Rebels cut Gaddafi's last land link to outside world

LIBYAN rebel units yesterday smashed their way into the strategically vital town of Zawiya, half an hour's drive from the capital, Tripoli - cutting the highway that is Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi's last overland link to the outside world.

In one of the most spectacular gains of the war, opposition units broke through the front line around the town of 200,000 people and pushed into the centre, unfurling their red, black and green flag.

"I hope we can go and attack Tripoli in a few days," said Legun, a taxi driver turned anti-Gaddafi fighter. "Now that we have Zawiyah, we can free Libya."

Rabih Aboul-Gheit, an accountant in Zawiya, said: "From March until last night, we felt fear. But when the rebels came, we were really happy."

One rebel fighter said Gaddafi's forces still controlled the oil refinery on the northern edge of Zawiya, a strategic target because it is the only one still functioning in western Libya and Gaddafi's forces depend on it for fuel.

Elsewhere in the city, eight African men were rounded up by the rebels. Residents shouted "mercenaries" at them as they were driven to a security services building, torched during fighting back in February.

One of the eight, Nigerian Paul Joseph, said he was a worker in Zawiya and that he was arrested by rebels at his apartment.

"I left my seven-months pregnant wife behind in the flat," he said. "We have been trying to get out of Zawiya, but could not."

"Freedom, freedom," chanted a group of men greeting rebels inside Zawiya. One of those in the crowd rolled up his trousers to show black-and-blue bruises he said came from a beating by pro-Gaddafi forces who have been in control of the city for months.

With rebel offensives also making big gains south and east of Tripoli over the weekend, some opposition fighters are predicting that the war has reached a tipping point.

In Tripoli, Gaddafi spokesmen insisted Zawiya, 35 miles from the capital, remained in government hands, but television pictures told a different story.

An Al Jazeera report showed rebels marching in triumph down Zawiya's main thoroughfare under the bridge that carries the coastal highway.

Meanwhile, fighters have pushed north from the Nafusa mountains and claimed to have captured the town of Gariyan, 50 miles south of the capital, cutting a key highway.

Three hundred miles to the east, opposition forces were engaged in bloody fighting to capture the oil town of Brega, while rebels in Misrata at the weekend broke through siege lines to take the neighbouring town of Tawarga.

"There are engagements (in Brega] but we're going slowly. This is our strategy because we want to avoid casualties," said Mohammad Zawawi, a spokesman in the rebels' capital of Benghazi.

The attacks, which include skirmishes between rebels and loyalist troops on Libya's Tunisian border itself, have been accompanied by heavy Nato bombing.

Judging by impact craters, wrecked buildings and burnt-out tanks, Nato aircraft had bombed government military targets on the route of the rebel advance to Zawiya over the past week.

In Brussels, Nato said it was too early to know how significant rebel advances had been. "Nothing is certain yet," said an alliance official. "There is no confirmation about who has control of Zawiya because the situation changes every day."

In the past week, the alliance says it has destroyed a total of 134 military targets, inflicting a level of punishment that Gaddafi's battered forces may no longer be able to sustain.

That was certainly the case in Misrata, where rebel forces advanced east to Tawarga and, after a short, fierce firefight that claimed one rebel tank and five dead, saw government troops melt away in front of them.

"The town was empty; the guys, they ran away," said rebel fighter Abdullah Maiteeg.

Government units left behind large quantities of equipment, including a 155mm self- propelled howitzer, numerous cars and ammunition.

Added to the four howitzers captured by Misrata's forces two weeks ago, the loss represents a tilt in the balance of firepower around the besieged city.

Rebels there say they obtained permission from Nato to make the attack, agreeing that so-called Red Lines, beyond which the alliance bombs any military target it sees, could be pushed east and south.

"We got Nato's authorisation for the attack, they know what we are doing," said rebel Mohammed Ahmed of the Lion Brigade, which he said was one of 11 brigades involved in the attack.

After months of stalemate, rebels believe the combination of Nato bombing and infantry fighting has caused Gaddafi to run out of reserves, leaving him struggling to hold four front lines simultaneously.

"He is losing, we believe," said Nasser Moktar, a businessman and rebel fighter in Misrata. "Everybody here feels good."

The regime last night painted a very different picture, with Gaddafi government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim insisting that both Gariyan and Zawiya were secure apart from isolated pockets of rebels. "They are under our full control," he said.

The coastal highway between Tripoli and Tunisia had not been blocked by the fighting, Mr Ibrahim claimed, but foreigners were not being allowed to use the route for now "to save them from any bullets here or there".

Certainly, Tripoli appears to be in no immediate danger, and rebel units have in the past failed to make good on their gains, lacking heavy armour and artillery.

Nevertheless, Libya's rebels are in their strongest position since the war broke out in February.The key test of their adversary will be whether government forces are able to concentrate forces for counter-attacks in the next few days. If not, with the coastal road cut in both directions and access to the sea controlled by Nato, the regime's days may be numbered.