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Libyan rebels
pulled out of the oil town of Ras Lanuf on Wednesday under heavy
bombardment from Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, showing up their weakness
without Western air strikes to tip the scales in their favour.

The rapid reverse
comes just two days after the rebels raced westwards along the
all-important coastal road in hot pursuit of the government army that
had its tanks and artillery demolished in five days of aerial
bombardment in the town of Ajdabiyah.

Gaddafi’s army
first ambushed the insurgent pick-up convoy outside the “brother
leader’s” hometown of Sirte, then outflanked them through the desert, a
manoeuvre requiring the sort of discipline entirely lacking in rag-tag
rebel force.

On the offensive,
government tanks and artillery have unleashed a fierce bombardment on
towns and cities which has usually forced rebels to swiftly flee. That
tactic appears to have worked once again in Ras Lanuf, an oil terminal
town, 375 km (230 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.

“Gaddafi hit us
with huge rockets. He has entered Ras Lanuf,” rebel fighter Faraj
Muftah told Reuters after pulling out of Ras Lanuf. “We were at the
western gate in Ras Lanuf and we were bombarded,” said a second
fighter, Hisham.

Scores of rebel 4×4 pick-ups raced east, away from Ras Lanuf, a Reuters journalist saw.

Air strikes

Without Western air strikes, the rebels seem unable to make advances or even hold their positions against Gaddafi’s armour.

As the rebels
retreated, a Reuters correspondent heard aircraft, then a series of
loud booms near Ras Lanuf, but it was unclear if the sounds were the
sonic boom of the jets or bombs.

But a fighter
returning from Ras Lanuf, Ahmed, also told Reuters: “The French planes
came and bombed Gaddafi’s forces.” France was the first member of the
international coalition to announce that it had launched air strikes on
Libya and rebels commonly credit most air strikes to French aircraft.

A conference of 40
governments and international bodies agreed to press on with a NATO-led
aerial bombardment of Libyan forces until Gaddafi complied with a U.N.
resolution to end violence against civilians.

The Pentagon said
on Tuesday 115 strike sorties had been flown against Gaddafi’s forces
in the previous 24 hours, and 22 Tomahawk cruise missiles had been
fired.

Britain said two of
its Tornado fighter-bombers had attacked a government armoured vehicle
and two artillery pieces outside the besieged western town of Misrata.

Libya’s official
Jana official news agency said air strikes by forces of “the crusader
colonial aggression” hit residential areas in the town of Garyan, about
100 km (60 miles) south of Tripoli, on Tuesday. It said several
civilian buildings were destroyed and an unspecified number of people
were wounded.

U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1973 sanctions air power to protect Libyan
civilians, not to provide close air support to rebel forces. That would
also require troops on the ground to guide in the bombs, especially in
such a rapidly changing war.

Air strikes alone may not be enough to stop the pendulum swing of Libyan desert civil warfare turning into a stalemate.

The United States
and France have raised the possibility of arming the rebels, though
both stressed no decision had yet been taken. “I’m not ruling it in,
I’m not ruling it out,” U.S. President Barack Obama told NBC.

It is not clear
however if the amateur army of teachers, lawyers, engineers, students
and the unemployed know even how to properly use the weapons they
already have — mostly looted from government arms depots.

Lack of food

Aid agencies are
increasingly worried about a lack of food and medicines, especially in
towns such as Misrata where a siege by Gaddafi’s forces deprives them
of access.

“It is difficult to
even get water in from wells outside the town because of the positions
of the forces,” said Abdulrahman, a resident of Zintan in the west, cut
off by pro-Gaddafi forces.

The U.N. refugee agency said it had reports of thousands of families living in makeshift shelters cut off from assistance.

Protection of
civilians remains the most urgent goal of the air strikes, and British
Prime Minister David Cameron accused Gaddafi’s supporters of “murderous
attacks” on Misrata.

A series of powerful explosions rocked Tripoli on Tuesday and state
television said several targets in the Libyan capital had come under
attack in rare daytime strikes.