Lull before storm as Gaddafi's forces pledge to 'cleanse' Benghazi of rebels

Rebels: The revolution has experienced a series of set backs in recent days
Oliver Poole12 April 2012

Anti-Gaddafi forces were today being repeatedly hit by air strikes as shops in the Libyan rebels' capital Benghazi were shuttered and the streets largely empty amid fears of an imminent assault by government soldiers.

A screen text on state-run al-Libya television warned people in the eastern stronghold that the army was coming. The message promised that the troops will "cleanse your city".

Fighting continued around Ajdabiya 90 miles to the south as pockets of revolutionaries continued to hold out against the regime's forces.

They reported being hit by hours of air strikes as the rebel administration said it has sent an army unit equipped with tanks and artillery - brought by defectors at the start of the uprising - to help defend the city.

Gaddafi's forces were understood to be in control of the coastal road leading to Benghazi, however. Reporters taken by government escort to where the regime's forces were massing south of Ajdabiya said lorryloads of ammunition and equipment were being brought up ahead of their expected advance.

The series of set-backs experienced by the revolution in recent days, which saw it pushed back from Ras Lanouf then Brega and now much of Ajdabiya, has prompted a hardening of US policy on Libya. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there had been a "sea change" in thinking.

According to reports, this would mean the international community having all the tools it needs - including authorisation to use planes, troops or ships - to stop attacks by Gaddafi's forces.

The question is whether UN support for such action can be achieved in time, as Russia, China, Germany and others have expressed doubts about imposing even a no-fly zone.

Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy UN ambassador who has joined the anti-Gaddafi movement, warned that the international community had only 10 hours to act to stop a "genocide" in the east of the country.

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