Libyan rebels fighting to oust Colonel Moamer Gaddafi pressed ahead Thursday with day two of a NATO-backed offensive after seizing a desert hamlet some 50 km from Tripoli. Reinforced with fresh French weapons parachuted into the North African country, and coordinating with NATO-led air strikes aimed at destroying Gaddafi's frontline armour, the rebels attacked the regime's forces in the plains southwest of the capital. The area targeted by the rebel offensive is seen as strategic as it also features the garrison city of Gharyan, a government stronghold in the Nafusa mountains. “We waited before launching this assault and finally got the green light from NATO... and the offensive began,” a rebel leader in Zintan, a hill town, said Wednesday. In the conflict, several African mercenaries fighting alongside Kadhafi forces were captured. NATO meanwhile listed a series of seven targets where Gaddafi's military equipment had been attacked, including eight armoured vehicles and military refuelling equipment near the eastern oil town of Brega. The latest offensive came after France said it no longer needed to drop weapons to the rebels fighting Kadhafi's forces since they were getting more organised and could arrange to arm themselves. However, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet cautioned against the rebels' prospects of defeating Kadhafi and pushing toward the capital. Meanwhile, NATO is denying a Libyan government claim that the alliance is intentionally using its airstrikes to assist rebel advances. Wing Cmdr. Mike Bracken, an alliance spokesman in Naples, Italy, says NATO is “not involved in the ground battles,” although he acknowledged the alliance is tracking the fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.
