Fresh offensive sees Libyan rebels push towards capital

Units in the besieged city of Misrata struck westwards towards the capital, Tripoli, and said they had reached the outskirts of the heavily defended town of Zlintan 40 miles away.

Meanwhile, far to the south-west, rebel units attacked government forces around the Western Mountains, a rocky peninsular that juts out into Libya from the Tunisian border.

Using pick-up trucks mounted with rocket launchers and anti-aircraft machine guns, rebels in the mountains staged a dawn attack that captured a base at the village of Al Qawalish, with government troops abandoning food, tents and weapons.

With Al Qawalish now in rebel hands, they can advance north-east to the larger town of Garyan, which controls the main highway leading into the capital. Libyan state television reported that Nato hit targets in Garyan last night.

The success of the attack from Misrata remains more uncertain, with rebel units close to Zlitan but yet to break through and capture the town.

A rebel commander, Hassan Duen, claimed: “Our forces are three kilometres away.”

In response, pro-Gaddafi forces around Zlitan unleashed a bombardment of mortars and Grad rockets against Misrata that began before dawn and lasted through the day.

Rebel jeeps crowded with young fighters, nicknamed the “Shebab”, hurtled out of the city towards the front line, passing ambulances screaming east in the opposite direction.

Misrata’s Hikma hospital was yesterday operating at full capacity for the third straight day, recording 13 dead and 24 wounded by late afternoon, a figure that is expected to rise with casualties still being brought in as darkness fell.

By then the rumble of artillery had grown more distant, and was mixed with the wailing of Islamic chants from the city mosques – and queries from exhausted doctors slumped on spare stretchers in the hospital car park. “Where’s Nato?’ one doctor, Israa Bashir, asked me.

He was not the only Misratan asking the question. Without heavy weapons, the rebels across Libya remain hamstrung, with Nato yet to decide whether to offer co-ordinated combat air support.

Rebel forces in the Western Mountains have spent the past weeks slowly gaining control of the rocky terrain, aided by air-drops of French weapons. Yet they may find the tactical advantages that help them in the mountains count against them if they advance into the flatter country towards Tripoli and the key highways that link Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi to the rest of Libya.

In past weeks, Misrata’s rebels have launched a string of attacks which have pushed through no-man’s land towards Zlitan – but none of them managing to break the defences around the town.

Their problem is that facing them is the remnants of Col Gaddafi’s elite 32nd brigade, commanded by his son, Khamis. The brigade lost most of it tanks and many men to Nato bombs and rebel advances when it failed to capture Misrata in March and April, but remains a formidable fighting force dug in in strength around Zlitan.

The coming days will test whether this rebel offensive can succeed where others have failed, in capturing Zlitan and opening the road to Tripoli.

If it fails, it will underline the problems the rebel forces have in lacking tanks and artillery, being forced to rely on a militia force with light weapons and a handful of mortars and anti-tank weapons.

And any failure to make a decisive breakthrough means Nato may come under pressure to do more. Bombers and naval ships have pounded government forces around Zlitan for two weeks, but it has decided not to offer close-air support with its Apache helicopters that would provide cover for a rebel advance.

Politically, Nato may have decided that close air support for armed troops is stretching the original mandate which is limited to protection of civilians. Yet without this air support, it seems likely that the alliance will be in for a long war – unless the rebels can break the ring around Misrata in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the Gaddafi regime struck back yesterday, saying it planned to charge rebel leaders with treason.

A judge laid out his case against 21 rebel officials, including National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil. They will be tried in absentia.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said those found guilty of treason could face the death penalty.