The rout came as the
Hundreds of rebels in cars and trucks mounted with machine guns sped eastward on the Mediterranean coastal road in a seemingly disorganized flight from Ras Lanouf as an overwhelming force of rockets and shells pounded a hospital, mosque and other buildings in the oil complex. Doctors and staff at the hospital were hastily evacuated along with wounded from fighting from the past week.
The opposition, however, made some diplomatic gains.
In
"I have two words to our brothers and sisters in the east: We're coming," he told a cheering crowd of young supporters. The son depicted Libyans in the east as being held "hostage" by terrorists.
Gadhafi's government sent a text message to
There were demonstrations after prayers for the past two Fridays, and militiamen used tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the crowds who had gathered in mosques. There were an undetermined number of deaths after the Feb. 25 demonstrations.
The retreat was a heavy blow for the ragtag rebel forces of armed civilians and mutinous army units that only days before had confidently charged west, boasting they would march the hundreds of miles (kilometers) to "liberate" There were no concrete signs of Western moves toward military assistance that the opposition has been pleading for. A rebel spokesman went beyond repeated calls for a no-fly zone to prevent Gadhafi's air force from harrying opposition fighters and said the West should carry out direct strikes against regime troops.
"We have requested for all steps to be taken to protect the Libyan people. We believe the U.N. can do that. The bombardment of mercenaries and Gadhafi troop camps are among our demands," Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, a spokesman of the governing council, told reporters in the opposition's eastern bastion of
The rebel capture of Ras Lanouf a week ago had been a major victory as they pushed along Libya's long Mediterranean coastline toward Tripoli, in the far west of Libya. A day after seizing it, their forces charged farther ahead, reaching the outskirts of Sirte, Gadhafi's hometown and a stronghold in the center of the country.
They were met there by a heavy counterattack that in the past week steadily pushed them back toward Ras Lanouf, 380 miles (615 kilometers) east of Tripoli, even as the rebels tried to build supply lines to keep up momentum.
The regime's offensive appeared to build in force. On Thursday morning, rebels were bringing in heavier weapons such as multiple-rocket launcher trucks and small tanks to the front lines just west of Ras Lanouf. But they came under a powerful barrage of shelling that pushed them back along the flat, desert scrubland into the tiny oil port.
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