Qadaffy launched a counter-attack on Sunday against rebel advance positions southwest of Tripoli, an AFP correspondent said, as rebels cut off an oil pipeline used to supply the Libyan strongman's forces.Loyalist troops fired half a dozen Grad rockets
...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km....
into the hamlet of Gualish 50km from the capital, and the rebels replied with anti-tank fire as they sought to hold a key gateway to Tripoli they seized on Wednesday.
Just hours before the government attack, NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
warplanes bombed positions in the area, the correspondent said. A colonel in the rebel forces said the raid struck near Asablah, 17km from Gualish.
In its daily update, the Western military alliance said its planes carried out 48 strike sorties on Saturday, with the focus on the port of Misrata. The rebels on Sunday cut off an oil pipeline they said was used to supply Qadaffy's forces in the west. Around 20 rebels shut off the valves of the pipeline to Zuwarah refinery near Khamassa.
'The oil belongs to all Libyans, not Qadaffy. He will no longer be able to use it against us,' one rebel was heard telling loyalist forces by telephone. Meanwhile,
...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a meeting. It was to be his last...
rebel troops advancing into the loyalist stronghold of Zliten said on Sunday they lost one fighter and had 32 maimed by landmines laid by Qadaffy's retreating troops.
Insurgents pressing out westward from the long-besieged city of Misrata said the ordnance was laid by Qadaffy loyalists falling back from their positions around Zliten. Zliten, once considered a bastion of Qadaffy forces, is a key link on the road from rebel-held Misrata to Tripoli.