By SAM DAGHER in Zawiya, Libya, CHARLES LEVINSON in Brega, Libya and JARED A. FAVOLE in Washington
President Barack Obama said Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi must give up power and said he was positioning U.S. military assets near Libya to ensure he had the "full capacity to act" if the situation in Libya deteriorates further.Mr. Obama said he had authorized sending military aircraft to the Libya-Tunisia border to help transport Egyptian refugees home, as forces loyal to Col. Gadhafi continued to battle rebel forces for control of key territory around oil installations.
Mr. Obama said Col. Gadhafi should "step down from power and leave," and said he was directing humanitarian assistance to the Libyan borders.
Reuters
Rebels hold a young man at gunpoint between the towns of Brega and Ras Lanuf. They accuse him of being a loyalist to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
In response to a question about where he stood on U.S. military intervention, Mr. Obama said he instructed the Defense Department to examine a full range of options. "I don't want us hamstrung," he said. He said U.S. decisions toward Libya must be based on what's best for the Libyan people and in consultation with the international community.
He said the U.S. has the capacity to act "potentially rapidly" if "defenseless civilians were finding themselves trapped and in great danger." He also said "there is a danger of a stalemate that over time could be bloody."
He said he was authorizing the U.S. Agency for International Development to charter civilian aircraft to help evacuate refugees.
"We have already engineered the most rapid and forceful set of sanctions, freeing the assets of Gadhafi, imposing severe sanctions against those in the Libyan government, and as a consequence we have seen broad-based mobilization in the international community," he said.
In the oil-refinery town of Brega, rebel forces consolidated their westernmost positions Thursday, a day after they successfully repulsed an offensive by forces loyal to Col. Gadhafi, who had seized the city's oil refinery Wednesday morning.
Moammar Gadhafi ordered forces to open fire on rebels fighting for control of oil fields in eastern Libya. In the U.S., oil prices came down slightly perking up stock futures. Plus, a new poll shows Americans have a bleak economic outlook for 2011.
Col. Gadhafi's fighter jets reportedly dropped bombs on or near the city early in the morning, according to residents, but it wasn't clear what had been hit. Two massive craters lay along the roads leading up to the city's university, which witnessed some of the fiercest fighting Wednesday.
Near the western rebel-held Libyan city of Zawiya, a heavy government military presence could be seen. A group of armed antiregime protesters remain holed up inside the important oil city.
A military checkpoint guarded the entrance of the Zawiya Oil Refinery Co., the country's second-largest refinery. The government on Thursday escorted a throng of foreign reporters on a tour of the facility, and government minders appeared eager to demonstrate that the site was under their control.
Mr. Obama's comments came as the Dutch Defense Ministry said armed forces loyal to Col. Gadhafi were holding three Dutch marines who were captured, with their helicopter, during a botched evacuation mission Sunday near a stronghold of the Libyan leader. A Dutch defense ministry spokesman said negotiations were under way with Col. Gadhafi's government to secure their release.
The military rebels, who along with civilian opponents of the government are trying to topple Col. Gadhafi, are calling for foreign airstrikes as they fend off the offensive by forces loyal to Col. Gadhafi, but senior U.S. defense officials have lowered expectations of an international military intervention in the country.
At the Zawiya refinery Thursday, the company's chairman, Naser Sharif, and board member Khalifa al-Saheli said during a briefing that, except for the absence of 30% to 40% of the refinery's approximate 2,000-man work force, everything else was operating normally and the site was unaffected by the unrest in nearby Zawiya.
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Bullet cases flew as rebel fighters shot into the air during a funeral for slain comrades Thursday in Ajdabiya, Libya.
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He said the refinery receives its crude via pipeline from southern oil fields. "I am not affected, if you are concerned, by what's going on outside.…I have nothing to do with it," Mr. Sharif said.
Both men said no extra precautions were being taken, but they expressed concern that unspecified non-Libyans could exploit the situation and sabotage the facility.
"We are concerned and hope…it will be settled and proper dialogue implemented," Mr. Khalifa.
One administrative worker at the refinery, however, portrayed a grim situation inside Zawiya, where he lives. "We are besieged, and we do not even have children's milk," he said. Shops were opening only a few hours each day, and pro-government forces had banned trucks carrying supplies and provisions from entering Zawiya Tuesday.
He said one of the regime's military brigades, called the Khuwelidi al-Hamidi and based in nearby Sarman, was behind the siege of Zawiya. "Libya is living through unprecedented terror by the mercenary and the regime," he said.
On the main road leading into Zawiya, there were three checkpoints, all manned by pro-regime armed men in dark green camouflage and brandishing AK-47s, some looking shiny and new. A few of the men wore soft military caps.
At the first checkpoint there was a tank and several pickups with what looked like artillery guns mounted in the back. A poster of Col. Gadhafi and a placard reading "Libya's security and stability is paramount" were fixed at the first checkpoint. Tents were pitched alongside the road for the soldiers.
At the second checkpoint, barrels lined the road where vehicles were being searched. A group of men in a minibus who appeared to be foreign workers—apparently headed to the Tunisian border—were made to take out their suitcases and boxes for inspection.
At the third checkpoint, antiregime graffiti was sprayed over in blue and "Moammar" was scrawled instead. Near that checkpoint, more pro-government forces congregated near shuttered shops, as uncollected garbage piled up nearby.
The pro-government armed men and supporters appeared edgy and angry. One shouted, "You are reporters! Cover the truth!"
A young man coming from Tripoli to visit relatives in Zawiya offered an assessment of the situation inside the town. He seemed sympathetic to the rebels. "Things are clear, we are all suffering," said Fatehi Jumaa, 25 years old. "People do not want [Gadhafi]; people are scared" of Col. Gadhafi.
As pro-government armed men approached Mr. Jumaa's car, his friend in the driver's seat came out and brandished a poster of Col. Gadhafi and chanted pro-government slogans.
In the eastern city of Brega, meantime, rebel reinforcements set up gun emplacements and antitank batteries. A pickup truck sped into a parking lot coming from a rebel position even further west. Inside the back seat of the extended cab pickup were four men the rebels said they had captured while they were trying to do a reconnaissance patrol to survey rebel positions.
The four men looked like teeangers, and one of them was in tears. They said they were from Niger and had been brought to Libya with promises of employment. Once they got here, they had been given a gun and told to go fight. Rebel officers said they would be taken into custody and tried in a court of law, but it was unclear what court or legal system might hold the hearing.
Hospital officials in Brega said they knew of 12 people who had died in the previous day's fighting, including nine rebels and three pro-Gadhafi fighters
In the U.S. Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, testifying before Congress, criticized "loose talk" about any military intervention in Libya.
The U.S. and allies have discussed the prospect of imposing a no-fly zone over the North African country to prevent Col. Gadhafi from using air forces to strike at protesters. But Mr. Gates made clear Wednesday that the U.S. military would have to launch pre-emptive strikes to destroy Libya's air defenses if President Barack Obama ordered the imposition of a no-fly zone.
Rebel forces had regained control of the city of Brega after a fierce battle Wednesday, as rebels in neighboring towns launched their first united counteroffensive following a dawn attack by pro-Gadhafi forces.
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