Cairo, July 28 — Hundreds of rebels in western Libya launched a broad offensive against government forces Thursday, seizing two towns from them and advancing on others in an attempt to secure a major supply route near the Tunisian border, a rebel spokesman said.
Four rebel fighters were killed and several were wounded in the biggest push in the area since the start of Libya’s civil war five months ago, said the spokesman, Badees Fessato. He said rebels captured 18 government soldiers.
Descending from their stronghold in the western Nafusa mountain range at dawn, rebel fighters advanced in several areas along a stretch of more than 100 kilometers (60 miles), said Fessato. He said opposition forces drove government troops out of the towns of Jawsh and Ghazaya, and moved toward other government-held towns in the area.
Libya’s civil war has been largely deadlocked and rebels have been unable to score a major breakthrough on the battle field, despite shifting front lines and a NATO bombing campaign of regime-linked targets.
Rebels control most of eastern Libya and most of the Nafusa mountains in the west as well as the western port city of Misrata. Gadhafi, entrenched in the capital of Tripoli, is clinging to the rest of the territory.
In an audio message released on state TV late Wednesday, Gadhafi demanded that the western mountain rebels give up their weapons.
“Surrender, you traitors! The people of Libya are pushing forward (to the western mountains) — choose to surrender or die,” Gadhafi shouted.
He said that without relying on NATO bombings, the rebels would not have been able to hold the mountains.
In Thursday’s fighting, rebels took control of the town of Jawsh, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) east of the Tunisian border and located along a main road between the border and Tripoli, Fessato said.
They also seized the town Ghazaya, close to the Tunisian border, he said.
He said rebel fighters also advanced toward the towns of Badr and Takut, seizing large amounts of weapons and ammunition.
One of the objectives of the push is to drive back pro-Gadhafi forces from the rebels’ main supply route between the Tunisian border and the Nafusa mountains, he said. Rebels seized control of the nearby Tunisian-Libyan border crossing in April, but Gadhafi’s forces have repeatedly tried to retake it and have shelled the supply road.
—Agencies