Libya rebels battle in plains south of Tripoli
Florent Marcie
GUALISH, Florent Marcie- Rebels battling Moamer Kadhafi pressed ahead on Thursday with day two of a NATO-backed offensive after seizing a desert hamlet south of Tripoli and reported gains in their push along the coast from the east.
Reinforced with weapons from a French arms drop and backed by NATO-led air strikes aimed at destroying Kadhafi's frontline armour, they attacked regime forces in the plains southwest of the capital.
The area targeted by that offensive is seen as strategic as it also features the garrison city of Gharyan, a government stronghold in the Nafusa mountains.
An AFP correspondent embedded with the rebels reported intense exchanges of artillery, mortar and cannon fire around Gualish on Wednesday.
NATO listed seven targets where Kadhafi's military equipment had been attacked, including eight armoured vehicles and military refuelling equipment near the eastern oil town of Brega.
An anti-aircraft gun was also destroyed near Gharyan. Eight armed vehicles were also hit in the Zlitan area.
Meanwhile, insurgents said forces from their western coastal enclave of Misrata had pushed to within a short distance of Zlitan, some 60 kilometres (36 miles) further west.
In the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, an official statement said one rebel was killed and eight wounded when Kadhafi forces bombarded Misrata and Zlitan on Thursday.
The rebels said that on Wednesday "ten of our martyrs were killed and 59 others wounded" in the push on Zlitan.
Ten Kadhafi fighters were also killed, the statement added, saying others had fled. They abandoned a school used as a weapons depot, and an "enormous amount" of munitions, heavy weapons and military vehicles was captured.
Wing Commander Mike Bracken, the NATO mission's military spokesman, said "anti-Kadhafi forces look to have the initiative and are able to launch successful attacks against pro-Kadhafi forces."
But Kadhafi forces still hold two cities west of Tripoli, Zawiyah and Zuwarah, and are "rearming, regrouping and fighting in places such as Kikla, Misrata and Dafnia," he added via video link from NATO operational headquarters in Naples.
Tripoli pressed its media offensive with several religious leaders calling for Friday prayers in the capital's Green Square to "beg God to protect Libya against invading crusaders and traitors," a reference to NATO and the rebels.
A pro-Kadhafi demonstration broadcast on state television last week prompted a propaganda riposte by thousands of rebel supporters in Benghazi on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court will not accept Kadhafi's "blackmail" demands to withdraw its arrest warrant before he steps down, an official said.
"It would be blackmail that we would not accept," ICC deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told AFP in Botswana.
"Investigations were made and the findings gave the ICC judges enough evidence to issue a warrant of arrest and that should not be put on the table to negotiate Kadhafi's exit."
On the political front, a senior Chinese diplomat visited Benghazi and met members of the opposition, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.
Chen Xiaodong, in charge of North African affairs at the foreign ministry, met officials of the opposition's National Transitional Council (NTC), the official Xinhua news agency said.
Chen called for a quick political solution to the four-month-long conflict and urged the rebels to hold talks with officials loyal to Kadhafi, it said.
Until recently, China had maintained its long-standing policy of non-interference and public neutrality on the conflict, calling repeatedly for a peaceful end to the popular uprising.
But last month, Beijing recognised Libya's opposition as an "important dialogue partner" after Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met senior rebel leader Mahmud Jibril.
The NTC has been recognised by about 20 countries including Britain, France and the United States, and Poland on Thursday posted an ambassador to Benghazi.
But alliance member Italy, pressed by the need to cut defence spending, announced on Thursday that it was removing the aircraft carrier Garibaldi, its three fighter jets and 1,000 personnel from the Libyan operation.
The Garibaldi would be replaced by a smaller vessel and by warplanes from military bases, Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said.
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