Loyalist Forces Break Through Rebel Lines in Libya

Fighting Between Libyan Rebels and Muammar al-Qaddafi's Forces Sparks Fears of Civil War - FoxNews.com



(Fox News March 5, 2011) Moammar al-Gadhfi loyalists swept into the opposition-held city closest to Tripoli on Saturday, tightening security around the regime-held capital.  To the east, rebel forces captured a key oil port as the country veered toward civil war.  Rebels said government forces had moved in to Zawiya, west of the capital, with tanks and dozens of people had been injured, but they vowed to keep up the fight.  One rebel said the hospital was under control of pro-Gadhfi forces so the injured were being taken to a makeshift clinic set up in a mosque or to private homes for treatment. 

Opposition forces in the east, meanwhile, advanced west in a push toward Gadhfi's hometown of Sirte, a day after the port city of Ras Lanouf fell to the rebellion.  The contrasting fortunes of the two warring sides suggest that the conflict in Libya could last for weeks and maybe months, with neither side mustering enough military power to decisively defeat the other.  The government is fighting fiercely to maintain its hold in Tripoli and surrounding areas and the rebels are pushing their front westward from their eastern stronghold.  Gadhfi, who has led the country virtually unchecked for decades, has unleashed a violent crackdown against those seeking his ouster, drawing international condemnation and sanctions. 

Hundreds have been killed, possibly more, placing pressure on the international community to do more to stop the crackdown on protests that began on February 15, inspired by successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, its neighbors to the east and west respectively.  President Obama has insisted that Gadhfi must leave and said his administration was considering a full range of options, including the imposition of a "no-fly" zone over Libya.  So far, Gadhfi has had little success in taking back territory, with the entire eastern half of the country and some cities near the capital under rebel control.  But the opposition forces have had limited success in marching on pro-Gadhfi areas, leading to a standoff that could last for weeks and maybe months, with neither side mustering enough military power to decisively defeat the other. 

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