Gaddafi to "fight to end" as rebels seize HQ (Reuters)

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Triumphant rebels seized Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli on Tuesday after a fierce battle with a loyalist rearguard but there was no word on the fate of the Libyan leader who vowed again to fight "to the end."

Reuters journalists watched rebel fighters stream through the sprawling Bab al-Aziziya headquarters compound, firing in the air in celebration after hours of heavy clashes. But it was unclear whether the "Brother Leader" or his sons were still somewhere in the complex's maze of buildings and bunkers.

Defensive fire died away and hundreds of jubilant rebels poured in. Some smashed a statue of Gaddafi. Others hunted through dozens of buildings, unchallenged, seizing weaponry and vehicles. The rebels' envoy to the United Nations said the area was "totally in the hands of the revolutionaries."

One man shouted: "It's over. Gaddafi is finished."

The Russian head of the World Chess Federation, who visited Gaddafi in Tripoli in June, said he had received a call from him on Tuesday afternoon in which Gaddafi said he was still in the capital. He "is in Tripoli, he is alive and healthy and is prepared to fight to the end," Kirsan Ilyumzhinov told Reuters.

The rebels' envoy in Rome, Hafed Gaddur, said: "It seems clear that he is confined to his bunker complex."

"We thought Tripoli would be liberated in one month or perhaps even two months, instead that happened in just a few hours, a day, so we've made great progress," he told Reuters.

Western governments, which have backed disparate opposition groups, said they could not be sure where the 69-year-old leader was but urged him to surrender after six months of civil war which have put an end to his four decades of absolute power.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after speaking to U.S. President Barack Obama that the end of Gaddafi's rule was "inevitable and near."

NATO, which declined to confirm reports that its air forces bombed Gaddafi's compound to aid the rebels, said Gaddafi's whereabouts were unclear but no longer a major concern.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said he believed Gaddafi was still in Libya and that his forces remained a threat. He also said the United States was monitoring chemical weapons sites in Libya, amid worries that groups hostile to Western interests could try to seize stocks once built up by Gaddafi.

SWIFT END SOUGHT

Western leaders are anxious for a rapid end to fighting -- tensions among rebels are a concern for those hoping for a swift return of order and a reopening of Libyan oil exports.

"We hope this is over soon," said an unemployed engineer watching events near Gaddafi's compound. "I fear that the violence will continue until Gaddafi and his family have left the country," he added, giving his name only as Omar.

Another bystander said: "Gaddafi is finished, even if some snipers and mercenaries are still resisting. But there is no doubt that we are free and Gaddafi is finished."

There are growing concerns for civilians in the city, after days of siege and fighting in which officials have suggested hundreds of combatants may have been killed or wounded.

At a private house several miles from the center, wounded from the fighting were being treated, to the sound of gunfire.

"We need medication and stretchers, this situation is a disaster," medical student Shuaib Rais told Reuters.

CREDIBILITY

Speaking after Gaddafi's son and long-time heir-apparent Saif al-Islam confounded rebel claims of his capture by appearing to journalists at the Bab al-Aziziya compound early on Tuesday, several analysts said the credibility of the disparate opposition movement had suffered a serious setback.

Though the credibility of Saif al-Islam's claims that his father's supporters were winning the war was also threadbare, confusion among the rebels, who seemed to have allowed two of Gaddafi's sons to escape on Monday, embarrassed their backers.

Noman Benotman, senior analyst at Britain's Quilliam think tank and an associate of Gaddafi's former spy chief, said: "Gaddafi is banking on the rebels making a mess of Tripoli and causing chaos. He is relying on them to behave badly.

"They want rival militia zones to start springing up ... That's why it's critical for the rebels to get their act together."

Residents, many of whom had taken to the streets on Sunday to celebrate the end of Gaddafi's 42-year rule, stayed indoors as the irregular rebel armies that swept the capital ran into resistance from sharpshooters, tanks and other heavy weaponry.

DIVISIONS

The lack of clear control, however, has revived concerns the sprawling, thinly populated desert state could fall into the kind of instability that has beset Iraq since Saddam Hussein's overthrow. Gaddafi loyalists and anti-Western Islamists could exploit Libya's ethnic, tribal and political divisions.

Rebel officials say they have a force ready to impose order in the capital, as they have generally done in parts of the country they have taken since February. But it is not yet clear how they will handle traditional east-west divisions if they consolidate their grip on the country.

The uncharacteristically efficient rebel advance into the capital, coordinated with an uprising inside the city, seemed evidence to some analysts of the military advice and training Western and some Arab powers, including Qatar, have provided.

Many assume special forces are also active on the ground.

Outside powers, including U.S. President Obama, have been at pains to characterize the revolt against Gaddafi as quite different from the Western assault on Saddam, saying it is a home-grown uprising inspired by other Arab protest movements that overthrew Western-backed autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.

Aid, some of it in the form of Libyan state funds seized from accounts controlled by Gaddafi, and advice will be plentiful, foreign governments assured the rebel leadership in Benghazi as it contemplates moving to Tripoli.

But all have ruled out sending in ground troops to bolster a new government which faces considerable difficulties in setting up a new administration given Gaddafi's four-decade reliance on informal governance and a personality cult.

"We've sought to learn the lessons of the failures of Iraq, which have very much influenced our thinking -- trying to make sure we don't make the same mistakes again," said British International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

(Reporting by Missy Ryan, Peter Graff, Ulf Laessing, Zohra Bensemra and Leon Malherbe in Tripoli, Thomas Grove in Moscow, Robert Birsel in Benghazi, William Maclean and Peter Apps in London, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Christian Lowe in Algiers, Souhail Karam in Rabat, Richard Valdmanis and Giles Elgood in Tunis, Laura MacInnis and Alister Bull in Oak Bluffs, Mass., Nour Merza in Dubai, Deepa Babington in Rome and Alexandria Sage in Paris; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

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Libya rebels push towards capital to aid revolt (Reuters)

AL-MAYA, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels battled their way closer to Tripoli on Sunday to help fighters inside the city who rose up overnight declaring a final showdown with Muammar Gaddafi.

The Libyan leader dismissed the rebels as "rats" and said he would not yield. But his grip on power looked more fragile than ever after rebels, fighting for the past six months to end his rule, advanced to within about 25 km (16 miles) of Tripoli's western edge.

"We're going to Tripoli now," said Moussa, a rebel fighter raised in the United States, near the front line in the village of Al-Maya.

As he spoke, rebel pick-up trucks and a tank trundled down the highway which traces the Mediterranean coast toward Tripoli. Anti-aircraft guns, adapted by the rebels to shoot targets on the ground, pounded away nearby.

In a coordinated revolt that rebel cells had been secretly preparing for months, shooting started on Saturday night across Tripoli, moments after Muslim clerics, using the loudspeakers on mosque minarets, called people on to the streets.

The fighting inside Tripoli, combined with rebel advances to the outskirts of the city, appeared to signal the decisive phase in a six month conflict that has become the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings and embroiled NATO powers.

"Gaddafi's chances for a safe exit are diminishing by the hour," said Ashour Shamis, a Libyan opposition activist and editor based in Britain.

But Gaddafi's fall is far from certain. His security forces did not buckle, and the city is much bigger than anything the mostly amateur anti-Gaddafi fighters, with their scavenged weapons and mismatched uniforms, have ever tackled.

If the Libyan leader is forced from power, there are question marks over whether the opposition can restore stability in this oil exporting country. The rebels' own ranks have been wracked by disputes and rivalry.

REVOLT PREMATURE?

