Europe

Home page

Europe

France recognizes embattled Libyan rebels

10 March 2011 17:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. France became the first nation to recognize the opposition government in eastern Libya on Thursday, even as rebel fighters protecting a key oil complex on the Mediterranean coast were reported to be retreating under a fierce assault by government forces, APA reports quoting Los Angeles Times.

In the coastal oil city of Ras Lanuf, captured Friday by rebel fighters, reports from the front said troops loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi had forced rebels to begin a retreat from the city. Rebel positions there were pounded by airstrikes, artillery and rockets, according to news accounts.

If pro-Kadafi forces are able to seize the petrochemical complex, port and airport in Ras Lanuf, it would give the regime in Tripoli control over one of Libya’s largest oil facilities. Ras Lanuf is 225 miles by road southwest of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold.

The apparent rebel setback in eastern Libya came after Kadafi’s government claimed Wednesday it had regained control of the contested city of Zawiya, 30 miles west of the capital, Tripoli. Residents reached by phone said Zawiya was under siege.

In Benghazi, opposition leaders rejoiced over France’s recognition of their transitional government.

"Oh, this is a big thing!" Mustafa Gheriani, a senior official with the opposition-led Libyan National Council, said as an office colleague received word of France’s recognition in a phone call. "This breaks the ice.’’

Gheriani said he hoped Great Britain and Italy would grant recognition in the wake of France’s announcement.

Gheriani said France’s recognition will advance rebel attempts to win approval from Western nations for a "no-fly" zone over Libya to neutralize the air superiority enjoyed by Kadafi. Government warplanes have bombed rebel positions near Ras Lanuf, killing and wounding fighters and civilians.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said dozens of civilians have been wounded or killed over the last several days. At least 55 people were treated at a hospital in Ajdabiya, more than 100 miles east of Ras Lanuf, the agency said.

NATO defense ministers met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss possible options in Libya, including humanitarian aid and possibly a "no-fly" zone.

France said it would exchange ambassadors with the opposition government in Benghazi. Gheriani said two opposition representatives met Thursday in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In the eastern fighting, the Ras Lanuf Medical Center was hit by an airstrike or artillery, according to a doctor there quoted by the Associated Press. The doctor, Gebril Hawada, said no hospital employees were injured but he had no information about patients.

Government forces advanced from the desert town of Bin Jawwad, where they had clashed with rebel fighters since Monday. Bin Jawwad was taken by the rebels Saturday, but they retreated to Ras Lanuf the next day under a withering air and land attack by pro-Kadafi forces.

Gheriani said the inexperienced and lightly armed rebels, many of them civilians firing weapons for the first time, have been reinforced by the arrival of special forces cadres and soldiers who have defected from the national army. Some of the cadres are retired or from the army reserves, he said.

Those fighters have brought in heavy weapons to help the rebels fight back against the superior weaponry brought to bear by pro-Kadafi fighters. They include armored personnel carriers, multiple-rocket launchers and recoilless rifles, according to Gheriani.

He said several outdated T-55 Soviet-made tanks were being repaired at bases in eastern Libya in an attempt to get them ready for battle.

Essam Gheriani, another official representing the opposition council, said he was told via cellphone by rebels in Ras Lanuf that three commercial ships outfitted with artillery shelled the coastal city from the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday morning.

That claim could not be verified, but a CNN correspondent east of Ras Lanuf reported he had heard accounts of ships firing at the city.