MISRATA: Libyan rebels Thursday overran a post on the Tunisian border, marking their first advance in weeks against Moamer Qaddafi’s forces as NATO warned civilians to stand clear of its bombing blitz.
The capture of the Wazin border post was cheered by several hundred rebels who raised the flag of the Libyan monarchy after some 150 to 200 pro-Qaddafi soldiers abandoned their weapons and fled into Tunisia.
Some insurgents paraded in the bucket of a bulldozer and dozens of rebel vehicles were present at the border post, located about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the main Tunisian-Libyan crossing at Ras Jdir.
Rebels have been pinned back by government troops for more than three weeks in the east of the country and have suffered heavy losses in Misrata, which has been pounded for more than six weeks in fighting, which a doctor said had claimed at least 1,000 lives.
Among the latest to die in Misrata, some 215 kilometers (132 miles) west of Tripoli, were 41-year-old Tim Hetherington, an Oscar-nominated British film director and war photographer, and award-winning US photographer Chris Hondros, also 41.
The two photographers were hit by a mortar on Wednesday while covering fighting in Misrata’s Tripoli Street, the frontline in a bloody battle for control of the city, witnesses said.
NATO warned civilians to avoid getting close to Qaddafi’s troops, as it pursues a UN mandate to protect non-combatants while enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya.
"Our planners and pilots go to very great lengths to ensure we do all we can to reduce the risk to civilians when we attack targets, but the risk cannot be reduced to zero," the general in charge of NATO’s operations said in a statement from Brussels.
"Civilians can assist NATO by distancing themselves from Qaddafi regime forces and equipment whenever possible," Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard said.
"Doing this will allow NATO to strike those forces and equipment with greater success and with the minimum risk to civilians," the statement said.
NATO’s warning came as Libyan official media reported seven civilians killed and 18 wounded in an alliance air raid that targeted the southwestern Tripoli suburb of Khellat Al-Ferjan late on Wednesday.
In Paris, Libyan rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said the insurgents expect "major strikes by the coalition" against Qaddafi’s forces.
"We are sure that Qaddafi will be overthrown sooner or later, but we want it to be as soon as possible," Jalil told French TV Wednesday after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Asked whether the conflict would be won by force or negotiation, Jalil told France 24: "We expect there to be major strikes by the coalition, then Libyans can reach a solution."
"The longer he stays the more blood will be spilled," said Jalil, who heads Libya’s Transitional National Council (TNC).
Rebel leaders have pleaded for foreign soldiers to help them battle Qaddafi’s forces, who have been pounding Misrata for more than six weeks, in fighting which a doctor said had claimed at least 1,000 lives.
France, Italy and Britain have said they would send military personnel to insurgent-held eastern Libya, but only to advise the rebels on technical, logistical and organizational matters and not to engage in combat.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that the United States would not join its allies in sending military advisers to aid the rebels.
"There is a desire to help them be more organized and we support that.
We’re not participating in it, but we support it," she said on PBS.
When asked whether she thought a political solution was possible that would allow Qaddafi, who has ruled Libya with an iron fist for over 41 years, to remain in power, she responded: "I don’t think so."
However, she also said "It’s too early to tell" if the conflict has reached a stalemate.
Massive Libyan protests in February — inspired by the revolts that toppled longtime autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia — escalated into war when Qaddafi’s troops fired on demonstrators and protesters seized several eastern towns.
The battle lines have been more or less static in recent weeks, however, as NATO air strikes have helped block Qaddafi’s eastward advance but failed to give the poorly organized and lightly-armed rebels a decisive victory.
A senior American diplomat, meanwhile, told lawmakers in a letter obtained by AFP on Wednesday, that Obama plans to provide the rebels with up to $25 million in urgent, non-lethal aid.
Clinton insisted the equipment was coming from US government stock, saying: "There are no new purchases; this is not a blank cheque."
Clinton added that the US believes the new effort may help end the conflict.
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelati Laabidi told the BBC that the presence of any foreign troops in Libya would prolong the fighting.
