Cairo, March 11
Columns of Gaddafi’s tanks, after over-running most of the oil town of Ras Lanuf, were headed down the eastern coastal highway at striking distance of other key rebel strongholds forcing the opposition leaders to send an SOS for western intervention, saying they feared cleansing.

Muammar Gaddafi's forces launched a large-scale offensive in another oil-producing town of Brega as well, unleashing aerial raids. Rebel forces retreated from Ras Lanuf, although some reports claimed that they retained control of the residential parts of the town. There was a sustained aerial, artillery and mortar bombardment, Al-Jazeera reported. “We are outgunned and are facing cleansing from Gaddafi's forces,” Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of the rebel National Council in Libya told BBC.

“We asked for a no-fly zone to be imposed from day one. We ask the international community to shoulder their responsibilities. We also want a sea embargo and we urgently need some arms and we also need humanitarian assistance and medicines to be sent to the cities besieged by Gaddafi's troops,” Jalil said from his headquarters in the eastern Libya. He claimed victory was in sight and that his forces were poised to uproot the rebels from all areas. Stunned by France's recognition of the rebel, the Libyan government announced that it was withdrawing support to the international war against terrorism and that the North African nation would no longer remain a bulwark against Al-Qaida in Africa, Al Jazeera reported. The EU summit is divided over a British-French push for formal recognition of Gaddafi's opponents and also calls by Paris for limited air strikes against Gaddafi. British PM David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged partners to extend formal recognition to Libyan rebels. — PTI