Outgunned rebels stand up to Gadhafi onslaught

Tune in to “AC360º” for the latest on what’s next for Libya, the opposition and Moammar Gadhafi. Watch “AC360º” at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday on CNN.

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s forces appeared to be advancing Wednesday on Ras Lanuf, using planes and heavy artillery in an effort to retake the eastern oil city.

Rebels armed with anti-aircraft guns and Soviet rifles were outgunned by the heavily armed pro-Gadhafi forces, but many opposition fighters were still in the city, willing to battle — and try to prevent Gadhafi from crushing any part of the uprising against him.

CNN’s Ben Wedeman in Ras Lanuf saw a huge plume of black smoke that appeared to be coming from an oil refinery on the city’s western edge. An intense artillery bombardment was under way on the western edge as well.

The latest fighting followed another defiant speech from Gadhafi that aired Tuesday night on state television. He again insisted that youths misled and drugged by al Qaeda were to blame for the fighting. “For them, everybody’s their enemy,” Gadhafi said. “They know nothing other than killing.”

The speech was recorded earlier Tuesday when Gadhafi addressed a youth group of tribal supporters, urging them to defend Libya from those who envy its standard of living.

“They want to take your petrol,” he said. “This is what America, this is what the French, those colonialists, want.”

Late Tuesday evening, just before midnight, Gadhafi arrived at a hotel in the capital, Tripoli, where about 100 journalists had been waiting for nine hours.

Surrounded by his security detail, he strode into the lobby, waved at the throng of reporters, pumped his right fist several times into the air and then retreated to a private room for an interview with a Turkish journalist. Later, he left through a back door without addressing the reporters.

The brief appearance capped a day of confusion, which began with an opposition member first saying they were negotiating an exit deal with Gadhafi, and other members later denying it.

Gadhafi’s regime, too, denied any such negotiations, with a spokesman calling such reports “lies.”

Wednesday, a private Libyan aircraft crossed Greek airspace en route to Cairo, Egypt, and the pilot said there were two passengers on board, according to Greek civil aviation authorities. The pilot did not give the identities of the passengers, aviation authorities said. Multiple media reports said the plane landed in Cairo.

The development raised questions about whether, and why, Libyan officials may have flown to Cairo.

In the fourth week of what has become a civil war, Gadhafi’s regime has held on to the capital, while losing control to the opposition in some other areas. Benghazi, in eastern Libya, is an opposition stronghold.

People in some towns in the western part of the country told CNN Wednesday their areas were under rebel control. In Zuwarah, a witness said things were calm but tense, with life at a standstill. No schools, government offices, or businesses were operating. Demonstrations were no longer being held because, according to the witness, “There is no one to protest against.”

In Zawiya, where intense fighting has been under way in recent days, it has generally been impossible to reach people. Reports have said communications were cut off. Residents of Zuwarah sent weapons, explosives, and medical supplies via a small boat to Zawiya, the witness said. The man who drove the boat dropped the supplies immediately upon arrival and fled out of fear.

Nalut was under opposition control and relatively calm Wednesday, a witness said. In Misrata and Ajdabiya, spokesmen for opposition groups said those towns remained under opposition control and were mostly calm as well.

Fouad Ajami, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, said he has been communicating with worried members of rebel groups who say they need a no-fly zone over the country to prevent more casualties being inflicted by Gadhafi’s forces.

“They’re telling us that they can’t win this fight. They’re telling us patriotism is not enough,” Ajami said. “That unless you have air cover and neutralize the advantages of Moammar Gadhafi, this rebellion will be crushed.”

But Nicholas Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, said implementing a no-fly zone is a complicated issue.

“There’s no assurance that the imposition of even a no-fly zone would make a decisive difference in the battle,” Burns said. “Gadhafi has ground forces. He has artillery, he has a mercenary army. That’s 95 percent of the fighting underway in Libya.”

The head of the U.S. Marine Corps told lawmakers Tuesday that a no-fly zone would do little to thwart Libya’s helicopters, which he called “their greatest threat.”

A no-fly zone would typically be enforced by fighter jets whose speed and altitude make it difficult to target helicopters, which move low and slow, said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James F. Amos.

For its part, Libya said it was not misusing its air force. Any no-fly zone would be tantamount to an act of war, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Karim said Tuesday.

The military, he said, “are taking purely defensive positions; they are not taking offensive ones.” He said the Libyan government has asked for international monitors to verify that assertion.

The protests against the 68-year-old Gadhafi began February 15 as anti-government demonstrators sought his ouster after nearly 42 years of rule. In its fourth week now, the clashes show no sign of ending.

Death toll estimates have ranged from more than 1,000 to as many as 2,000. And the war has forced out 215,000 people, many of them poor migrant workers who have been stranded at both the Tunisian and Egyptian borders, the U.N. refugee agency has said.

While many countries chartered planes and dispatched ships to whisk away their citizens to safety, those stuck at the border are sheltered in cramped, unsanitary quarters with little to eat.

The U.N. World Food Programme has initiated a $39.2 million emergency operation intended to provide food to more than one million people in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia over a three-month period.

CNN’s Ben Wedeman, Nic Robertson, Chris Lawrence, Arwa Damon, Salma Abdelaziz, Jomana Karadsheh and Caroline Faraj contributed to this report