Rebels said after a night of heavy fighting, they controlled a handful of city neighborhoods. Whether they hold on could depend on the speed with which the other rebels reach Tripoli.

"The rebels may have risen too early in Tripoli and the result could be a lot of messy fighting," said Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya. "The regime may not have collapsed in the city to quite the extent they think it has."

But the rebel advance toward the city was rapid, and there was no sign of fierce resistance from Gaddafi's security forces. In the past 48 hours, the rebels west of Tripoli have advanced about 25 km, halving the distance between them and the capital.

Government forces put up a brief fight at the village of Al-Maya, leaving behind a burned-out tank, and some cars that had been torched. "I am very happy," said one resident.

The anti-Gaddafi fighters paused long enough to daub some graffiti on walls in the village. One read "We are here and we are fighting Gaddafi," another, "God is great." They then moved on toward Tripoli.

In Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city where the anti-Gaddafi revolt started and where the rebels have their main stronghold, a senior official said everything was going according to plan.

"Our revolutionaries are controlling several neighborhoods and others are coming in from outside the city to join their brothers at this time," Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice-chairman of the rebel National Transition Council, told Reuters.

MESSAGE OF DEFIANCE

In an audio recording broadcast late on Saturday, Gaddafi -- whose location has been kept a secret since NATO warplanes started bombing government buildings -- made clear he had no intention of giving in to the rebels.

"Those rats ... were attacked by the masses tonight and we eliminated them," Gaddafi said. "I know that there are air bombardments but the fireworks were louder than the sound of the bombs thrown by the aircraft."

A spokesman for Gaddafi, in a briefing for foreign reporters, underlined the message of defiance.

The armed units defending Tripoli from the rebels "wholeheartedly believe that if this city is captured the blood will run everywhere so they may as well fight to the end," said the spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim.

"We hold Mr Obama, Mr Cameron and Mr Sarkozy morally responsible for every single unnecessary death that takes place in this country," he said, referring to the leaders of the United States, Britain and France.

SNIPERS ON ROOFTOPS

A diplomatic source in Paris, where the government has closely backed the rebels, said underground rebel cells in the capital had been following detailed plans drawn up months ago and had been waiting for a signal to act.

That signal was "iftar" -- the moment when Muslims observing the holy months of Ramadan break their daily fast. It was at this moment that imams started broadcasting their message from the mosques, residents said.

But the overnight fighting inside the city, while fierce, was not decisive. Rebels said they controlled all or parts of the Tajourah, Fashloom and Souk al-Jumaa neighborhoods, yet there was no city-wide rebellion.

In Tripoli on Sunday, the two sides appeared to be jockeying for control of roof terraces to use as firing positions, possibly in preparation for a new burst of fighting after dark.

A rebel activist in the city said pro-Gaddafi forces had put snipers on the rooftops of buildings around Bab al-Aziziyah, Gaddafi's compound, and on the top of a nearby water tower.

As he spoke, single gunshots could be heard in the background, at intervals of a few seconds.

"Gaddafi's forces are getting reinforcements to comb the capital," said the activist, who spoke by telephone to a Reuters reporter outside Libya.

"Residents are crying, seeking help. One resident was martyred, many were wounded," he said. It was not immediately possible to verify his account independently.

State television flashed up a message on the screen urging residents not to allow rebel gunmen to hide on their rooftops.

"Agents and al Qaeda members are trying to destabilize and sabotage the city. You should prevent them from exploiting your houses and buildings, confront them and cooperate with counter-terrorism units, to capture them," it said.

(Additional reporting by Missy Ryan in Tripoli, Robert Birsel in Benghazi, Libya, William Maclean in London, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Rebels scorn talks with isolated Gaddafi (Reuters)

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Rebels fighting to topple Muammar Gaddafi scorned reports of secret talks with the Libyan leader on Monday as their forces fought to secure gains and the United States said Gaddafi's days were numbered.

After 41 years of supreme power in his oil-rich desert state 69-year-old Gaddafi was isolated in the capital Tripoli, with reinvigorated rebel forces closing in from the West and South.

Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), recognized by many of the NATO nations whose air power is supporting their assault, denied any kind of negotiation with Gaddafi to resolve the six-month-old conflict.

"The NTC would like to affirm that there are no negotiations either direct or indirect with the Gaddafi regime or with the special envoy of the United Nations," said NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil.

Gaddafi must step down and leave Libya, he said. "It is unthinkable to hold any negotiations or talks that disregard this basic principle."

In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Gaddafi's forces had been thrown back onto the defensive, and reports that a senior figure in the Libyan security apparatus had defected indicated the regime was cracking.

"Gaddafi's forces are weakened and this latest defection is another example of how weak they've gotten," Panetta said.

"I think the sense is that Gaddafi's days are numbered," Panetta said at event with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Rebels fighting to topple Gaddafi seized two strategic towns near Tripoli over the past two days, cutting the city off from its supply lines and leaving the Libyan leader with a dwindling set of options if he is to stay in power.

However, pro-Gaddafi forces were mounting a fight-back in one of those towns, Zawiyah, west of Tripoli. Snipers concealed in tall buildings were picking off rebel fighters, and salvos of Russian-made Grad rockets landed in the town.

OBSOLETE

The Scud missile, an obsolete Soviet-era weapon, was fired on Sunday morning from near Sirte, Gaddafi's now isolated home town 500 km (310.7 miles) east of Tripoli.

It exploded to the east between the rebel-held towns of Brega and Ajdabiyah, said a U.S. official. The missile came down in the desert, injuring no one, said the official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity.

There was no immediate comment from Tripoli.

Analysts said using the inaccurate Scud look like an act of desperation. "It's an obvious sign that the regime's back is to the wall," said Shashank Joshi, Associate Fellow at Britain's Royal United Services Institute.

Scuds have a range of about 185 miles. At rebel headquarters in Benghazi, officials said it was probably aimed at rebel forces near Ajdabiyah.

"Gaddafi troops are using his last gun. He's crazy," said Mohammad Zawawi, media director for rebel forces. "We're scared he'll use chemicals. That's why we're trying to end this war and we hope to end it with the least number of casualties."

"We can't prevent the Scuds but we hope NATO can. NATO has the technology to detect them."

Analysts say the rebel strategy is to isolate Tripoli and hope the government collapses, but they say it is also possible Gaddafi will opt to stage a last-ditch fight for the capital.

In a barely audible telephone call to state television in the early hours of Monday, Gaddafi called on his followers to liberate Libya from rebels and their NATO supporters.

"Get ready for the fight ... The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battlefield," he said.

REBEL PUSH

As he spoke rebels were making their most dramatic advances in months of fighting, shifting the momentum in a conflict that had been largely static and was testing the patience of NATO.

Rebel forces southwest of Tripoli surged forward at the weekend to enter Zawiyah about 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli straddling the main highway linking the capital to Tunisia.

A day later, they said they had taken the crossroads town of Garyan, which controls the highway south from Tripoli linking it to Sabha, a Gaddafi stronghold deep in the desert.

"Gaddafi has been isolated. He has been cut off from the outside world," a rebel spokesman from the Western Mountains, called Abdulrahman, told Reuters by telephone.

Tripoli officials deny the rebels control Zawiyah, and say their forces are preparing to drive "armed gangs" from Garyan.

Rebels on the outskirts of Zawiyah said most of Gaddafi's forces had pulled out of the town, but left behind snipers who made it dangerous for the anti-Gaddafi fighters to move around.

