Rebel forces driven out of key oil city as Gaddafi troops fire relentless artillery barrages

Rebel forces driven out of key oil city as Gaddafi troops fire relentless artillery barrages

 

• Ras Lanouf and oil facility in loyalist hands
• City of Zawiyah badly damaged after artillery fire
• Bodies of rebels said to have been bulldozed out of the way
• Arab League leaders meet in Cairo to discuss no-fly zone

Gaddafi's forces have driven out pockets of rebel fighters from a key oil city after days of relentless artillery strikes.

In the latest setback for opposition forces, loyalist troops regained control of Ras Lanouf and the town's oil refinery this morning after intense fighting.

They also recaptured the strategic town of Zawiya yesterday as bulldozers moved into the town and removed the bodies of rebel fighters.

Blitzed: Smoke rises near Ras Lanouf after a Libyan fighter jet dropped bombs on rebel soldiers

 

Losing ground: Smoke billows from a burning oil refinery. Gaddafi's forces used relentless artillery strikes to pound rebels out of the town

General Abdel-Fattah Younis, who was the country's interior minister before he defected to the rebel side, admitted Colonel Gaddafi's forces now occupied Ras Lanouf.

Rebels had hidden among the towers and building of the oil refinery, but government troops stormed the site and killed several.

Parts of the centre of Zawiya were flattened by artillery bombardment and reports said the facades of buildings, including banks and hotels overlooking Martyrs' Square, had been destroyed.

Scores of rebel fighters and government soldiers are believed to have died during the offensive.

Devastation: Destroyed vehicles lie near the rubble of a mosque in Martyr's Square, Zawiyah

 

Damage: Bullet holes are clearly visible in this wall in Zawiyah after government troops recaptured the strategically important town yesterday

 

Captured: The governor's office is draped in the green and white cloth of dictator Gaddafi in Zawiyah

Mission: EU foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton will travel to Cairo today for a meeting of the Arab League to discuss the Libya situation

It comes as Arab foreign ministers were meeting in Egypt today to discuss a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the civilian population from the Gaddafi regime's fighter jets.

But the Arab League's member states are said to be divided over how to deal with the crisis.

The EU foreign policy chief, Baroness Ashton, will also attend the meeting in Cairo.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said a no-fly zone remained a possibility, but stopped short of advocating military action.

Gaddafi has been funding the fightback from a stockpile of 'tens of billions' in cash hidden away in Tripoli banks, U.S. intelligence agents revealed.

The sum allowed the Libyan dictator to continue fighting despite an international freeze on many of his government's assets.

Rebel forces initially made rapid inroads by capturing Benghazi, Ras Lanouf, Zawiya and holding large parts of Misrata.

But loyalist troops have steadily been regaining the initiative through punishing air strikes and artillery shelling.

An intelligence source told CNBC Gaddafi had moved much of his cash stockpile to the Libyan capital.

The cash has been used to pay his troops, African mercenaries and government officials.

Lawyer Kenneth Barden, who specialises in Middle East financing, said there were indications that Gaddafi had moved billions of dollars in assets just days before the uprising.

He told CNBC: 'The money that is kept in Gaddafi's name is probably small.

'But he's got a lot in the names of family members and close associates.'

Wounded: A rebel fighter is taken to Ajdabiya's general hospital after being shot. There are reports that dead rebels have been bulldozed out of the way in Zawiyah

 

Charred: A badly damaged building in Zawiyah. Parts of the city were flattened by artillery shelling

 

Recaptured: Libyan soldiers sit on a tank near the shattered spire of a mosque