Desert battle: Gaddafi troops launch first counter-attack in free Libya

Battle raged in the desert today as Colonel Gaddafi launched his first counter-offensive to reclaim "Free Libya".

Regime loyalists fought protesters for control of the key oil port of Marsa El Brega in the most brutal fighting of the two-week conflict so far.

Rebel forces then sent in hundreds of trucks carrying rocket-propelled grenades and claimed to have retaken the oil terminal and airstrip at the centre of the battles. Under the sound of screaming warplanes and the crackle of heavy gunfire, the number of dead and wounded neared 50.

The counter-attack began shortly after dawn when two warplanes were seen in the Libyan sky and 50 trucks carrying heavy machineguns stormed into the rebel-held east. The key target was Marsa El Brega, which by mid-morning had fallen under Gaddafi's control. But the rebels launched a ferocious response.

By mid-afternoon heavy fighting had spread to the rebel-held town of Ajdabiya, 40 miles north-east, as the university campus of Najaan al Saleh was hit and a Gaddafi warplane was struck, while an ammunition depot was bombed.

Gaddafi's men, sent from the coastal town of Ras Lanuf, vowed to advance on Benghazi, which has become the capital of the rebel movement.
I watched as thousands massed at the eastern gates of Ajdabiya to fight the man who sent his troops to kill them.

They were filling Coca-Cola and Fanta bottles with rags and petrol as makeshift molotov cocktails. Others carried AK47s and hunting rifles, with one man running past carrying rocket-propelled grenades. But most of the 7,000-strong crowd massing at the city's eastern gate were unarmed.

They chanted slogans and prepared to repel the regime's counter-attack, determined to fight for "Free Libya". At the town's Ahamed al Magare hospital, nine people were being treated for gunshot wounds.

As fighting spread, Gaddafi appeared at a chaotic televised press conference in Tripoli to say: "We will fight until the last man and woman". He warned that thousands would die if the US or other nations intervene.

The influx of soldiers corresponded exactly to plans laid out by Gaddafi's army officers the previous day for how they intend to subdue the eastern cities.

Evening Standard had been exclusively taken by a former Gaddafi special forces officer to the regime-controlled town of Ras Lanuf to witness the preparations for the counter-attack.

There we witnessed soldiers from Gaddafi's own tribe preparing for battle. All were very well equipped with modern automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. The pick-ups with machine guns at the back were being moved into position at a fortified checkpoint, which at that stage was the regime's furthest point east it still controlled.

Most notable of all, however, was the confidence the Gaddafi soldiers had in the regime's survival - and their fury at the revolutionaries in the east who they believed threatened to cast the country into anarchy and potential religious fundamentalism.

"For 41 years this country has been safe," said senior officer Moftar Omar. "For 41 years it has been kept from the hands of the Americans, British and Israelis. Now they throw it all away and start burning Libyan buildings and killing Libyan soldiers.

"Is this their gratitude? Is this their gratitude for what our leader has done for them? Now we will come for them step-by-step. First we will take the oil works at Brega, then Ajdabiya, then the gas installation at Zurinatri and then we will advance on Benghazi itself.

"How will they stop us? We are soldiers. We are trained. They are just a rabble with guns they do not know how to use." Ras Lanuf had been liberated last week but fell back under the control of Gaddafi's forces on Sunday. Yesterday it was evident how total the regime's control now was. Every car that was going either into or out of the town was being searched and mobile phones were seized from those travelling into Gaddafi territory in case they might be used to inform those in the east of the military preparations ahead of the planned assault.

Although no soldiers we talked to would reveal when the counter-attack would happen, they were confident in the regime's ultimate victory.
"We have not only our troops but 25,000 loyal Libyan civilians who have been given guns with which to defend the regime," said a Gaddafi supporter. "Everyone there is loyal to Gaddafi. Soon we will crush this rebellion.

"What do these troubles bring? Is there law and order? These people will make us like Iraq where everyone fears for their life, there is no business and we go back to like medieval people.

"It will be the religious leaders who seize control and I do not want that. Gaddafi has given us a secure and powerful country. I will fight to the death to protect it." According to revolutionary leaders in Ajdabiya, this morning's advance by Gaddafi's forces resulted in them seizing control of the oil installation at around 8am local time.

It is one of the most important facilities in the country, responsible in more peaceful times for pumping 180,000 barrels per day.

It is understood that the anti-Gaddafi forces at the site put up resistance before retreating. At least one of them was killed in the fighting. His body is being held by the regime's soldiers, who have so far refused revolutionaries' requests to retrieve the corpse.

In Ajdabiya locals rushed to the city's eastern edge with what weapons they had. Others fled towards Benghazi.

Ajdabiya's defences are not extensive, despite it being the location for a large arms dump, which has been bombed several times by Gaddafi forces.

Today its people will learn Gaddafi's next move and whether the confidence expressed by those in the regime's army that the revolut ion can be crushed proves to be mere words - or a promise that will mark an end to the locals' precious few days of freedom.