Gaddafi defiant as West flexes military muscle

Protesters opposed to leader Muammar Gaddafi climb on the tank of Libyan army defectors in the centre of the city of Zawiyah, 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital Tripoli yesterday. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – Two U.S. warships were to pass  through the Suez Canal today heading toward Libya as  Western nations sought to keep up pressure on Muammar Gaddafi  to end a crackdown on a popular uprising and to step down.

Protesters opposed to leader Muammar Gaddafi climb on the tank of Libyan army defectors in the centre of the city of Zawiyah, 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital Tripoli yesterday. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

The United States warned Libya could descend into civil war  unless Gaddafi quits, amid fears that the most violent Arab  revolt may grow bloodier and cause a humanitarian crisis.

But Gaddafi remained defiant and his son, Saif al-Islam,  warned the West against launching military action and said the  veteran ruler would not step down or go into exile.

Italy said it was sending a humanitarian mission to Tunisia  to provide food and medical aid to as many as 10,000 people who  had fled violence in neighboring Libya.

Tunisian border guards fired into the air on Tuesday to try  to control a crowd of people clamoring to cross the frontier.

About 70,000 people have passed through the Ras Jdir border  post in the past two weeks, and many more of the hundreds of  thousands of foreign workers in Libya are expected to follow.

“Using force against Libya is not acceptable. There’s no  reason, but if they want … we are ready, we are not afraid,”  Saif al-Islam told Sky television.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told U.S.  lawmakers: “Libya could become a peaceful democracy or it could  face protracted civil war.” The United States said it was  moving ships and planes closer to the oil-producing North  African state.

The destroyer USS Barry moved through the Suez Canal on  Monday and into the Mediterranean. Two amphibious assault  ships, the USS Kearsarge, which can carry 2,000 Marines, and  the USS Ponce, are in the Red Sea and are expected to go  through the canal early on Wednesday.

U.S. RULES NOTHING OUT

The White House said the ships were being redeployed in  preparation for possible humanitarian efforts but stressed it  “was not taking any options off the table.”

“We are looking at a lot of options and contingencies. No  decisions have been made on any other actions,” U.S. Defense  Secretary Robert Gates said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe sounded a note of  caution, saying military intervention would not happen without  a clear United Nations mandate.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said Britain  would work with allies on preparations for a no-fly zone in  Libya, said it was unacceptable that “Colonel Gaddafi can be  murdering his own people using airplanes and helicopter  gunships.”

General James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command,  told a Senate hearing that imposing a no-fly zone would be a  “challenging” operation. “You would have to remove air defence  capability in order to establish a no-fly zone, so no illusions  here,” he said. “It would be a military operation.”

Analysts said Western leaders were in no mood to rush into  the conflict after drawn-out involvements in Afghanistan and  Iraq.

Gaddafi, a survivor of past coup attempts, told the U.S.  ABC network and the BBC on Monday:

“All my people love me,”  dismissing the significance of a rebellion that has ended his  control over much of oil-rich eastern Libya.

REBELS SAY STRENGTH GROWING

Rebel fighters said the balance of the conflict was  swinging their way. “Our strength is growing and we are getting  more weapons. We are attacking checkpoints,” said Yousef  Shagan, a spokesman in Zawiyah, 50 km (30 miles) from Tripoli.

A rebel army officer in the eastern city of Ajdabiyah said  rebel units were becoming more organized.

“All the military councils of Free Libya are meeting to  form a unified military council to plan an attack on Gaddafi  security units, militias and mercenaries,” Captain Faris Zwei  said. He said there were more than 10,000 volunteers in the  city, plus defecting soldiers.

The New York Times reported that the rebels’ revolutionary  council was debating whether to ask for Western airstrikes on  some of Gaddafi’s military assets under a United Nations  banner.

The Times said Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, the council’s spokesman,  declined to comment on its deliberations but said: “If it is  with the United Nations, it is not a foreign intervention,”  which the rebels have said they oppose.

The Times said there was no indication the U.N. Security  Council would approve such a request, or that Libyans seeking  to oust Gaddafi would welcome it.

Despite the widespread collapse of Gaddafi’s writ, his  forces were fighting back in some regions. A reporter on the  Tunisian border saw Libyan troops reassert control at a  crossing abandoned on Monday, and residents of Nalut, about 60  km (35 miles) from the border, said they feared pro-Gaddafi  forces were planning to recapture the town.

Mohamed, a resident of rebel-held Misrata, told Reuters by  phone: “Symbols of Gaddafi’s regime have been swept away from  the city. Only a (pro-Gaddafi) battalion remains at the city’s  air base but they appear to be willing to negotiate safe exit  out of the air base. We are not sure if this is genuine or just  a trick to attack the city again.”

Across the country, tribal leaders, officials, military  officers and army units have defected to the rebels. Sanctions  will squeeze his access to funds.      Tripoli is a clear Gaddafi stronghold, but even in the  capital, loyalties are divided. Many on the streets on Tuesday  expressed loyalty but a man who described himself as a military  pilot said: “One hundred percent of Libyans don’t like him.”