Government forces seeking to dislodge rebels from Libya's strategically important coast struck at an oil town today amid quickening efforts to prevent more humanitarian suffering and a mass refugee exodus.
The United Nations said more than one million people fleeing Libya and inside the country needed humanitarian aid, and conditions in rebel-held Misrata town were particularly worrying following attacks on it by forces loyal to Muammar Gadafy.
US president Barack Obama said today Nato is considering military options in response to the situation in Libya. Mr Obama, speaking in Washington DC after talks with visiting Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, said the two countries agreed that violence by the Libyan government against its people was unacceptable.
British foreign secretary William Hague said Britain and some other countries were working "on a contingency basis" on a United Nations Security Council resolution allowing for a no-fly zone over Libya.
Mr Hague said that Libyan rebels fighting the government had "asked explicitly for a no-fly zone" in contacts with the British government even though they believed Libyans "should be responsible for liberating their country".
Offering a potential olive branch to rebels seeking to end Col Gadafy's long rule, one of his associates appealed to opposition chiefs for dialogue, in a sign the autocrat may be ready to compromise with the unprecedented revolt.
The offer, rapidly dismissed by rebels, coincided with a renewed publicity drive by Col Gadafy that warned European nations to the north of the Mediterranean that if he fell "you will have immigration, thousands of people from Libya will invade Europe".
A warplane launched an air strike on the eastern outskirts of the rebel-held oil terminal town of Ras Lanuf 600km east of the capital Tripoli today, witnesses said.
"There was an aircraft, it fired two rockets there were no deaths," Mokhtar Dobrug, a rebel fighter who witnessed the strike, said. The attack took place at one of two checkpoints in the city.
The attack fitted the pattern of much of the recent fighting, which has been desultory and erratic, with small groups engaging each other, guerrilla-style, in hit and run raids. Air attacks have been fitful and the bombing often inaccurate.
In some areas, advantage on the ground has swung back and forth without conclusive result.
But the resilience of Col Gadafy's troops in the face of protests which started in mid-February and their ability to launch a counter-attack has raised the prospect that the country is heading for prolonged bloodshed.
"It's clear the government feels a sense of momentum on its side," said military analyst Shashank Joshi, an associate fellow at Britain's Royal United Services Institute. "Government forces have more mobility than the rebels thanks to airlift and a decent amount of road transport. That's blunted by the fact that we are seeing extremely poor fighting skills by government forces, and reasonably competent fighting by the rebels."
The United Nations and the European Union are dispatching fact-finding missions to the north African nation, where reports by residents of attacks on civilians by security forces have triggered a war crimes probe and provoked global outrage. sec UK foreign retary William Hague said today Britain and some other countries are working "on a contingency basis" on a UN Security Council resolution allowing for a no-fly zone over Libya.
Mr Hague told the House of Common there were "credible reports" that Libyan government forces had used helicopter gunships against civilians. "At the UN Security Council, we are working closely with partners on a contingency basis on elements of a resolution on a no-fly zone, making clear the need for regional support, a clear trigger for such a resolution and an appropriate legal basis," Mr Hague said.
Tens of thousands have fled across the border to Tunisia since the uprising prompted a violent crackdown by security forces.
In Geneva, UN aid coordinator Valerie Amos said more than one million people fleeing Libya and inside the country need humanitarian aid. Ms Amos made clear that her first priority was Misrata, a town of 300,000 which residents said had been attacked at the weekend by government forces with tanks and missiles. "Humanitarian organisations need urgent access now," said Ms Amos, who was in areas of Tunisia along the Libyan border at the weekend. "People are injured and dying and need help immediately."
The rebels have called for UN-backed air strikes against what they say are African soldiers-for-hire used by Col Gadafy to crush the uprising against his 41-year-old incumbency.
The government says it is fighting against al-Qaeda and maintains that its security forces have targeted only armed individuals attacking state institutions and depots.
Witnesses said government forces advanced on the rebel-held oil port of Ras Lanuf in a counter-attack that forced residents to flee and rebels to hide their weapons in the desert.
The army was moving down the Mediterranean coastal road east of the recaptured town of Bin Jawad, heading towards Ras Lanuf which is about 60km away and which has a major oil complex, witnesses said.
Residents of Ras Lanuf, fearing assault by the army, were leaving in cars laden with belongings today and rebels said they had moved weapons into the desert for safekeeping.
As the rival combatants prepared to resume battle, the authorities launched an appeal to the rebels in the east for dialogue, in the clearest overture yet to their opponents.
Jadallah Azous Al-Talhi, a Libyan prime minister in the 1980s who is originally from eastern Libya, appeared on state television reading an address to elders in Benghazi. He asked them to "give a chance to national dialogue to resolve this crisis, to help stop the bloodshed, and not give a chance to foreigners to come and capture our country again."
Ahmed Jabreel, an aide to rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said: "Any negotiations must be on the basis that Gadafy will step down. There can be no other compromise."
In an interview with the France 24 television station, Col Gadafy said Libya was an important partner for the West in containing al-Qaeda and illegal migrants trying to reach Europe.
In the West, after what residents said was fierce fighting yesterday with artillery, rockets and mortar bombs, rebel forces announced they had fought off Col Gadafy's forces in the towns of Zawiyah, to the immediate west of Tripoli, and Misrata to the east.
As the conflict escalated in Libya, US crude oil rose to a 30-month high today.
US crude for April rose as much as $1.90 to $106.32 a barrel, the highest price since September 2008, heightening concerns that high energy prices may derail the global economic recovery. The US government reiterated that it could tap its strategic oil reserves to safeguard economic growth.
Reuters