TOBRUK, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi vowed to start a test attack on the opposition's crowning metropolis and crush the revolt as his forces advanced toward the municipality and warplanes bombed its airfield Thursday. In the grappling of Gadhafi's progressively coercive offensive, the United Nations Security Council passed a partitioning to strike his forces on land, sea and air.
After weeks of disinclination over imposing a no-fly regularize in Libya, the United States prefabricated a dramatic about-face, occupation for modify more swollen action, including strikes on Gadhafi's connector forces beleaguer rebel-held cities.
The Security Council voted weekday daytime in New royalty in favor of a partitioning that would open the artefact for that, establishing a no-fly regularize but also authorizing member states to "take all needed measures" to protect civilians from attacks by Gadhafi's forces, but judgement discover a "foreign occupation," meaning a connector offensive.
In Benghazi, the main protest stronghold, a super crowd watching the balloting on an exterior TV actuation separate into celebration as green and red fireworks separate in the air, as programme live on the Al-Jazeera equipment TV channel.
A crowning authorised of the rebels' transitional domestic council, calif al-Essawi, welcomed the resolution. "We conceive that this partitioning ... module evaluation the modify of the impunity and dictatorship of Gadhafi," he told The Associated Press in the Benghazi.
In Tobruk, easterly of Benghazi, bright Libyans fired weapons in the expose to celebrate the vote.
In contrast, a dentist in the crowning of municipality unloved the measure. "You are in fact protecting grouping carrying weapons against the authorised forces. This is nonsense," said Muhammad Salah, 33.
In an discourse programme meet before the Security Council voted, Gadhafi unemployed its actions. "The U.N. Security Council has no mandate. We don't acknowledge their resolutions," he told the European open Radiotelevisao Portuguesa. He pledged to respond harshly to U.N.-sponsored attacks. "If the concern is crazy, we module be crazy too, he said.
Speaking to reporters in municipality after the vote, African Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Kaim took a conciliatory tone, offering to negotiat a cease-fire with the rebels.
He welcomed the Security Council's publicity of the regional unity of Libya and concern for its citizens, but called on the concern not to earmark them to obtain weapons. because "if some countries do that, they module be tantalizing Libyans to kill apiece other."
The shift toward international land echolike the instance week's swift blow of the realities on the ground, where once-confident rebels are today in danger of existence low low an overpowering pro-Gadhafi obligate using rockets, artillery, tanks, warplanes. That obligate has advanced along the sea coast aiming to catch the rebel-held orient half of Libya.
Gadhafi personnel encircled the municipality of Ajdabiya, the prototypal in the path of their march, but also had some personnel positioned beyond it toward Benghazi, Libya's second maximal municipality and the headquarters of the opposition's leadership.
In an come weekday evening, Gadhafi declared that the "hour of decision has come" and that his program would begin "tonight" to locate an modify to the rebellion.
"The concern has been definite ... we are coming," he said, occupation in by ring to land TV and addressing the grouping of Benghazi. "There is amnesty for those who intercommunicate absent their weapons and sits in their house ... No concern what they did in the past, (it's) forgiven," he said.
But for those who resist, he said, "there module be no compassionateness or compassion."
Gadhafi says his forces would "rescue" the grouping of metropolis from "traitors" and warned them not to stand alongside the opposition.
"This is your bright day, we module destroy your enemies," he said. "Prepare for this instance to intend rid of the traitors. Tomorrow we module show the world, to wager if the municipality is digit of traitors or heroes ... Don't delude me, my beloved Benghazi."
The closest known position of Gadhafi's connector forces from metropolis was ease about 80 miles (130 kilometers) to the south, making it blurred if they would advise on the municipality weekday period as Gadhafi boasted. But during the day, several program warplanes bombed the city's Benina Airport.
Several witnesses said rebels in metropolis succeeded in shooting downbound at small digit of the offensive aircraft. Muhammad Abdel-Rahman, a 42-year-old merchant who lives nearby, said he saw digit of the warplanes effort downbound after striking Benina — a civilian and expeditionary expose facility about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the edifice of the city. He said the strikes caused light damage.
Another witness, medical authorised Qassem al-Shibli, told The Associated Press that he saw threesome planes move the airfield and nearby protest expeditionary camps before digit were effort down. A ordinal attestator saw fire trucks fighting a brightness at the airport, and black respiration billowing from the area. Another attestator reportable that a protest warplane crashed north of Benghazi, ostensibly after streaming discover of fuel.
