Rebels flee as pro-Gaddafi forces step up assault

Ras Lanouf (AP):

With fierce barrages of tank and artillery fire, Moammar Gaddafi's loyalists threw rebels into a frantic retreat from a strategic oil port yesterday in a counteroffensive that reversed the opposition's advance towards the capital of Tripoli and now threatens its positions in the east.

Hundreds of rebels in cars and trucks mounted with machine guns sped eastward on the Mediterranean coastal road in a seemingly disorganised flight from Ras Lanouf as an overwhelming force of rockets and shells pounded a hospital, mosque and other buildings in the oil complex. Doctors and staff at the hospital were hastily evacuated along with wounded from fighting from the past week.

The rout came even as the opposition made diplomatic gains. France became the first country to recognise the rebels' eastern-based governing council, and an ally of President Nicolas Sarkozy said his government was planning "targeted operations" to defend civilians if the international community approves. United States (US) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would meet with opposition leaders in the US, Egypt and Tunisia.

In Tripoli, Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam vowed to retake the eastern half of the country, which has been in opposition hands since early in the three-week-old uprising.

"I have two words to our brothers and sisters in the east: We're coming," he told a cheering crowd of young supporters. The son depicted Libyans in the east as being held "hostage" by terrorists.