Gaddafi’s forces throw rebels into disarray

“We can’t fight tanks with our machine guns,” the Arab channel quoted Opposition fighters as saying,as they beseeched for intervention by allied war planes.

“Tell Sarkozy and Cameron that we need help and without air strikes Gaddafi will massacre us,” the rebel fighters said as Obama administration did not rule out the possibility of arming the rebels.

“I’m not ruling it out. But I’m also not ruling it in.

We’re assessing what Gaddafi is upto,” US President Barack Obama said.

The US President said though the “noose” was tightening around Gaddafi,there were still no signs that he was seeking to negotiate an exit from Libya.

“Our expectation is that as we continue to apply steady pressure,not only militarily but through other means,Gaddafi will step down,” Obama said.

Correspondents on the frontline reported that they are out of rebels,illustrating how much they rely on international power policy.

“Only a day earlier,they had been marching westward,cocky they would take Sirte,Gaddafi’s main bastion in Central Libya. They reached within 100 kms of the city before they were hammered by Gaddafi’s forces,who pushed them back to Bin Jawad,” Al Arabia correspondent said from the frontline.

But now Gaddafi’s artillery is shelling even the key town of Brega.

As heavy battles raged on the eastern front,allied bombers and Tomahawk missiles kept up their pounding of the capital Tripoli.