Libyan rebels who had advanced to within 80 km (50 miles) of Muammar Qadhafi's stronghold in the capital were forced to retreat on Friday after coming under a barrage of rocket fire from government forces. The rebels' advance five days ago to the outskirts of the small town of Bir al-Ghanam had raised the possibility of a breakthrough in a four-month old conflict that has become the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings.
Rebel fighters who had been massing on a ridge near Bir al-Ghanam and preparing for an attack were now pulling back under fire from Russian-made Grad rockets, said a Reuters photographer in Bir-Ayyad, 30 km to the south. He said the rocket barrage was now reaching as far back as Bir-Ayyad, a road junction in the foothills of the Western Mountains range south-west of Tripoli from where the rebels had launched their advance last week.
The reversal underlines the resilience of Qadhafi's forces, who have withstood 15 weeks of bombardment by Nato missiles and warplanes, and attempts by rebels on three fronts to break through their lines. Frustration at the slow progress is growing inside the military alliance, with some members worried about the cost, civilian casualties and the fact the campaign has now been going on much longer than its backers anticipated.
There are also differences about how proactive Nato members should be in aiding the rebels, who are hampered by a lack of organisation and a shortage of equipment. France this week became the first member of the anti-Qadhafi alliance to acknowledge that it had supplied weapons to the rebels, saying this was justified to protect civilians under threat from Qadhafi's forces.
It said it used parachutes to drop assault rifles and rocket launchers, along with humanitarian supplies, to rebels in the Western mountains. That admission prompted Russia, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, to accuse France of a "gross violation" of a UN arms embargo.
Even France's Nato allies distanced themselves from the French operation, though Britain and the United States said they believed it was justified under UN rules. Libyan state television reported that Nato had bombed military and civilian sites in the government-controlled town of Garyan, on the eastern edge of the Western Mountains. Nato said it had successfully destroyed a military target in the town on Friday.
"It should be noted that the target was well outside the built-up area of the conurbation and no collateral damage was observed afterwards. At no time was any civilian area targeted," a Nato official said. Qadhafi has said the Nato campaign is an act of colonial aggression aimed at stealing Libya's plentiful oil. His aides say arrest warrants issued on Monday by the International Criminal Court for him, his son and his brother-in-law have no legitimacy because the court is a tool of the West. Qadhafi's daughter, Aisha, said in a television interview broadcast late on Thursday that her father's administration was prepared to cut a deal with the rebels if that was what it took to stop the bloodshed.
The offer marks a shift in tone. Until now Libyan officials have dismissed the rebels as criminals and no one in the Libyan leader's inner circle has publicly raised the possibility of making any accommodation with them. "There are direct and indirect negotiations and we should stop letting Libyan blood," Qadhafi's daughter said in an interview with France 2 television.
"And for that we are ready to ally with the devil and that is the armed rebels," said Aisha Qadhafi, a lawyer who has no official government role but has often acted as a mediator on behalf of her family. But she dismissed the prospect of her father going into exile. "This word departure, departure, departure ... what I find strange is where do you want him to go? This is his country, his land, his people," she said.
The London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Qadhafi's representatives had been meeting officials from France and Britain on the Tunisian island of Djerba. Citing unnamed sources from the Qadhafi and opposition camps, the newspaper said Gaddafi was willing to step down if he was spared prosecution and allowed to live in his hometown of Sirte, northern Libya, with guarantees for his security.
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