A Reuters reporter saw a rebel pick-up truck deliver six government soldiers to a makeshift prison. Each was blindfolded and made to kneel facing a wall and several rebels walked by, shouting at them and slapping them on the head.

"They were firing at us," said Abdel-Muiz Ramadan, 20, a rebel fighter. "We captured one of them and he gave us the location of the others."

He said the snipers were concentrated in tall buildings around Martyrs' Square, focus of a failed revolt by Zawiyah residents earlier this year. "Every time we approach the area, one of their snipers fires at us," said Ramadan.

Medical workers at one of the town's hospitals said 20 people, a mixture of rebel fighters and civilians, were killed on Monday, and the death toll for Tuesday had reached one.

A U.N. peace envoy in neighbouring Tunisia, Abdel Elah al-Khatib, said he knew nothing of any negotiations in Djerba.

He said he had held informal talks with representatives of Gaddafi's government and the rebel council but did not say who they were or what they discussed.

Talks could signal the endgame of a civil war that has drawn in the NATO alliance and emerged as one of the bloodiest confrontations in the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world.

Rebels may still lack the manpower for an all-out assault on Tripoli, but are hoping their encirclement of the capital will bring down Gaddafi's government or inspire an uprising. In the past, however, they have frequently failed to hold gains, and a fightback by Gaddafi troops could yet force them back.

(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy in Zawiyah, Libya, Phil Stewart in Washington, Missy Ryan in Tripoli, Ulf Laessing in Ras Jdir, Tunisia, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers and William Maclean in London; Writing by Christian Lowe and Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Rebels clash with Gaddafi loyalists in rebel-held east (Reuters)

BENGHAZI (Reuters) – Rebel forces fought gunmen loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in eastern Libya on Sunday in the latest incident to undermine the insurgents' grip in territory they hold.

The clashes renewed opposition fears that Gaddafi's agents had infiltrated the area, days after the mysterious killing of the rebel military commander.

The assassination of General Abdel Fattah Younes, apparently by gunmen on his own side, has hurt the opposition just as it was winning broader international recognition and making gains against Gaddafi's forces in the Western Mountains and elsewhere.

Rebel spokesman Mahmoud Shammam said clashes had broken out when rebel forces attacked a militia that had helped some 300 Gaddafi loyalists break out of jail near Benghazi on Friday.

At least six rebels were killed in the fighting with the militia, whose members appeared to be experienced and armed with machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and explosives.

Inside the barracks where they were holed up, rebels found more than 400 weapons, Libya's green flag and photos of Gaddafi.

"At 8 a.m., the barracks was brought under control. Thirty men surrendered and we took their weapons," Shammam told reporters. "We consider them members of the Fifth Column."

The clashes reflect growing fears within the opposition that Gaddafi loyalists are exploiting the lawlessness that prevails in the east, which is awash with weapons and armed gangs, some secular or Islamist rebels, some vigilantes and some criminals.

The fighting took place as speculation swirls over the murky circumstances of Younes' death. The 67-year-old general's record as Gaddafi's interior minister before his defection in February, made him the target of suspicion among many in the opposition.

Some Libyans suspect his execution was ordered by rebel leaders for treason, many say he was killed by Gaddafi spies, and others suggest a rebel splinter group had acted alone.

In an apparent effort to avert a feud, rebels named Suleiman al-Obeidi, a member of Younes' tribe, as acting military chief.

Whatever the truth, the infighting among militias in Libya's east deepens concerns among the rebels' Western backers, keen to see them prevail in a five-month-old civil war but frustrated by their lack of unity and worried over Islamist influence.

Keeping up diplomatic pressure on Gaddafi, Britain said on Sunday it would take part in the NATO air campaign for as long as it took and Germany expelled a Libyan diplomat.

REBELS TARGET GADDAFI STRONGHOLDS

The rebels, who rose up against Gaddafi in February, have seized swathes of the country but are poorly equipped and still far from ousting him, despite support from NATO airstrikes.

On Sunday, rebel tanks pounded Gaddafi troops in Tiji, some 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Tripoli, inching one km closer to the last government stronghold in the Western Mountains.

"We are going to take Tiji, I know it. And that will clear the way for us to head to Tripoli eventually," said fighter Naji Shayboukh, who was holding a home-made rocket-launcher.

About 14 rebels were killed and more than 20 wounded, hospital sources said, in a second day of heavy fighting on the front near Zlitan, some 160 km (100 miles) east of Tripoli and the largest town between rebel-held Misrata and the capital.

In the past 48 hours, rebels have advanced about 3 km toward Zlitan but have yet to solidify their gains.

Television footage obtained by Reuters showed what appeared to be buildings in Zlitan's eastern suburb of Zdou. The footage also showed heavy fighting, with rebels using machine guns against Gaddafi's troops.

"We have advanced well and God willing we will be in Zlitan soon," said Ibrahim Buwathi, 24, who had a shrapnel wound in his shoulder and was awaiting treatment at the hospital.

About 20 explosions rocked the nearby rebel-held city of Misrata overnight in an apparent attack by Gaddafi loyalists.

Libyan rebels also said they had moved closer to Brega, and were now positioned 5 to 7 km from the east of the oil town.

Fighting at Brega had slowed over the past two weeks as the rebels struggled to defuse hundreds of thousands of mines planted by Gaddafi's forces.

Rebels said they planned to advance soon on Brega, where some 3,000 heavily armed government troops remain positioned.

LIBYA'S WILD EAST

The longer the war drags on, the further eastern Libya appears to slip into lawlessness, raising questions about what kind of Libya could emerge if Gaddafi goes.

Many rebels had been uncomfortable working under Younes, a man who had been so close to Gaddafi for 41 years, and rebel sources said on Thursday he had been recalled over suspicions he or his family were secretly in contact with Gaddafi.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Younes had been killed by Fawzi Bu Kitf, head of the Union of Revolutionary Forces, a federation of armed rebel groups that works with the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council.

Moussa also accused Ismail al-Sallabi, head of the Feb 17 Brigade, an armed group that falls under the Union umbrella, of involvement in the assassination.

Both have said the had no knowledge of plans to assassinate Younes and that his killers had acted alone.

Rebel sources told Reuters that a field commander called Mustafa al-Rubh, from an armed group called the Okbah Ibn Nafih Brigade, had been sent to the front at Brega to arrest Younes and bring him back to Benghazi for questioning by three judges.

Rubh, who is not under arrest but is being questioned over Younes' death, said he had taken the military leader to a location outside of Benghazi, where he was due to hand him over.

From here, no one appears able to explain what happened.

Some rebel sources said another militia, called Obaida Ibn Jarrah, intervened, took Younes by force and killed him.

(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy in Hawamid; Mussab Al-Khairalla and Ayman al-Sahili in Misrata; Missy Ryan in Tripoli; Joseph Nasr in Berlin; Souhail Karam in Rabat; writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

(This story has been corrected in paragraph 17 to show number of rebels killed and wounded is about 14 and 20, respectively)

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Libyan rebels claim control of Brega (AFP)

AJDABIYA, Libya (AFP) – Libya's rebels claimed control of Brega on Monday as pro-Kadhafi troops retreated westward leaving just 150-200 loyalist fighters pinned down inside the oil town, a spokesman said.

"The bulk of (Moamer) Kadhafi's forces have retreated to Ras Lanuf," rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah told AFP, referring to another oil hub some 50 kilometres (32 miles) to the west.

The loyalist forces were said to have been led in retreat by their commander, Kadhafi's son Mutassim, according to another rebel military source citing intercepted radio chatter.

