Gaddafi's troops launch fightback

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces launched a fierce counterattack in a strategic western city today, firing rockets, mortar shells and anti-aircraft guns in a bid to keep the rebels from gaining complete control and advancing towards Tripoli.

Nato’s bombing campaign has made it difficult for the regime to send massive reinforcements to Zawiya, enabling the rebels to maintain a foothold in their biggest prize in months.

But today’s fierce onslaught by regime forces signalled an opposition push towards Tripoli, Gaddafi’s main stronghold, would be arduous and bloody.

As fighting intensified, the International Organisation for Migration announced plans to start evacuating “large numbers” of Egyptians and other foreigners, including some journalists, from Tripoli in coming days.

IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya said the organisation has appealed to donors for emergency funding for the rescue effort, which was needed because the road between Tunisia and Tripoli has been closed.

“We have a very limited window of opportunity to carry out this operation because of the fighting, so it is essential that we are not constrained by a lack of funds from the outset,” she told reporters in Geneva.

Rebels also seized the western city of Zlitan after clashes with regime forces that left 31 rebels dead and 120 injured, a spokesman said. The claim could not be independently verified.

Government troops have been fighting rebels in and around Zlitan for months. The town is a major obstacle in the path from the nearby city of Misrata on the way to Tripoli.

“The fighters have liberated Zlitan and they are fighting west of the city,” said Munir Ramzi of the opposition Misrata Military Council. He said Gaddafi’s forces were fleeing after today’s victory and the rebels are in control of the city.

The clashes came as the momentum in Libya’s six-month-old civil war appeared to shift toward the rebels after months of deadlock, with the opposition holding most of the east and regime troops in the western half of the oil-rich North African country.

Rebel fighters have been bogged down in the centre of Zawiya, after claiming victory over a sprawling oil refinery complex on the western outskirts following days of fighting earlier this week.

The relentless shelling of Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, has sent many civilians fleeing. Others hunkered down in their homes, despite the risks.

Muftah Mohammed, a civilian, said he was outside his house when he was struck by shrapnel from a mortar shell. A cousin was also hurt. Both were being treated at a clinic on the outskirts of Zawiya.

Zawiya is seen as a test for the final push to Tripoli, a metropolis of about two million people, or a third of the country’s population. Rebel forces entered the city last weekend, but have since failed to push Gaddafi’s forces out.

A local rebel commander, Mohammed al-Aloush, said the refinery, which was captured yesterday, is still controlled by the opposition but had been shut down completely because it had run out of crude oil.

The flow of crude to the refinery from fields in the south west of Libya had largely been halted since midsummer and its capture was unlikely to have a major impact on Gaddafi’s ability to secure fuel, but it was seen as a significant step in the rebel advance toward the capital.