Arab states back Libya no-fly zone against Gaddafi

RAS LANUF, Libya/CAIRO, (Reuters) – Arab countries  appealed to the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone on Libya  as government troops backed by warplanes fought to drive rebels  from remaining strongholds in the west of the country.
Washington, which would probably play the leading role in  enforcing any no-fly zone, called the declaration an “important  step” and said it was preparing for all contingencies. But it  stopped short of commitment to any military action.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said the League,  meeting in Cairo yesterday, had decided that “serious crimes  and great violations” committed by the government of Muammar  Gaddafi against his people had stripped it of legitimacy.
It was not clear if the League’s call for a no-fly zone  would provide the unequivocal regional endorsement NATO has said  is needed for military action to curb Gaddafi. The League also  said it had opened contacts with the Libyan rebel leadership.
Events on the ground are moving more quickly than  international diplomacy. While the EU and Washington hesitate,  Gaddafi has marshalled his forces to defy a tide of reform  across the Middle East that has seen autocratic rulers in  Tunisia and Egypt toppled and unprecedented protest elsewhere.
Pro-Gaddafi troops unleashed an assault on Misrata, Libya’s  third city and the only rebel outpost between the capital and  the eastern front around the oil town of Ras Lanuf.
“We are hearing shelling. We have no choice but to fight,”   rebel spokesman Gemal said by telephone from Misrata.   “I can hear loud explosions,” said a resident who would only  give his name as Mohammad. “Everybody is rushing home, the shops  have closed and the rebels are taking up positions.”
Mussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman in Tripoli, could  neither confirm nor deny a military operation was under way.
“There is a hard core of al Qaeda fighters there,” he said.  “It looks like a Zawiyah scenario. Some people will give up,  some will disappear … Tribal leaders are talking to them.  Those who stay behind, we will deal with them accordingly.”
It took a week of repeated assaults by government troops,  backed by tanks and air power, to crush the uprising in Zawiyah,  a much smaller town 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli.
While the death toll in Zawiyah is unknown, much of the town  was destroyed, with buildings around the main square showing  gaping holes blown by tank rounds and rockets. Gaddafi’s forces  bulldozed a cemetery where rebel fighters had been buried.