retribution'

A WILD and desperate- looking Colonel Muammar Gaddafi staged a dramatic defence of his collapsing 41-year rule last night, appearing on state television to damn the "rats" conspiring against him and to insist that he would die a martyr on Libyan soil.
For more than an hour, he hurled insults at the cameras. He said he would defy America, superpowers, "men with turbans and long beards" and anyone else who tried to end his revolution.
He said his opponents were trying to plunge Libya into civil war and to turn it into an Islamic state, or an Afghanistan or a Somalia.
Occasionally reading from his "Green Book" and shaking his forefinger at the camera, he threatened swift, violent and all-out retribution to those who continued to oppose him.
Frequently raising his voice to a scream, he said he had proved Libya was leader of the African, Asian and Latin American continents in their fight against imperialism. He would not leave the country for which he said his grandfather and many others had given their lives.
"Muammar Gaddafi is the leader of a revolution," he shrieked. "Muammar Gaddafi has no official position to resign from. He is the leader of the revolution forever. This is my country, my country."
Col Gaddafi made his appearance after a first meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the crisis in Libya. Some protesters and diplomats who had defected from his regime were calling for the UN to impose a no-fly zone to prevent a repeat of the air attacks ordered by the regime on Monday night.
But there was no immediate indication that the UN was likely to move beyond a condemnation of the killings of innocent protesters -- and even that looked likely to be blocked by Russia and China.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the violence as "completely unacceptable".
Forces loyal to Col Gaddafi seemed to have control over the capital Tripoli, with state television earlier showing footage of a pro-regime rally. Residents were said to be hiding inside their homes after attacks from the air and from snipers on roofs on Monday night.
There were reports of "massacres" in a number of districts, with Human Rights Watch giving a figure of 62 dead in the city.
Explosions
Worst hit were those who attended an anti-government march in Tripoli on Monday afternoon. "Many people were killed by the explosions and bullets," a 22-year-old student who attended said.
Foreign nationals leaving the country gave dramatic accounts of seeing bodies on the streets and burning buildings. Residents insisted that many of the attackers were the African mercenaries Col Gaddafi is said to have hired to defend his regime to the end.
"They carry machineguns and machetes," one said. "If any of them are caught they are killed immediately."
The latest reports indicate that most of the east of Libya appeared to be beyond Col Gaddafi's reach yesterday. (? Daily Telegraph, London)
- Richard Spencer
Irish Independent
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