“We have prevented a potential massacre, established a no-fly zone, stopped an advancing army, added more partners to this coalition and transferred command of the military effort to NATO,” Clinton said. “That’s not bad for a week of work at a time of great, intense international concern.”
Gaddafi has not been seen or heard from publicly in a week, but with his forces advancing east on the 11th day of airstrikes, no immediate pressure appeared on his government to abandon him.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is imploring the world to speak with a single voice to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and tell him to leave power. (March 29)
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Map: Tracking events in Libya
Bin Jawwad, 90 miles east of Sirte, marked the farthest point of the rebel advance the last time they swept west through government lines a little over three weeks ago. The retreat Tuesday suggested that the rebels will have a difficult time taking and holding territory in Gaddafi’s loyalist heartland.
News footage showed images of panicked rebels leaping into cars and pickup trucks and scrambling to leave Bin Jawwad as approaching Gaddafi forces pounded them with mortar shells and artillery fire. There were no reports of coalition airstrikes as the rebels withdrew.
The rebels retreated 37 miles east to Ras Lanuf, the oil refinery town they had retaken from Gaddafi earlier this month as the momentum in the war seemed to swing in their favor. Yet even there, their hold seemed tenuous. Reports late Tuesday said the town was coming under heavy artillery fire from advancing Gaddafi troops.
There were also reports from the besieged town of Misurata that Libyan forces had launched a fresh onslaught of attacks, pounding civilian areas with mortar and artillery fire. Four brothers were killed, according to a physician at a rebel-controlled hospital. In Tripoli, airstrikes occurred for the first time in daylight, with three loud explosions shaking the capital at 5:30 p.m.
As news of the rebels’ retreat reached Benghazi, the mood was somber. Rebel spokeswoman Iman Bugaighis described the action as a “tactical withdrawal” designed to take rebel forces “out of the range of Col. Gaddafi’s militia and mercenary troops.”
Rebel officials nonetheless said they welcomed the London conference for the increased diplomatic recognition it appeared to afford their self-styled government, the Transitional National Council.
“We don’t have arms,” said Guma El-Gamaty, British co-coordinator for the council, who added that he would welcome offers to provide weapons to the rebels. “But we ask for political support more than we ask for arms.”
Clinton, like Obama, did not discount the possibility of arming the rebels. She said she thought such a step would be legal under the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, which authorized the use of force to protect the lives of Libyan civilians. But British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the subject had not been raised.
U.S. and European leaders met with leaders of the rebel council and set up a multinational Libyan contact group to coordinate political strategy in the weeks ahead.
Warrick reported from London. Staff writers Tara Bahrampour in Benghazi, Libya, and Perry Bacon Jr. in Washington contributed to this report.
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