Gaddafi defies West, pushes forces into Benghazi

BENGHAZI, Libya, (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar  Gaddafi’s forces pushed into the rebel-held city of Benghazi today, defying world demands for an immediate ceasefire and  forcing rebels to retreat.
The advance into Libya’s second city of 670,000 people  appeared to be an attempt to pre-empt Western military  intervention which diplomats say will come only after an  international meeting on Paris on Saturday starting at 1230 GMT.
A Libyan rebel spokesman said Gaddafi’s forces had entered  Benghazi while a Reuters witness saw a jet circling over the  city shot down and at least one separate explosion near the  rebel movement’s headquarters in the city.
“They have entered Benghazi from the west. Where are the  Western powers? They said they could strike within hours,” rebel  military spokesman Khalid al-Sayeh told Reuters.
Gaddafi said Western powers had no right to intervene.
“This is injustice, this is clear aggression,” government  spokesman Mussa Ibrahim quoted Gaddafi as saying in a letter to  France, Britain and the United Nations. “You will regret it if  you take a step towards interfering in our internal affairs.”
The Libyan government blamed the rebels, who it says are  members of al Qaeda, for breaking the ceasefire around Benghazi.
As explosions shook Benghazi, rebel fighters said they were  being forced to retreat from the outskirts of the city where the  revolt against Gaddafi began a month ago.
An unidentified fighter jet was shot down over Benghazi.
“I saw the plane circle around, come out of the clouds, head  towards an apparent target, and then it was hit and went  straight down in flames and a huge billow of black smoke went  up,” Reuters correspondent Angus MacSwan said.
“It seems it was attacking the Benghazi military barracks.”

REBEL CITY DOUBTS WEST
Benghazi residents were angry at the West’s delay.  “Europe and America have sold us out. We have been hearing  bombing all night, and they have been doing nothing. Why? we  have no one to help us but God,” said Hassan Marouf, 58,  standing outside the door of his house in Benghazi.
“Us men are not afraid to die, but I have women and children  inside and they are crying and in tears. Help us.”
The French ambassador to the United Nations said he thought  Western powers would not take military action till after the  Paris meeting, attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary  Clinton and Arab leaders.
“Everything is ready but the decision is now a political  one,” said a French government source. “It’s clear we have to  move quickly.”
Clinton, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French  President Nicolas Sarkozy are to meet around 1130 GMT in Paris,  an hour before the wider talks, a U.S. official said. That could  indicate Western military action may start slightly sooner.
Ambassadors from the 28 NATO states adjourned a meeting in  Brussels on Saturday to discuss possible NATO involvement in  policing Libyan skies till after the talks in Paris.
Meanwhile, rebels said Libyan jets had bombed the road to  Benghazi airport and elsewhere on the outskirts.
“They have just entered Benghazi and they are flanking us  with tanks, missiles and mortars,” Fathi Abidi, a rebel  supporter who works on logistics, said at the western entrance  to the city where about three quarters of million people live.
He pointed to a black smoke plume on the city’s boundaries.
Inside the city, residents set up make-shift barricades with  furniture, benches, road signs and even a barbecue in one case  at intervals along main streets. Each barricade was manned by  half a dozen rebels, but only about half of those were armed.
Elsewhere in the city, rebels reported skirmishes and  strikes by Gaddafi forces.
“Fighter jets bombed the road to the airport and there’s  been an air strike on the Abu Hadi district on the outskirts,”  Mohammed Dwo, a hospital worker and a rebel supporter, told  Reuters.

“ATTACKS MUST STOP”
Within hours of President Barack Obama saying the terms of a  U.N. resolution meant to end fighting in Libya were  non-negotiable, his U.N. envoy Susan Rice, asked by CNN whether  Gaddafi was in violation of these terms, said: “Yes, he is.”
Obama made clear any military action would aim to change  conditions across Libya — rather than just in the rebel-held  east — by calling on Gaddafi’s forces to pull back from the  western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata as well as from the east.   “All attacks against civilians must stop,” Obama said, a day  after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorising  international military intervention.
“Gaddafi must stop his troops from advancing on Benghazi,  pull them back from Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zawiyah, and establish  water, electricity and gas supplies to all areas. Humanitarian  assistance must be allowed to reach the people of Libya …
“Let me be clear, these terms are not negotiable… If  Gaddafi does not comply … the resolution will be enforced  through military action.”