Libyan government forces beat back rebels

Ras Lanuf, Libya (CNN) — As the civil war raged in Libya on Friday, it has come down to momentum.

On the ground, Moammar Gadhafi’s well-equipped forces have the upper hand, devastating rebel forces and snatching back towns the opposition once held.

In the war of public opinion, the opposition has won over most of the international community.

Despite this, the Gadhafi power structure seemed undaunted.

On Thursday, state media trumpeted reports about apparent victories against the rag-tag rebel forces in battle-torn towns like Ras Lanuf near the coast and Zawiya to the west.

And Saif Gadhafi, Gadhafi’s son and regime spokesman, vowed to retake other areas in eastern Libya that were controlled by the opposition.

“I receive hundreds of calls from the east daily and they are saying, ‘Save us.’ They are begging us and pleading for us to save them and my answer is two words. Listen to me and I want those armed groups to listen to me real well, and I want our people in the east to hear this as well: We’re coming.”

He also had a message for those in the international community who were contemplating military intervention.

“The Libyan people they will never welcome NATO or Americans,” he said. “Libya is not a piece of cake; we are not a Mickey Mouse.”

The French government has recognized the newly created Libyan opposition movement as the sole representative of the country and the British foreign secretary spoke to an opposition representative over the phone.

In response, Libyan state TV said the Gadhafi government would consider ending its relationship with France.

In the United States, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced plans to meet with opposition leaders. She said the United States was suspending relations with the Libyan Embassy in Washington, and an administration official added the embassy “must shut down.”

On Friday, the Libyan ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations will call on the United States to follow France’s lead and recognize the opposition as the legitimate representative of Libya.

Protests against the 68-year-old Gadhafi began February 15 as anti-government demonstrators sought his ouster after nearly 42 years of rule, and the discontent devolved into a fierce and bloody civil war.

In Zawiya, government soldiers beat back rebels Thursday.

The city’s main Martyrs’ Square was littered with the bombed-out, scorched carcasses of army tanks and other military vehicles.

Workers swept up the evidence as Gadhafi supporters chanted slogans and waved green flags.

“Today Zawiya, tomorrow Benghazi,” ITV News’ Bill Neely said a Gadhafi supporter told him, referring to Libya’s main rebel-held city in the east.

Neely said he was the first reporter to reach the city center Thursday after the government wrested its control from the rebels. He said doctors had told him that scores of civilians had been wounded or killed in the siege; they called the onslaught a massacre, a war crime. He counted more than 20 freshly dug graves.

Gadhafi forces also seemed to make major gains in Ras Lanuf.

Libya’s state TV reported that “Ras Lanuf has been cleansed from the armed gangs connected to al Qaeda.”

A doctor who worked in Ras Lanuf said at least three people were killed and 30 wounded in fighting before the main hospital had to be evacuated. Doctors at a hospital in the city of al-Brega reported two deaths and more than 20 people wounded in fighting in Ras Lanuf.

Rebels have pleaded in recent days with members of the international community to implement a no-fly zone over Libya to help protect them from airstrikes.

In Brussels, Belgium, NATO defense ministers discussed the option, with its secretary-general saying any move to impose one would require a clear mandate from the United Nations.

Gadhafi has said that a no fly-zone will only help in rallying Libyans behind him.

Death toll estimates have ranged from more than 1,000 to as many as 2,000.

As of Thursday morning, the war had forced out nearly 250,000 people, many of them poor migrant workers who have been stranded at both the Tunisian and Egyptian borders, the U.N. refugee agency said.

But for those fighting or trying to tend to the wounded, the situation was dire.

A doctor who said he escaped fighting in Ras Lanuf Thursday said he is running out of supplies because two medical clinics he was using had been bombed by Gadhafi forces.

“You cannot imagine how many casualties we received, I mean, amputations and head injuries, ” the doctor said. “They are just ignoring hospitals, ignoring mosques. Can you imagine that they hit the mosque while the people were praying there? Why they didn’t do the no-fly zone? We need it. They are bombing us. They are bombing anything.”

CNN’s Ben Wedeman, Pam Benson, Jill Dougherty, Whitney Hurst, Jonathan Wald and Journalist Saskya Vandoorne contributed to this report