Gaddafi strikes town, rebels call for foreign help

BREGA, Libya,  (Reuters) – Libyan rebels repulsed a  land and air offensive by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces yesterday  as the defiant leader warned foreign powers of “another Vietnam”  if they intervened.

The U.S. government is already cautious about the prospect  of imposing a “no-fly zone” over Libya, stressing the diplomatic  and military risks involved, but has nevertheless moved two  amphibious assault ships into the Mediterranean.

Rebels in their eastern bastion of Benghazi have called for  U.N.-backed air strikes to halt attacks by African mercenaries  they say Gaddafi is using against his own people.

Government troops, backed by air power, launched a dawn  attack yesterday and briefly captured Brega, an oil export  terminal 800 km (500 miles) east of Tripoli.

But opposition forces counter-attacked and took back the  town they held for about a week, rebel officers said. They were  ready to move west towards the capital, they said, if Gaddafi  refuses to quit.

Basking in the adulation of loyalists in Tripoli, Libya’s  leader for the last 41 years, launched into a tirade against the  “armed gangsters” he said were behind the unrest, part of a  conspiracy to colonise Libya and seize its oil.

“We will enter a bloody war and thousands and thousands of  Libyans will die if the United States enters or NATO enters,”  Gaddafi told Tripoli supporters at a gathering televised live.

“We are ready to hand out weapons to a million, or 2 million  or 3 million, and another Vietnam will begin. It doesn’t matter  to us. We no longer care about anything.”

Further bombing raids struck near the oil terminal in the  afternoon. Estimates of the death toll during the day ranged  between five and 14.

Oil prices <LCOc1> surged to near recent 2-1/2 year highs  due to fears the unrest could spread to other OPEC producers.

Gaddafi, who once said ballot box democracy was for donkeys,  told the gathering in Tripoli the world did not understand he  had given power to the people long ago.

“We put our fingers in the eyes of those who doubt that  Libya is ruled by anyone other than its people,” he said,  referring to his system of “direct democracy” launched at a  meeting attended by visiting Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 1977.

A Tripoli resident and Gaddafi opponent, who did not want to  be identified, told Reuters afterwards: “Gaddafi will hang on  for a while. It’s not going to be easy for an unarmed crowd to  face highly armed forces eager to shoot their own people.”

The assault on Brega appeared to be the most significant  military operation by Gaddafi since the uprising erupted in  mid-February and set off a confrontation that Washington says  could descend into a long civil war unless Gaddafi steps down.

Witnesses said the attack was backed by heavy weapons and  air strikes. One of the witnesses said Gaddafi’s forces were 2-3  km from the city centre and had 300-350 rebels pinned down at an  oil industry airport on the city outskirts.

Muammar Gaddafi

Hisham Mohammed, a 33-year-old mechanic on the side of the  rebels, was defiant.

“I’m going to Brega to help our brothers there. I’m washed,  I’ve prayed, and I’m ready to go to God,” he told Reuters.

Analysts cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from  fast moving events in a situation of erratic communications.

“The attack reinforces the idea that the government is  capable of projecting power far into the east,” said Shashank  Joshi, an analyst at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.

“But we should keep in mind that both the government and the  rebels are trying to spin an image of momentum.”

In Benghazi, the rebel National Libyan Council called for  air strikes.

“We call for specific attacks on strongholds of these  mercenaries,” said council spokesman Hafiz Ghoga. “The presence  of any foreign forces on Libyan soil is strongly opposed. There  is a big difference between this and strategic air strikes.”

In a possible response to Western hints that the opposition  needs to unify to facilitate rebel links with outside powers,  Ghoga added that a former justice minister, Mustafa Abdel,  Jalil, would be chairman of the Council which will have 30  members and be based in Benghazi before moving later to Tripoli.