Rebels flee as Libyan army steps up attacks
Source: Agencies |
March 11, 2011, Friday
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REBEL forces beat a retreat from the strategic oil port of Ras Lanouf yesterday, speeding back to opposition territory by the hundreds as Moammar Gadhafi's army pounded the town with artillery.
The opposition fighters fled eastward in cars and pickup trucks mounted with machine guns. One said government forces were raining rockets or tank shells on the city in what appeared to be preparation for a full-scale advance.
Shells fell near a hospital in the city and hit a series of residential buildings as Gadhafi's tanks moved further along Libya's main Mediterranean coastal road than they have been since the rebels seized most of the country's east.
An opposition fighter with a Kalashnikov rifle said he had fled the frontline outside Ras Lanouf to move deeper into the rebel-controlled east.
The retreat was a major setback on a day of rebel victory on the diplomatic front. France became the first country to formally recognize the rebels' newly created Interim Governing Council, saying it planned to exchange ambassadors after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with two representatives of the group based in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
"It breaks the ice," said Mustafa Gheriani, an opposition spokesman. "We expect Italy to do it, and we expect England to do it."
Germany said it froze billions in assets of the Libyan Central Bank and other state-run agencies. The US, UK, Switzerland, Austria and other countries have also frozen Gadhafi's assets.
"The brutal suppression of the Libyan freedom movement can now no longer be financed from funds that are in German banks," Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said.
NATO said it had started round-the-clock surveillance of the air space over Libya, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said a meeting of EU foreign ministers would discuss how to isolate the Libyan government.
The Libyan government tried to stave off tough action, sending envoys to Egypt, Portugal and Greece.
The international Red Cross said dozens of civilians have been wounded or killed in recent days in battles between Gadhafi's army and the opposition movement.
Fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Gadhafi around Ras Lanouf set two oil installations ablaze on Wednesday and inflicted yet more damage on Libya's crippled energy industry.
In the west, Gadhafi claimed victory in recapturing Zawiya. Western journalists based in Tripoli were taken on Wednesday to a stadium in Zawiya that was filled with Gadhafi loyalists waving green flags.
The opposition fighters fled eastward in cars and pickup trucks mounted with machine guns. One said government forces were raining rockets or tank shells on the city in what appeared to be preparation for a full-scale advance.
Shells fell near a hospital in the city and hit a series of residential buildings as Gadhafi's tanks moved further along Libya's main Mediterranean coastal road than they have been since the rebels seized most of the country's east.
An opposition fighter with a Kalashnikov rifle said he had fled the frontline outside Ras Lanouf to move deeper into the rebel-controlled east.
The retreat was a major setback on a day of rebel victory on the diplomatic front. France became the first country to formally recognize the rebels' newly created Interim Governing Council, saying it planned to exchange ambassadors after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with two representatives of the group based in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
"It breaks the ice," said Mustafa Gheriani, an opposition spokesman. "We expect Italy to do it, and we expect England to do it."
Germany said it froze billions in assets of the Libyan Central Bank and other state-run agencies. The US, UK, Switzerland, Austria and other countries have also frozen Gadhafi's assets.
"The brutal suppression of the Libyan freedom movement can now no longer be financed from funds that are in German banks," Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said.
NATO said it had started round-the-clock surveillance of the air space over Libya, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said a meeting of EU foreign ministers would discuss how to isolate the Libyan government.
The Libyan government tried to stave off tough action, sending envoys to Egypt, Portugal and Greece.
The international Red Cross said dozens of civilians have been wounded or killed in recent days in battles between Gadhafi's army and the opposition movement.
Fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Gadhafi around Ras Lanouf set two oil installations ablaze on Wednesday and inflicted yet more damage on Libya's crippled energy industry.
In the west, Gadhafi claimed victory in recapturing Zawiya. Western journalists based in Tripoli were taken on Wednesday to a stadium in Zawiya that was filled with Gadhafi loyalists waving green flags.
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