Gaddafi’s troops in mutiny, say rebels

In the east, Muammar Gaddafi’s offensive was slowed by opposition forces digging in at a key oil port.

The regime’s campaign in the west appeared to be hitting problems. Government shelling of the opposition-held city of Misrata that lasted until yesterday morning stopped during the day.

Rebels said fighting had erupted among pro-Gaddafi troops surrounding the city, apparently after some had refused to attack.

Abdel-Fattah Ahmed, an opposition official in Misrata, said some of the government troops had “run off into the brush. No one has heard from them – we don’t know if they are alive or have been killed”.

But other residents said it was still unclear if there had been a mutiny on the Gaddafi side.

Libya’s upheaval has turned into a two-front conflict along the country’s Mediterranean coast, where the majority of the population lives.

Gaddafi appears to have the upper hand but his forces do not seem strong enough to overwhelm the rebels – setting the stage for a longer, grinding conflict as the West debates whether to intervene, mulling the imposition of a no-fly zone for which the rebels have been pleading.

In the east, Gaddafi forces tried to push back the long stretch of territory controlled by rebels – nearly the entire eastern half of the country.

There government troops have scored victories using overpowering bombardments with artillery, tanks, planes and warships.

They drove rebels out of the oil port of Ras Lanouf several days ago, and another such bombardment rained down on Sunday on those holding the next oil facility to the east, Brega.

But the regime offensive appears to be hampered by a lack of manpower. They can drive out rebels with barrages, but not necessarily hold the territory.

After fleeing the bombardment on Sunday the rebels then pushed back into Brega in the evening and claimed to have captured dozens of fighters from Gaddafi’s elite Khamis Brigade.

Yesterday, about 2,000 rebels – mainly members of a special commando unit that defected to the opposition – held Brega’s residential district, while pro-Gaddafi troops controlled the industrial oil facilities some distance away.

The rebel weakness, however, is in its supply lines. To get ammunition, reinforcements and arms to the front, it must drive along open desert roads, exposed to government air strikes. Gaddafi’s planes struck at least three targets yesterday in the city of Ajdabiya, west of Brega, missing a weapons storage site but hitting rebels at a checkpoint in an attempt to stop supplies

For the past week, the two sides have been battling for control over the two oil ports Brega and Ras Lanouf. But even if government troops take Brega as well, they may face even tougher resistance if they try to move further east, on the heavily populated cities that the opposition holds. The first of those cities is Ajdabiya, 480 miles south-east of Tripoli.

Western Libya remains Gaddafi’s stronghold, centred on Tripoli where his militia have crushed any attempts at an uprising.

But since early on in the revolt, which began February 15, several cities in the west fell into rebel hands.