But deep in the town's industrial zone some remnants of Kadhafi's forces were still holed up, left with dwindling supplies and what must be a growing sense of foreboding.

"Their food and water supplies are cut and they now will not be able to sleep," said Abdulmolah. "It's a matter of time before they come to their senses, we hope to prevent some bloodshed."

Holding the town would be a major rebel victory, boosting morale and recapturing infrastructure vital to Libya's economic future.

Brega is a major centre for channelling oil through the pipelines of the resource-rich Sirte Basin to the rest of the world.

Fighters on the ground said there were no signs yet of those oil installations being set on fire or sabotaged, but the area had been heavily mined.

On the approach to the front there were already signs of relief and celebration.

"Tonight we sleep in Brega!" cried 25-year-old Mufta Idris from a sand-smeared Toyota pick-up that was carrying him and four other members of the Hasan Jaber Brigade to the front.

In nearby Ajdabiya, where many of the 300 rebels wounded in the five days of fighting had been brought, there was a marked lull in activity at the local hospital.

Doctors stood chatting amicably in the hallway for the first time in days. The white marble floor that had been streaked with the blood of some 21 dead fighters had been washed clean.

There were no cries of pain from the operating theatre where doctors had tended severe shrapnel wounds without morphine.

Across the front, the toll on Kadhafi's forces may never be fully known.

The battle had begun around four hours before sunset on Thursday, when the largely volunteer rebel army launched a bold three-pronged attack that belied their inexperience of military tactics.

They had hoped months of waiting and training would arrest a bloody to-and-fro that had seen Brega change hands several times since the revolution began five months ago.

The rebels appeared to have learned the lessons from a series of hard-fought military gains that were washed away by hasty and badly coordinated advances.

This time rebel columns approached slowly from the northeast, east and southeast, surrounding Kadhafi's forces and reaching the outskirts of the city's eastern-most tip late on Friday.

Since then there has been a steady pattern of rebel advance followed by tactical retreat to allow NATO warplanes to do their work.

Such is the new-found caution that even now the complete occupation of Brega may have to wait.

"Most of the troops going in right now are anti-mine teams," said Abdulmolah. "We have found an extraordinary number of anti-personnel mines."

He added that the effort to clear the ordnance is being hampered by missile attacks from the village of Bishr around 20 kilometres (13 miles) away.

The rebels hope that a phalanx of their fighters which swept past Brega from the south will soon take out those positions.

"We hope to take Bishr today," said Abdulmolah.

But the rebel victory is unlikely to bring a quick end to the war.

Southwest of Tripoli, Kadhafi's forces continued to fire rockets at rebel positions in Gualish in the Nafusa Mountains and around Bir Ayad, a key junction on the road to Tripoli in the plains below, rebel commanders said.

The rebels responded with rocket fire against the loyalist-held hill town of Asabah, an AFP correspondent reported.

Meanwhile British Prime Minister David Cameron sought to bridge the gap with South African President Jacob Zuma over bringing a political end to the conflict.

Zuma has accused NATO of overstepping its UN mandate to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, although South Africa voted for the UN resolution that the alliance uses to justify its bombing campaign.

"It is no secret that we have disagreed on some aspects of how to respond to the violence in Libya," Cameron said.

"... We agree on the ultimate destination that Kadhafi must step aside to allow the people of Libya to decide their own future.

Zuma's comments pointed to only partial agreement: "What happens to Kadhafi must be decided by the Libyan people. You need to negotiate how, why and where he must go," Zuma said.

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Libya rebels fighting to capture eastern oil town (Reuters)

MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebel forces on Sunday entered the oil town of Brega and fought street battles there with forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, a rebel spokesman said, in the biggest offensive in eastern Libya in weeks.

"The news coming from there is there is a street war going on between Gaddafi troops and the rebels, and 127 are wounded from our side," Abdulrahman Busm, an official in the rebel National Transitional Council, said by telephone.

Brega, about 750 km (465 miles) east of Tripoli, is the site of a strategic oil terminal. The attack could signal a new rebel push westwards from their main stronghold in the east of the country after weeks of stalemate.

NATO, which has been bombing Libya for nearly four months, said its warplanes had struck a military storage facility in Tajoura, an eastern suburb of Tripoli. It said the depot contained battle tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Gaddafi is refusing to step down despite a five-month-old rebellion against his rule, a campaign of NATO air strikes, and the defections of members of his inner circle.

The slow progress of the rebel military campaign has caused strains within NATO, with some member states pressing for a negotiated solution to bring a swift end to a conflict many thought would last only a few weeks.

GADDAFI DEFIANT

In a speech on Saturday, Gaddafi described the rebels as worthless traitors and rejected suggestions that he was about to leave the country. Reports have circulated that Gaddafi is seeking a negotiated way out of the crisis.

"They said Gaddafi 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 and underscored their demand that Gaddafi and his family relinquish power.

Brega has changed hands several times in the back-and-forth fighting along Libya's Mediterranean coast since the rebellion began in February.

Rebels say taking it back will be a tipping point in the conflict on the eastern front. On Saturday they said a reconnaissance unit sent into the town in preparation for an attack had clashed with government forces.

Meanwhile, NATO warplanes have been targeting pro-Gaddafi forces near Brega. The alliance said targets hit on Friday included one tank, five armored fighting vehicles, and two rocket launchers near the town.

Libyan officials in Tripoli made no comment on any fighting in Brega, and it was not immediately possible to verify rebel accounts of what was happening there.

LIBYA THE NEXT SOMALIA?

Western governments and Libya's neighbors have expressed concern that the conflict could be exploited by Islamist militants, and especially by al Qaeda's North African wing.

"Niger's interest is that this crisis does not result in fundamentalists taking power (in Libya), that's our concern," said Mahamadou Issoufou, the president of Libya's southern neighbor Niger.

"Niger's interest is that the crisis resolves itself, that it does not drag on and that the Libyan state does not go the same way as Somalia," he said on state television late on Saturday.

On another front, in the Western Mountains region south-west of Tripoli, pro-Gaddafi forces exchanged artillery fire early on Sunday with rebels in the village of Al-Qawalish, a rebel fighter manning a checkpoint there told Reuters.

The fighter, called Ahmed, also said four rebels were injured on Saturday when their vehicle hit a land mine on the southeast edge of Al-Qawalish.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Omar Fahmy in Cairo, Peter Graff in Al-Qawalish, Libya, and Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

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Rebels brace for attacks as Gaddafi threatens Europe (Reuters)

DAFNIYA/AL-QAWALISH, Libya (Reuters) – Rebel fighters braced for further attacks on Saturday from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi after the Libyan leader staged a show of support at home and threatened to strike his enemies abroad.

Rebels in Misrata said the death toll in the western town, a longtime insurgent stronghold, had risen to seven from six, with at least 17 wounded, after a heavy attack by Gaddafi artillery the day before.

A rebel spokesman in the town on the Mediterranean coast, who gave his name as Youssef, told Reuters: "The situation is calm today in Misrata. Yesterday seven rebels were killed. We expect fighting this evening."

Rebels have advanced on two fronts against Gaddafi forces in recent days, but government troops have fought back and Gaddafi has also sought to encourage his forces.

In a defiant speech late on Friday, Gaddafi threatened to export the war to Europe in revenge for the NATO-led military campaign against him, and to crush his enemies.

The "traitors" ranged against him in Libya and elsewhere will "fall under the feet" of the Libyan masses, he said.

