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Rebels are fighting battles in coastal cities on either side of the besieged Libyan capital Tripoli in a drive to topple Moamar Gaddafi after six months of war.
Mortar and rocket rounds crashed on Saturday into the centre of Zawiyah, a city on the coastal highway 50 kilometres west of Tripoli which the rebels captured this week in one of the boldest advances of their uprising.
Shells struck the central hospital around dawn, blasting holes in the walls. Inside there were scenes of destruction with the hospital still reeling from fighting on Friday.
In the central square, residents were burning and stamping on a green Gaddafi flag. “Gaddafi is finished. Civilians are starting to come back to the cities. Libya is finally free,” said one, who gave his name as Abu Khaled.
In a nearby alley, residents had gathered to stare at the bodies of two Gaddafi soldiers lying in the street. Gunfire and explosions could be heard in the distance.
The rebels’ capture of Zawiyah has transformed the conflict by cutting Tripoli off from its main road link to the outside world, putting unprecedented pressure on the 41-year rule of Gaddafi.
Rebels said the main Gaddafi force had retreated about 10 kilometres east to the town of Jaddayim, close to Tripoli’s outskirts, and were shelling Zawiyah from there.
East of the capital, where fighting has been bloodier and rebel advances far slower, opposition forces fought street battles in the city of Zlitan but suffered heavy casualties, a Reuters reporter said. A rebel spokesman said 32 rebel fighters were killed and 150 wounded.
Gaddafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said late on Friday that the government’s military retained the upper hand in both Zawiyah and Zlitan, defying report thats rebels had taken the cities.
The sudden imposition of a siege around Tripoli has trapped its residents behind the front line and cut it off from fuel and food. The International Organisation for Migration said on Friday it would organise a rescue operation to evacuate thousands of foreign workers, probably by sea.
Some 600,000 of the 1.5 million to 2.5 million foreign workers in Libya fled the country early in the conflict, but many thousands stayed in Tripoli, which until this week was far from the fighting and a two-hour drive from the Tunisian border.
The siege of Tripoli and the prospect of a battle for the capital itself have give new urgency to the question of Gaddafi’s fate. The leader and his officials have repeatedly vowed that he will never leave the country, but rebels say they will not stop fighting until he departs.
The two sides held talks early this week in neighbouring Tunisia but announced no breakthroughs. The severing of the road link between Tripoli and Tunisia makes further talks difficult.
NBC News reported Gaddafi was making preparations to leave Libya with his family for possible exile in Tunisia, but that it was unclear if he would follow through. NBC said the information came from US officials who cited intelligence reports.
Deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim reiterated the government stance that Gaddafi would not depart Libya, but said Libya was in favour of any negotiations to end the fighting.
