LIBYA: Pro-Gaddafi forces stop rebels in their tracks

Tripoli (AP):

After dramatic successes over the past weeks, Libya's rebel movement appears to have hit a wall of overwhelming power from loyalists of Moammar Gaddafi. Pro-regime forces halted their drive on Tripoli with a heavy barrage of rockets in the east and threatened to recapture the closest rebel-held city to the capital in the west.

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to plan for the "full spectrum of possible responses" on Libya, including imposing a no-fly zone to prevent Gaddafi's warplanes from striking rebels. According to a White House statement, the two leaders spoke on Tuesday and agreed that the objective must be an end to violence and the departure of Gaddafi "as quickly as possible".

No negotiations

A spokesman for the opposition's newly created Interim Governing Council in Benghazi said a man who claimed to represent Gaddafi made contact with the council to discuss terms for the leader of four decades to step down. Mustafa Gheriani told The Associated Press the council could not be certain whether the man was acting on his own initiative or did in fact represent Gaddafi.

"But our position is clear: No negotiations with the Gaddafi regime," said Gheriani, who declined to say when contact was made or reveal the identity of the purported envoy.

Libyan state television denied that Gaddafi had sent an envoy to talk to the rebels.

In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that neither Gaddafi nor rebel forces appeared currently able to establish supremacy. "At the moment ... it seems that either side lacks the immediate power to overthrow the other," he said.

Destructive siege

Zawiya, a city of 200,000, was sealed off under a fifth day of a destructive siege, with conflicting reports of who was in control. A brigade led by one of Gaddafi's sons, Khamis, is believed to be leading the assault, shelling neighbourhoods with tank and artillery fire from the outskirts and trying to push troops into the city's central Martyrs Square where rebels had set up camp.

The city hospital has been overwhelmed with dead and wounded and many houses have been damaged, according to residents who escaped the past two days. One man who slipped out of the city on Monday said pro-Gaddafi forces had seized the central square.