In Tripoli and 800 km (500 miles) to the south in the desert town of Sabha, tens of thousands -- swelled by representatives of the tribes of the region -- gathered for Friday prayers in what appeared to be an attempt to show that Gaddafi enjoys widespread support in the areas he still controls despite the rebel gains of recent weeks.

Gaddafi supporters rallied in Tripoli's Green Square, underscoring his refusal to step down after four decades in power and five months of fighting.

Speaking on Libyan television, Gaddafi threatened to send hundreds of Libyans to carry out revenge attacks in Europe.

"Hundreds of Libyans will martyr in Europe. I told you it is eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. But we will give them a chance to come to their senses," he said in an audio speech.

HEAVY FIRE

While the insurgents have advanced on two fronts, rebels in Misrata have come under heavy artillery fire from Gaddafi's forces.

A rebel sympathizer in Misrata told Reuters opposition forces had been moving closer to neighboring Zlitan, one of a chain of government-controlled towns blocking their advance to Tripoli.

As they advanced, pro-Gaddafi troops inside the city fired rounds of explosives to block their progress, the sympathizer said in an email.

"The rebels are waiting for NATO backup or for Gaddafi forces to run out of ammunition to make a move to take the city center," he said.

On the other major front, in the Western Mountains region southwest of Tripoli, NATO warplanes bombed forces loyal to Gaddafi several times on Friday, their bombs landing about 3 km (2 miles) east of the village of Al-Qawalish, according to one rebel fighter.

After weeks of static fighting, the rebels have made significant advances this week: pushing west from Misrata to within 13 km (8 miles) of Zlitan, where large numbers of pro-Gaddafi forces are based, and seizing the village of Al-Qawalish in the southwest.

Taking Al-Qawalish brings them closer to having control of a major highway into the capital.

Rebel advances over the last two weeks have allowed normal life to resume in towns no longer within shelling distance of Gaddafi's troops.

Rebels staged a military parade on Friday evening in Zintan, driving tanks through the streets of town in the Western Mountains. People fired rifles in the air including one small boy who opened fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle while perched on his father's shoulders.

(Additional reporting by Lamine Chikhi in Sabha, Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Tarek Amara in Tunis; Writing by Giles Elgood)

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Libyan rebels seize 2 mountain towns (AP)

By ADAM SCHRECK and BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Adam Schreck And Ben Hubbard, Associated Press – 1?hr?36?mins?ago

TRIPOLI, Libya – Rebel fighters in western Libya seized two mountain towns from government troops Wednesday as their counterparts east of the capital Tripoli suffered heavy losses in intense fighting with government troops.

Meanwhile, the embattled regime of Moammar Gadhafi sought to show it remains in control of the country, laying out plans to try rebel leaders for treason in court next week.

In the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi, tens of thousands of rebel supporters poured into the city's main square for a rally aimed at sustaining momentum for their nearly five month-old uprising. Fighting began in February when a popular movement against Gadhafi quickly escalated into armed conflict.

The civil war has been largely deadlocked, with the rebels controlling the east and Gadhafi clinging to large parts of western Libya, but unable to retake rebel bridgeheads there. The rebels made some gains Wednesday, taking two more towns in the western Nafusa mountains and pushing further from the port city of Misrata, their main stronghold in the west, toward the town of Zlitan, 12 kilometers to the west.

Gadhafi's forces fired more than 500 rockets at rebel positions near Zlitan, from dawn until after nightfall, said Dr. Ayman Abu Shahma, a physician in Misrata. He said 18 rebel fighters were killed and 30 wounded Wednesday. He said two civilians, including a 12-year-old girl, also were killed when a rocket hit their Misrata house.

NATO, meanwhile, said it struck equipment used to refuel government military vehicles near the key eastern oil town of Brega, which has been a frequent site of clashes between rebel fighters and troops loyal to Gadhafi.

The alliance said its warplanes have destroyed 2,700 military targets, including 600 Libyan tanks and artillery guns and nearly 800 ammunition stores, since NATO began bombing Gadhafi-linked sites in March under a U.N. mandate to protect Libyan civilians.

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that Gadhafi's forces remain a threat. "Without NATO there would be a massacre. Gadhafi would be free to use his tanks and missiles on towns and markets," he said. "We will not let that happen."

NATO's campaign was intended to deliver a sharp, devastating blow. However, with the campaign dragging on inconclusively, there have been increasing international calls for a negotiated end to the war. The ragtag rebel forces to the east and south of Gadhafi's stronghold in the capital Tripoli have failed to achieve a breakthrough in recent months.

Still, rebel fighters in the Nafusa mountains southwest of Tripoli seized control Wednesday of two towns after pushing out government forces, a member of the local military council said.

Col. Gomaa Ibrahim said via Skype that rebel forces moved into Qawalish and Kikla on Wednesday morning, after a battle in which one rebel fighter was killed and five were injured. It was unclear if any government soldiers were killed.

While the two towns are small, their capture further expands the area seized from government troops in recent months by relatively small bands of mountain rebels. A string of similar victories has left rebels in control of most of the Nafusa mountains, bringing them within about 100 miles (160 kilometers) of Tripoli.

Most of Libya's rebel-held territory lies in the east, where the rebel's National Transitional Council runs the movement from its de facto capital in Benghazi. Rebels also control the western port city of Misrata, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

NATO airstrikes, regime defections and increasing international isolation have eroded Gadhafi's grip on the country. His regime struck back Wednesday, saying it planned to charge rebel leaders with treason. A judge compiling the charges laid out his case against 21 rebel officials, including the National Transitional Council's head, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil. Defendants will be tried in absentia.

Rebel spokesman Jalal Galal dismissed the charges as a political stunt.

"He (Gadhafi) thinks it's a joke or a game, but now the people have awakened, and the people have spoken," he said in response to the allegations. "He has to stand trial for his crimes against humanity."

The charges include facilitating foreign intervention in Libya, providing aid to the enemy and seeking to topple Gadhafi.

Judge Khalifa Isa Khalifa told reporters in Tripoli that he will present the case before a special court presided over by a three-judge panel next week. His evidence includes witness testimony.

The allegations "amount to treason of the homeland of Libya," government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said. He added that those found guilty of treason could face the death penalty.

If the rebel leaders are convicted, Libya will seek international help, Khalifa said, such as warrants from Interpol to "demand that they are brought to justice."

That's a long shot at best. The rebels enjoy significant support from the West and several oil-rich Gulf Arab states.

Last week, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi for alleged crimes against humanity. International prosecutors at the Netherlands-based court allege government troops fired on civilian protesters during anti-Gadhafi demonstrations inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year.

Libyan officials reject the ICC's authority, saying their special court will bring justice to anyone who committed crimes during the uprising. Khalifa declined to say whether this also meant Gadhafi and his inner circle.

"We are ready and prepared to investigate any person in this country if there are people who are willing to come to the (attorney general) with accusations or complaints," he said.

In rebel-held Benghazi, tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into Martyrs' Square for what observers described as one of the biggest rallies in months.

They waved the rebels' tricolor flag along with those of allied nations including Qatar, France and Britain. Others released colorful balloons and chanted slogans, including "Come on, Tripoli! Make this Friday the last day" — a call to the capital's residents to rise up.

___

Hubbard reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Cairo, Rami al-Shaheibi in Benghazi and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed reporting.

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Libya rebels seize desert hamlet in Tripoli push (AFP)

GUALISH, Libya (AFP) – Libyan rebels on Wednesday seized the desert hamlet of Gualish on the first day of a NATO-backed push on Tripoli and captured a number of African mercenaries, an AFP correspondent said.

