Rebels based in eastern Libya said today they had appointed a former interior minister to head their armed forces as troops loyal to Muammar Gadafy retook rebel-held towns in the east.
Abdel Fattah Younes al Abidi, who defected as interior minister to support the uprising seeking to oust Gadafy earlier this month, was appointed head of the rebel's armed forces, a spokesman from the rebel base which is headquarted in Benghazi.
Gadafy’s forces have advanced across a coastal strip eastwards over the past 10 days, retaking several oil towns such as Es Sider, Ras Lanuf and Brega. They have also seized back the coastal town of Ajdabiya, seen as a gateway to the eastern region.
Ajdabiya lies about 140 kilometres south of Benghazi.
Earlier it was reported that Libyan rebels flying a MiG 23 warplane and a helicopter sunk two pro-Gadafy warships off the eastern coast of the country near Adjabiya.
The Brnieq online newspaper quoted an unnamed airforce officer at the Benina airbase in Benghazi as saying the two aircraft also bombed an unspecified number of tanks near Bregaand Ajdabiya, two towns that fell to pro-Gadafy forces earlier today.
Heavy bombardment by Col Gadafy's warplanes and artillery forced Libyan rebels to abandon the strategic town of Ajdabiyah as world powers failed to agree to push for a no-fly zone.
Ajdabiya was now all that had stood between the relentless eastward advance of Libyan government troops and the second city of Benghazi and lies on a road junction from where Col Gadafy's forces could attempt to encircle the rebel stronghold.
Libyan state television said pro-Gadafy forces were now "in total control" of the town and a Reuters correspondent saw rebel forces pulling back.
Government jets opened up with rocket fire on the checkpoint at the western entrance to Ajdabiyah, then unleashed an artillery bombardment on the position and a nearby arms dump, following the same pattern of attack that has pushed back rebels more than 160km in a week-long counter-offensive.
Battle lines in front of Ajdabiyah and the oil port of Brega to the southwest have moved back and forth several times in three days of heavy fighting, but it was the first time rebels had abandoned the checkpoint in such numbers.
A rolling barrage edged closer to the centre of Ajdabiyah, a town with a peacetime population of around 100,000 surrounded by flat, featureless desert.
As well as the coastal road to Benghazi, there is also a 400km desert road straight to Tobruk, near the Egyptian border that would cut off the second city. But it was not clear whether Col Gadafy's forces were strong enough to be split and whether they could operate with such long supply lines.
Col Gadafy's planes, tanks and artillery have had few problems picking off lightly armed insurgents in the open desert, but have faced fierce resistance in towns that offer some cover for the rebels.
In a foretaste of the ferocity and chaos of urban fighting which could envelop Benghazi, a city of 670,000, Brega, with a population of just 4,300, has changed hands several times with rebels fighting a guerrilla rearguard amongst the rubble.
Soliman Bouchuiguir, president of the Libyan League for Human Rights, said in Geneva that if Col Gadafy's forces attacked Benghazi, there would be "a real bloodbath, a massacre like we saw in Rwanda".
Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight countries meeting in Paris stopped short of agreeing to press the UN Security Council to back a no-fly zone to protect Libyan cities from aerial bombardment.
Instead, the G8 said Libyans have a right to democracy and warned Col Gadafy he faced "dire consequences" if he ignored his people's rights. The G8 urged the Security Council to increase pressure on Col Gadafy, including further economic measures.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain have led calls to impose a no-fly zone.
But Col Gadafy dismissed the plan. "We will fight and win. A situation of that type will only serve to unite the Libyan people," he told the Italian daily Il Giornale. Mr Sarkozy, he said, has "a mental disorder".
At the G8, Russia and Germany argued a no-fly zone could be counterproductive, while the United States, which would likely have to shoulder much of the burden of policing Libyan skies, is still cautious over the idea.
As the diplomatic debate drags on, there is now a very real possibility that by the time world powers agree on a response to the conflict, Col Gadafy's forces may already have won.
Nato has set three conditions for it to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya: regional support, proof its help is needed and a Security Council resolution.
An Arab League call for a no-fly zone satisfies the first condition, but with access to most of Libya barred by Col Gadafy's security forces, hard evidence that Nato intervention is needed to avert atrocities or a humanitarian disaster is scarce.
UN deputy high commissioner for human rights Kyung-wha Kang said Col Gadafy's government had "chosen to attack civilians with massive, indiscriminate force".
In Misrata, the last major city in western Libya still in rebel hands, residents said water had been cut off to the city of 300,000 people, 200km east of Tripoli.
Pro-Gadafy forces took control of the small town of Zuwarah, west of Tripoli, late yesterday after sending in tanks.
A resident in Zuwarah said that security forces were today trying to round up anyone suspected of links to the rebels.
"They have lists of names and are looking for the rebels. They also took a number of rebels as hostages," said the resident who did not want to be named.
Libyan state television said the people of Zuwarah "came out in mass demonstrations" in support of Col Gadafy today.