Rebel fighters make gains in western Libya

Libyan opposition fighters have made a major advance towards the capital, Tripoli after claiming victory in western Libyan towns against forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi.

An opposition military leader said on Friday that local fighters won control of four towns in the western Nafusa mountain range, where government forces have besieged and randomly shelled rebel-held areas for months.

Fighters who had fled then used their knowledge of the area to chip away at the government forces, Colonel Jumaa Ibrahim of the region’s rebel military council told the Associated Press news agency via Skype.

“They know all the hills and valleys, so they were able to trick the brigades and destroy some of their vehicles,” he said.

Opposition fighters also pushed government troops from Shakshuk and Qasr al-Haj, two towns near a key road that runs along the mountain range’s northern edge, Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim said opposition forces took the towns on Thursday then moved north to clash with Gaddafi forces in the village of Bir Ayyad on Friday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

After a brutal siege by pro-Gaddafi forces, Misurata, Libya’s third largest city, is now in opposition hands. Opposition fighters there have now pushed halfway to the town of Zlitan after taking control of Zintan.

At one stage, their advance came to within 60km of Sirte but the government troops held their line and repelled the attack.

Heavy NATO bombing

Earlier on Friday, at least 10 NATO air strikes hit the capital and elsewhere in Libya. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

Four early morning blasts shook central Tripoli, targeting a barracks near the sprawling compound where Gaddafi sometimes lives, said a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.

Six earlier strikes targeted a police station and a military base outside the capital, the official said.

A NATO spokeswoman, speaking by phone from Naples, said the alliance hit a storage facility for military vehicles in Gaddafi’s compound.

In a statement, NATO said it also targeted surface-to-air missile launchers and armoured personnel carriers near Tripoli, as well as other targets elsewhere.

The strikes appeared to be the heaviest in Tripoli since South African president Jacob Zuma visited Gaddafi in the capital earlier this week in an apparently unsuccessful effort to find a peaceful resolution to the country’s crisis.

China meets rebels

Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign ministry said that China’s ambassador to Qatar recently met with the head of Libya’s opposition council, the first known meeting between the two sides.

China abstained in the UN Security Council vote authorising NATO military action in Libya.

The conflict in Libya is nearly four months along, but the situation on the ground appears mostly stalemated.

NATO air strikes have kept the outgunned rebels from being overrun, but the rebels have been unable to mount an effective offensive against Gaddafi’s better equipped armed forces.

Gaddafi’s government has been slowly crumbling from within. A significant number of army officers and several Cabinet ministers have defected, and most have expressed support for the opposition.

Rebels have turned down initiatives calling for ceasefires, insisting that Gaddafi and his sons must relinquish power and leave the country.