Buoyed by French arms drops and NATO-led air strikes, the rebels attacked positions in the Gualish area, in the plains north of their enclave in the Nafusa mountains southwest of Tripoli.

The correspondent embedded with the rebels said they captured a number of mercenaries, some of whom were seen in a pick-up truck and told AFP they were from Ghana and Mali.

Earlier, a rebel leader from the hill town of Zintan said his forces had coordinated their assault with NATO, which has stepped up its bombing campaign by destroying frontline armour of Moamer Kadhafi's regime in the past week.

"We waited before launching this assault and finally got the green light from NATO this morning and the offensive began," the rebel leader said.

There were intense exchanges of artillery, mortar and cannon fire between the rebel fighters and government troops dug in around Gualish, the AFP correspondent reported.

The area targeted by the rebel offensive is seen as strategic as it also features the garrison city of Gharyan, a government stronghold in the Nafusa mountains.

In an operational update, NATO said it struck four tanks and two armed vehicles in Gharyan, along with command and control centres near the rebel-held western city of Misrata and eastern oil town of Brega on Tuesday.

NATO also said it carried out air strikes Wednesday on a fuel depot in Brega that had been used to supply forces loyal to Kadhafi.

After a retreat from around the plains town of Bir al-Ghanam last week, rebel spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani pledged last Saturday that his forces would soon try to push the front line northwards.

Wednesday's offensive came a day after France said it no longer needed to drop weapons to the rebels fighting the Kadhafi regime since they were getting more organised and could arrange to arm themselves.

However, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet cautioned against the rebels' prospects of defeating Kadhafi and pushing toward the capital.

Paris acknowledged last week it has made a series of parachute drops of weapons, including rocket launchers, to Berber rebel fighters in the Nafusa mountains, in a move criticised by Russia and the African Union.

On the diplomatic front, a Libyan rebel leader on a visit to Ankara pressed the international community Wednesday to release frozen Libyan funds and make them available to opposition forces.

Mahmud Jibril, a senior member of the National Transitional Council (NTC) based in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, made the appeal after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"A short time ago, we passed a message to the UN representative for Libya, to be conveyed to (UN) Security Council members, (asking) that Libya's assets be allocated to us," Jibril told reporters.

And rebel leaders for the first time are to hold talks with NATO's 28-nation North Atlantic Council on July 13 to present their plans for democratic transition, the organisation's chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday.

South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, meanwhile, said Kadhafi has sent envoys to President Jacob Zuma to say that he will stay out of talks on a peace deal and on his own future.

"He said he does not want to stand in the way of a settlement, and so he will not be part of negotiations about the future of Libya or his own future," Nkoana-Mashabane told a news conference in Pretoria.

Zuma is part of an African Union team trying to broker a peace deal in Libya, and met Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev and the NATO chief on Monday in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway for an international meeting on Libya in Istanbul on July 15-16, as diplomats increasingly mull what post-Kadhafi Libya might look like, with many hoping to avoid Iraq or Afghanistan-style chaos.

Rasmussen said Tuesday the alliance would like to see the United Nations assume the lead role in Libya's transition to democracy in the event Kadhafi leaves power.

In Benghazi, thousands of Libyans opposed to Kadhafi spilled into the streets of the rebel capital on Wednesday, hoping to bolster rebel moral and send a message to Tripoli.

And in Tripoli, a judge charged NTC rebel leaders with sedition and espionage, saying they would go on trial before a special court.

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Kadhafi shelling kills 11 in Misrata, most civilians: rebels (AFP)

BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) – Shelling by forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi killed 11 people and wounded another 57, almost all civilians, in the western rebel enclave of Misrata, insurgents said.

Earlier, the sources said five rebels were killed in fighting at the western entrance to the city, the sources said.

"Eleven people were killed and 57 wounded, almost all of them civilians," a rebel source told AFP by telephone from Misrata. 200 kilometres (120 miles) east of Tripoli.

The news came as Paris said the rebels, increasingly confident on the ground, no longer need weapons drops from France, and as a senior Russian official reported that Moamer Kadhafi is conditionally ready to step down.

Meanwhile, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance would like to see to see the United Nations assume the leading role in Libya's transition to democracy in the event Kadhafi leaves power.

"There is emerging a political order distinct from that of Tripoli," French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said. "The (rebel) territories are organising their autonomy... That is why the parachute drops are no longer necessary."

Last week, France said it supplied light arms including rifles and rocket launchers to the rebels for "self-defence" in line with a UN resolution and that it informed NATO and the Security Council of its plan to do so.

Russia criticised the arms drops, and France's NATO ally Britain expressed reservations.

UN Security Council Resolution 1970, passed in February, prohibited states from providing any kind of arms to Libya. Resolution 1973 in March authorised nations "to take all necessary measures" to help protect civilians.

Longuet was cautious about the rebels' chances of defeating Kadhafi in a major offensive they have said they are preparing on Tripoli.

They have a "growing capacity to organise politically and militarily" but are "currently not in a stabilised, centralised system," he said.

On the diplomatic front, an unnamed senior Russian official was quoted on Tuesday as saying Kadhafi is ready to cede power in exchange for security guarantees.

"The colonel is sending signals that he is ready to cede power in exchange for security guarantees," the respected business daily Kommersant quoted the official as saying.

The Russian source added that France appeared the country most willing to play a part by unfreezing some of the Kadhafi family's accounts and promising to help him avoid trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

On Monday, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim had said contacts between Tripoli and rebel-stronghold Benghazi were continuing across several cities in Europe in order to seek a reconciliation and avoid bloodshed.

The Kommersant report came a day after NATO's Rasmussen discussed Libya in Russia with President Dmitry Medvedev and South African President Jacob Zuma, fresh from an African Union summit that tried to forge a regional peace plan.

Russia has advocated the AU taking a leading role in negotiations to end the conflict, and Zuma, highly critical of NATO air raids, told Medvedev he hoped the alliance would better appreciate the AU's concerns.

One of the new elements in the road map agreed by the AU on Friday included provisions for a multinational peacekeeping force organised by the United Nations.

But the rebels have thus far rejected the AU's settlement terms and Russia has also failed to convince Kadhafi to leave.

"There is absolutely no current or future possibility for Kadhafi to remain in Libya," said National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Mohammed Abdel Jalil.

"There is no escape clause for Kadhafi -- he must be removed from power and face justice," Jalil said in a statement.

In other developments, NTC foreign affairs point man Mahmud Jibril was to hold in Ankara on Tuesday with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his United Arab Emirates counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan, a senior Turkish diplomat said.

The talks are to prepare the ground for a meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya, scheduled for July 15-16 in Istanbul, the diplomat told AFP.

Also Tuesday, Davutoglu was to meet separately with the special UN envoy for Libya, Abdul Ilah al-Khatib, the Turkish diplomat said.

The increased diplomatic activity comes amid a toughening Turkish stance on Libya after Ankara's initial criticism of the Western air strikes.

On Sunday, Davutoglu visited Benghazi, recognised the NTC as "the legitimate representative of the Libyan people" and offered $200 million in aid.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is NATO's sole Muslim-majority member and an influential regional player, has called on Kadhafi to cede power and leave Libya.

Meanwhile, Rasmussen is to meet Libyan opposition members in Brussels next week, an alliance diplomat said Tuesday, their first invitation to NATO headquarters.

Speaking in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday, Rasmussen said "to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people, it is necessary that Kadhafi leaves power.

"After that, it is necessary to ensure a transition to democracy... We want the United Nations to take the lead in this effort."