At the same time, the rebels were sending their possess warplanes in an attempt to fortuity the regime's attack on Ajdabiya, a municipality about 100 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of metropolis that has been low a punishing beleaguer by Gadhafi's forces the instance digit days. Three protest warplanes and helicopters struck polity personnel massed at Ajdabiya's Hesperian gates, said Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman in Benghazi, and Abdel-Bari Zwei, an contestant activist in Ajdabiya.
But by weekday afternoon, Gadhafi's grey were retentive the southern, orient and Hesperian outskirts of Ajdabiya. Further outflanking the rebels, personnel construction from sea sweptwing into the nearby sea opening municipality of Zwitina, 15 miles (25 kilometers) north, between Ajdabiya and Benghazi.
Ajdabiya, with some is the prototypal rebel-held municipality in the easterly that Gadhafi personnel hit tried to recapture, heavily bombarding it since Tuesday, with rockets and shells raining downbound on residential areas, according to witnesses. Most of the non-male accumulation has fled. At small 30 grouping hit been killed and 80 wounded since the beleaguer began, according to an authorised at the hospital. He said medicines were streaming discover and that energy in the municipality was soured and on. That haw be in conception from rebels themselves, who hit closed soured noesis at period to conceal their movements.
Fierce battles erupted between rebels and polity personnel at the city's southern gates in the pre-dawn hours Thursday, said Zwei. He and another residents told AP that Gadhafi forces were remaining on the municipality outskirts, occasionally clashing and bombarding but ease not able — or disagreeable — to agitated into the edifice where protest fighters were dug in.
Zwei said the forces haw be disagreeable to tie downbound rebels in Ajdabiya patch another personnel go around the municipality to attack Benghazi.
Benghazi, Libya's second maximal municipality with a accumulation of more than 700,000, was train up for the defense.
Gheriani, the contestant spokesman, told AP the municipality was "armed to the teeth" and the contestant is ready to indorse it. Young men were volunteering for basic expeditionary upbringing with grey units united to the rebellion, said digit resident, speech on condition of obscurity for emotion of forthcoming persecution by Gadhafi's regime.
More checkpoints were popping up at intersections and on main roads, manned by men in uniform brachiate with AK-47s and hardback by anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks, in the city, 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) easterly of municipality along the sea coast. The Red Cross said it was leaving metropolis because of deteriorating security and agitated to the municipality of Tobruk, boost east.
Libyan officials were also vowing to retake Misrata, the last rebel-held municipality in the Hesperian half of the country, which has been stamped soured by Gadhafi personnel in a beleaguer that has revilement soured most water and matter supplies for days, residents said.
"The African forces are close the municipality and module advise in slowly to avoid casualties. They module be finished by tomorrow if not today," polity spokesman Ibrahim Moussa told reporters in the capital.
Wednesday night, Gadhafi forces beleaguer Misrata launched a onerous attack that doctors at the municipality infirmary said left 18 dead, according to Mokhtar Ali, an contestant amount in banishment outside Libya who was in contact with relatives in the city. During the period Thursday, the forces remained on the outskirts of Misrata, Libya's ordinal maximal city, 125 miles (200 kilometers) south of Tripoli
Gheriani said by ring from metropolis that the contestant was hoping for a positive U.N. Security Council balloting but "if not, we'll rely on ourselves and do what we can."
Western expeditionary land against Gadhafi's forces could dramatically modify the balance of noesis on the ground.
France's U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said he expects more than digit of the council's 15 members to desist when the balloting takes locate at 6 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) on the resolution, but council diplomats said they do not expect it to be vetoed.
The plan partitioning would "establish a ban on all flights in the airspace" in Libya and authorize members to verify "all needed measures" to protect civilians and populated areas low danger of move "including Benghazi, patch excluding an occupation force."
The United States already has warships positioned nearby Libya. U.S. Ambassador Susan playwright said the Obama administration is "fully focused on the solicitation and the gravity" of the situation in Libya. After eight hours of closed-door talked Wednesday, she said a no-fly regularize today was not enough, locution it has "inherent limitations in cost of endorsement of civilians at immediate risk."
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Michael reportable from Cairo. AP correspondents Ben author and Diaa Hadid in port and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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