JNN 14 Mar 2011 : Libyan freedom Fighters vowing “victory or death” advanced toward a major oil terminal on Friday, calling for foreign air strikes to set up a “no-fly” zone after three days of attacks by Muammar Gaddafi’s warplanes.

Eastern-based freedom Fighters told Reuters they were open to talks only on Gaddafi’s exile or resignation following attacks on civilians that have provoked international condemnation, a raft of arms and economic sanctions and a war crimes probe.

In Tripoli, opponents of Gaddafi prepared to march in the capital after prayers, but the authorities were preventing foreign media from reporting independently on the protests.

“Victory or death … We will not stop until we liberate all this country,” Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the freedom National Libyan Council told supporters of a two-week-old uprising that has shaken Gaddafi’s grip on the North African oil producer.

Ahmed Jabreel, an aide to Abdel Jalil, said if there was any negotiation “it will be on one single thing — how Gaddafi is going to leave the country or step down so we can save lives. There is nothing else to negotiate.”

freedom volunteers defending the opposition’s expanding grip on a key coast road said a rocket attack by a government warplane just missed a freedom fighters-held eastern military base which houses a big ammunition store in the town of Ajdabiyah.

“We’re going to take it all, Ras Lanuf, Tripoli,” Magdi Mohammed, an army defector, fingering the pin of a grenade, told Reuters at the freedom fighters front-line checkpoint.

Western nations have called for Gaddafi to go and are considering various options including the imposition of a no-fly zone, but are wary about any offensive military involvement to stabilize the world’s 12th-largest oil exporter.

The air attacks have failed to stop the freedom fighters using the coast road to push their front line west of Brega, an oil terminal town 800 km (500 miles) east of Tripoli. They said they had driven back troops loyal to Gaddafi to Ras Lanuf, site of another major oil terminal, 600 km (400 miles) east of Tripoli.

Amid growing international concern about dwindling food and medical supplies in some opposition held areas, diplomatic efforts are accelerating to end a conflict that the West fears could stir a mass refugee exodus across the Mediterranean to Europe.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he was concerned a bloody stalemate could develop between Gaddafi and Freedom Fighter forces but gave no sign of a willingness to intervene militarily.

“Muammar Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead and he must leave,” Obama said, the first time he has called in public for Gaddafi to leave Libya, although he has urged his exit in written statements by the White House.

The popular uprising against Gaddafi’s 41-year rule, the bloodiest yet against a long-serving ruler in the Middle East or North Africa, has knocked out nearly 50 percent of the OPEC-member’s 1.6 million barrels of oil per day output, the bedrock of its economy.

The upheaval is causing a humanitarian crisis, especially on the Tunisian border where tens of thousands of foreign workers have fled to safety. But an organized international airlift started to relieve the human flood from Libya as word spread to refugees that planes were taking them home.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez pushed a peace plan for Libya, saying he had spoken to his friend Gaddafi who had supported the proposal for a negotiating commission, accusing the West of eyeing the North African nation’s oil.

Libyan revolution continues with over 6000 people having already been killed during the uprisings, while the German FM has stated any intervention would be counter-productive.

Libyan anti-government protesters controlling the eastern town of Brega have repelled an assault by the forces loyal to embattled ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
Well-armed Gaddafi forces arrived in large numbers and at one stage appeared to hold the upper hand, however, they were later forced to retreat, the state-funded BBC reported on Thursday.

Brega is an oil hub of Libya, which is Africa’s major oil producer and one of Europe’s biggest North African oil suppliers.

It has been the first major attack on the town by Gaddafi’s troops since the revolution began in the North African country over two weeks ago.

According to medics, at least 14 people were killed and many others wounded during the early Thursday fighting. The number of the casualties on the part of the pro-Gaddafi forces has not been announced yet.

Gaddafi lost control of several main cities in the east and the west of Libya following the popular revolution in the North African nation.

Libyan forces loyal to Gaddhadi  hopes to regain control of the rebel-held town of Zawiyah “possibly tonight,” Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said on Friday.

“We believe Zawiyah will be under full government control possibly tonight,” he said. Asked about Libyan TV reports that Zawiyah, some 50 km (30 miles) from the capital Tripoli, was in the hands of government forces, he said: “Not totally, but almost.”

“They (freedom fighters) have attacked the oil refinery. Government forces pushed them back and gained back some weapons,” he said, adding negotiations were underway with Zawiyah rebel commanders to lay down their weapons and surrender.