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Libya rebels poised for push towards Tripoli (AFP)

BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) – Buoyed by French arms drops and intensified NATO air strikes on the regime's frontline armour, Libya's rebel army said it is poised for an offensive that could put it within striking distance of Tripoli.

The rebels' announcement late on Saturday came as a prolonged deadlock on the battlefield prompted mounting pressure from countries outside the NATO-led coalition for a negotiated solution to a conflict that has dragged on for four and a half months.

South Africa, which has taken a lead role in mediation efforts, said that President Jacob Zuma would hold talks in Moscow on Monday with representatives of the International Contact Group on Libya as well as Russian officials.

Rebel fighters are readying an advance out of their hilltop enclave in the Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripoli, in the next 48 hours in a bid to recapture territory in the plains on the road to the capital, spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said.

"In the next two days the (revolutionaries) will come up with answers, things will change on the front line," he said.

The rebels had pulled back last week from around the plains town of Bir al-Ghanam, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Tripoli, in the face of loyalist bombardment.

But last week France made a series of controversial weapons drops to rebel fighters in the Nafusa Mountains and NATO has bombarded loyalist positions around Bir al-Ghanam and elsewhere on the frontline around the rebel enclave.

In Gharyan, another Libyan government stronghold near the mountains, NATO aircraft struck eight targets over the previous four days, the alliance said on Saturday.

In its daily report for Saturday, NATO said it had launched a total of 52 strike sorties over Libya, hitting a tank near Gharyan and three armoured vehicles near Zlitan, also on the Nafusa frontline.

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi reacted furiously to the French arms drops to the rebels, calling on his supporters Friday to go and retrieve the weapons.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe insisted that the arms were meant only to defend peaceful civilians from Kadhafi's forces and thus fell in line with UN Security Council resolutions on the conflict.

As Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited the rebel capital of Benghazi on Sunday, Turkey's official journal said Ankara was definitely pulling ambassador out of Tripoli and adopting fresh sanctions against Kadhafi's regime.

Turkey, the only mainly Muslim member of NATO and an important regional player, has gradually taken a hard line against Tripoli, after at first criticising the Western air strikes.

There was no immediate confirmation from Moscow of the talks between Russian and South African officials and representatives of the NATO-led coalition but both countries have been outspoken advocates of a negotiated solution to the conflict.

The foreign ministry in Pretoria said the talks in Russia would include all members of the so-called International Contact Group on Libya but could provide no further details.

The Kremlin said in a statement late Saturday that Zuma and President Dmitry Medvedev held a telephone conversation in which they agreed on a "personal meeting in the closest time" but gave no details on when it would take place.

Pretoria said that the talks had been scheduled for Monday and that Zuma would leave for them later on Sunday.

The announcement came shortly after the South African president returned home from an African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea, where the continental grouping adopted a plan for negotiations between the warring Libyan parties.

"We are very happy that we have reached this point, that we can now say very soon we will be launching the talks in Addis Ababa and we believe we will get the necessary support from everyone," Zuma said after the summit.

New elements in the AU plan include provisions for a multinational peacekeeping force organised by the United Nations.

The bloc also says that Kadhafi has agreed to stay out of the negotiations, while the rebels have not ruled out his remaining inside Libya so long as he relinquishes power.

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Rockets push back rebels south of Libyan capital (Reuters)

BIR-AYYAD, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels who had advanced to within 80 km (50 miles) of Muammar Gaddafi's stronghold in the capital were forced to retreat Friday after coming under a barrage of rocket fire from government forces.

The rebels' advance five days ago to the outskirts of the small town of Bir al-Ghanam had raised the possibility of a breakthrough in a four-month old conflict that has become the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings.

Rebel fighters who had been massing on a ridge near Bir al-Ghanam and preparing for an attack were now pulling back under fire from Russian-made Grad rockets, said a Reuters photographer in Bir-Ayyad, 30 km to the south.

He said the rocket barrage was now reaching as far back as Bir-Ayyad, a road junction in the foothills of the Western Mountains range south-west of Tripoli from where the rebels had launched their advance last week.

The reversal underlines the resilience of Gaddafi's forces, who have withstood 15 weeks of bombardment by NATO missiles and warplanes, and attempts by rebels on three fronts to break through their lines.

Frustration at the slow progress is growing inside the military alliance, with some members worried about the cost, civilian casualties and the fact the campaign has now been going on much longer than its backers anticipated.

There are also differences about how proactive NATO members should be in aiding the rebels, who are hampered by a lack of organization and a shortage of equipment.

France this week became the first member of the anti-Gaddafi alliance to acknowledge that it had supplied weapons to the rebels, saying this was justified to protect civilians under threat from Gaddafi's forces.

It said it used parachutes to drop assault rifles and rocket launchers, along with humanitarian supplies, to rebels in the Western mountains.

That admission prompted Russia, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, to accuse France of a "gross violation" of a U.N. arms embargo.

Even France's NATO allies distanced themselves from the French operation, though Britain and the United States said they believed it was justified under U.N. rules.

NATO STRIKE

Libyan state television reported that NATO had bombed military and civilian sites in the government-controlled town of Garyan, on the eastern edge of the Western Mountains.

NATO said it had successfully destroyed a military target in the town Friday.

"It should be noted that the target was well outside the built-up area of the conurbation and no collateral damage was observed afterwards. At no time was any civilian area targeted," a NATO official said.

Gaddafi has said the NATO campaign is an act of colonial aggression aimed at stealing Libya's plentiful oil. His aides say arrest warrants issued Monday by the International Criminal Court for him, his son and his brother-in-law have no legitimacy because the court is a tool of the West.

Gaddafi's daughter, Aisha, said in a television interview broadcast late Thursday that her father's administration was prepared to cut a deal with the rebels if that was what it took to stop the bloodshed.

The offer marks a shift in tone. Until now Libyan officials have dismissed the rebels as criminals and no one in the Libyan leader's inner circle has publicly raised the possibility of making any accommodation with them.

"There are direct and indirect negotiations and we should stop letting Libyan blood," Gaddafi's daughter said in an interview with France 2 television.

"And for that we are ready to ally with the devil and that is the armed rebels," said Aisha Gaddafi, a lawyer who has no official government role but has often acted as a mediator on behalf of her family.

But she dismissed the prospect of her father going into exile. "This word departure, departure, departure ... what I find strange is where do you want him to go? This is his country, his land, his people," she said.

The London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Gaddafi's representatives had been meeting officials from France and Britain on the Tunisian island of Djerba.

Citing unnamed sources from the Gaddafi and opposition camps, the newspaper said Gaddafi was willing to step down if he was spared prosecution and allowed to live in his hometown of Sirte, northern Libya, with guarantees for his security.

There was no confirmation of the report from Gaddafi's government, Britain or France.

OPTIONS NARROWING

Anti-Gaddafi rebels rejected talks with the Libyan leader's administration after the International Criminal Court issued its arrest warrants, saying there was no point talking to a war criminal.

Some Libya-watchers say Gaddafi has floated the possibility of a peace deal several times to stall for time and weaken the resolve of the Western alliance to push him out.

But others say he may be looking for a negotiated exit as his options narrow. International sanctions are causing a shortage of fuel in Gaddafi-controlled areas, and NATO strikes are eroding his ability to enforce his power.

The Libyan conflict has sent ripples far beyond the North African country of six million people.

The fighting has halted Libyan oil exports, helping push up world crude prices to about $111 a barrel.

It has also created a security vacuum which officials in the region say could be exploited by Islamist militants and al Qaeda's North African wing.

