Ras Lanuf: A high-ranking member of the Libyan military flew to Cairo yesterday with a message for Egyptian army officials from Muammar Gaddafi, whose troops pounded opposition forces with artillery barrages and gunfire in at least two major cities.
Gaddafi appeared to be keeping up the momentum he has seized in recent days in his fight against rebels trying to move on the capital, Tripoli, from territory they hold in eastern Libya. Gaddafi's successes have left Western powers struggling to come up with a plan to support the rebels without becoming ensnared in the complex and fast-moving conflict.
US President Barack Obama's most senior advisers were meeting yesterday to outline what steps are realistic and possible to pressure Gaddafi to halt the violence and give up power.
They planned to examine the ramifications of a no-fly zone over Libya and other potential military options, US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.
Unlikely
Britain and France are pushing for the UN to create a no-fly zone over the country, and while the US may be persuaded to sign on, such a move is unlikely to win the backing of veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China, which traditionally object to such steps as infringements on national sovereignty.
The two sides in Libya traded barrages of artillery shells and rockets yesterday afternoon about 20 kilometres west of the oil port of Ras Lanuf, an indication that regime forces were much closer than previously known to that city.
Ras Lanuf is the westernmost point seized by rebels moving along the country's main highway on the Mediterranean coast.
Yellow fireball
Warplanes streaked overhead and a yellow fireball erupted at or near the location of a small oil terminal. Pillars of black smoke also rose from the direction of the town of Bin Jawad, about 60 kilometres to the west.
Rebels also hold territory south of Tripoli and homes and other building in the city of Zawiya were shelled yesterday by government forces, a resident of the nearby town of Sabratha told The Associated Press by telephone.
A Sky News correspondent in Zawiya showed rebel-controlled tanks and vehicles mounted with machine guns, in the city's main square, and said pro-Gaddafi forces at the city's edge were firing constantly at moving vehicles, including ambulances and civilian cars.
In Cairo, an Egyptian army official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that Major General Abdul Rahman Bin Ali Al Saiid Al Zawi, the head of Libya's logistics and supply authority, was asking to meet Egypt's military rulers.
There have been no public contacts between the Libyan regime and Egypt's ruling generals since the Libyan uprising broke out on February 15, and there have been no known government-related flights during that time.