"If this civil war goes on, it would be a new Somalia, which I don't say lightly. In three months we could be dealing with extremists," Marouane Abassi, World Bank country manager for Libya, told Reuters in the Tunisian capital.

(Additional reporting by Tarek Amara and Andrew Hammond in Tunis, David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Sami Aboudi in Dubai and John Irish in Paris; Writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Ralph Boulton)

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French military confirms arms drops to Libyan rebels (AFP)

PARIS (AFP) – The French military confirmed on Wednesday that earlier this month it had air dropped arms shipments to Libyan rebels fighting Moamer Kadhafi's forces in the highlands south of Tripoli.

The NATO military operation in Libya was launched under a UN Security Council resolution authorising world powers to take action to "protect civilians" and this was the first time France has admitted arming rebels.

The news came as a surprise even to France's closest allies, and Britain -- which has joined Paris in spearheading the air campaign against Kadhafi -- distanced itself from the move and said it would not follow suit.

The Le Figaro newspaper and a well-placed non-government source said that France had dropped several tonnes of arms including Milan anti-tank rockets and light armoured vehicles to the revolt.

But Colonel Thierry Burkhard, spokesman for the French general staff, told AFP that the shipments were essentially of "light arms" such as assault rifles to help civilian communities protect themselves from regime troops.

Mahmud Shamman, a spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council, the revolutionary high command, visiting Paris, told reporters he could not comment on the reported arms shipments.

The British foreign ministry was also cautious, telling reporters: "Our position is clear: there is an arms embargo on Libya.

"But at the same time UN Security Council Resolution 1973 allows all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack," it said in a statement.

"We do think the United Nations resolutions allow, in certain limited circumstances, defensive weapons to be provided but the UK is not engaged in that. Other countries will interpret the resolution in their own way."

In New York, a UN diplomat speaking on condition on anonymity, told AFP that while there is an arms embargo a "close reading of the resolution would suggest air drops of arms are not illegal if they are to protect civilians."

Burkhard said France had become aware in early June that rebel-held Berber villages in the Djebel Nafusa highland region south of the capital had come under pressure from the Libyan strongman's loyalist forces.

"We began by dropping humanitarian aid: food, water and medical supplies," he said. "During the operation, the situation for the civilians on the ground worsened. We dropped arms and means of self-defence, mainly ammunition."

Burkhard described the arms as "light infantry weapons of the rifle type" and said the drops were carried out over several days "so that civilians would not be massacred".

According to Le Figaro, which said it had seen a secret intelligence memo and talked to senior officials, the drops were designed to help rebel fighters encircle Tripoli and encourage a popular revolt in the city itself.

"If the rebels can get to the outskirts of Tripoli, the capital will take the chance to rise against Kadhafi," said an official quoted in the report.

"The regime's mercenaries are no longer getting paid and are scarcely getting fed. There's a severe fuel shortage, the population has had enough."

A well-placed non-government source told AFP that 40 tonnes of weapons including "light armoured cars" had been delivered to rebels in western Libya.

According to Le Figaro the French arms shipments were dropped from planes across the Djebel Nafusa region, where Berber tribes have risen to join the revolt against Kadhafi's rule and seized several provincial towns.

The crates hold assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, it said, and also European-made Milan anti-tank missiles, a powerful addition to the rebel arsenal that can destroy a tank or a bunker.

Qatar has also reportedly been involved in sending weapons to the rebels, and the Figaro report said that opposition fighters control two small desert air strips south of Djebel Nafusa where its planes have landed.

France has taken a leading role in organising international support for the uprising against Kadhafi's four-decade old rule, and French and British jets are spearheading a NATO-led air campaign targeting his forces.

Rebel forces are based in Benghazi in the east of the country, and hold a besieged enclave supplied by sea in the western coastal town of Misrata, but have been unable to mount a convincing advance on the capital.

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Libyan rebels claim advances in western mountains (AP)

TRIPOLI, Libya – Rebels in Libya's western mountains said they have advanced and are battling Moammar Gadhafi's forces in a strategic town southwest of the capital, ramping up pressure against government troops on a second front.

The rebels' claim of an advance into the outskirts of the town of Bair al-Ghanam, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Tripoli, follows weeks of intense fighting in the Nafusa mountains in which opposition forces have slowly pushed Gadhafi troops back toward Tripoli.

Libya's rebels control the eastern third of the country and pockets, including a number of Nafusa mountain towns, in the west.

The bulk of the fighting in recent months has been focused on front lines to the east of Tripoli. But a push by rebels from the Nafusa mountains could force Gadhafi to commit more troops to the southern and western approaches to the capital.

A rebel military spokesman in the Nafusa mountains, Gomaa Ibrahim, said opposition fighters and government troops have been fighting since early Sunday on the perifery of Bair al-Ghanam.

Guma el-Gamaty, a spokesman for the rebels' National Transitional council, said the town is significant because it is only 19 miles (30 kilometers) south of the city of Zawiya, a key western gateway to the capital and home to a crucial oil refinery.

Opposition fighters seized control of Zawiya in March before government troops crushed rebel forces there to retake the city. Fighting broke out in the city again earlier this month, briefly cutting access to the vital coastal highway that passes through Zawiya. The route links Tripoli with the Tunisian border and is one of Gadhafi's last main supply lines.

In Tripoli, Gadhafi's government remained defiant. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Gadhafi is in "high spirits" and remains in day-to-day control of the country. He insisted Gadhafi will remain in Libya, but wouldn't confirm that the leader is still in the capital.

"Gadhafi is here, he is staying. He is leading the country. He will not leave. He will not step down," Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli, challenging the rebels and the NATO-led coalition giving them air support. "If they want to continue the fight, we are ready. We will fight street to street, house to house."

As he spoke, deafening bursts of automatic rifle fire shot into the air by female soldiers and fresh civilian trainees rang out at a pro-government event in central Tripoli. Moussa told reporters that the government so far has distributed 1.2 million weapons to supporters in the west of the country to defend themselves.

Just over 100 Libyans arrived in Tripoli by ship from the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi early Sunday. The ferry was operated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which transported about 300 people in the opposite direction, to Benghazi from Tripoli, on Friday.

Many of those arriving aboard the blue-and-white "Ionis" ferry on Sunday appeared to be families with small children and elderly people. While a small number of passengers waved green Libyan flags and chanted pro-Gadhafi slogans, others said they were returning simply to be reunited with loved ones in the west.

Mohammed Saad Aziz said he was returning to Tripoli to be with family following the recent death of his mother. He called on NATO to stop its daily bombing runs to give Libyans a chance to resolve the conflict on their own.

"We need to solve our problems ourselves and we do not want anyone to interfere. They (NATO) have to step aside and let us work out our problems. We will solve our own problems through dialogue," he said.

Red Cross spokesman Robin Waudo said many more people displaced by the conflict would like to make the sea journey across the front lines, but have so far been prevented from doing so because officials on both sides must approve who makes the crossing.

Meanwhile, African leaders meeting in Pretoria, South Africa said Gadhafi has agreed not to take part in negotiations to end the more than four months of turmoil in Libya. There was no immediate confirmation from the Libya regime of what could be a significant concession.

In a communique issued after a daylong meeting in South Africa's capital, the African Union's committee on Libya said it "welcomes Col. Gadhafi's acceptance of not being part of the negotiation process."

The communique did not elaborate, and committee members did not take questions.

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Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Cairo and Donna Bryson in Pretoria, South Africa, contributed to this report.

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