Gaddafi defiant despite NATO, Libyan rebel assaults

International pressure has yet to sway Gaddafi Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi failed to succumb to rumors that he is losing his grip on power, vowing to resist both rebels and NATO air strikes. "Millions of people are on my side," Kadhafi said in a speech broadcast over loudspeakers to partisans in Al-Aziziya, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the capital late on Tuesday.
"This war was imposed on us, and our only choice is to fight -- men, women and children -- with all our weapons to liberate (the rebel strongholds) of Benghazi, Misrata and Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi (in the Nafusa mountains southwest of the capital)…NATO's bombs do not scare us."
Meanwhile, amid mounting diplomatic pressure on the Libyan regime to step down after four decades in power, US envoys held a rare meeting with regime representatives at the weekend.
The rebels said on Monday loyalist forces had retreated from Brega, leaving just 150 to 200 fighters pinned down inside.Citing intercepted radio chatter, another rebel military source said loyalists were led in retreat by their commander, Kadhafi's son Mutassim, leaving just a few fighters with dwindling supplies.
Kadhafi spokesman Mussa Ibrahim denied Brega had fallen to the rebels. Brega is a major centre for channelling oil through the pipelines of the resource-rich Sirte Basin to the rest of the world.
The bulk of their forces were still waiting to enter the city, hampered by vast quantities of mines and trenches filled with flammable liquids, they said.
Abdulrazag Elaradi, a National Transitional Council (NTC) member visiting the front, said that in one 7.5 kilometre (five mile) tract the rebels had found more than 700 mines.
"This has never been done before; people have to know about this," he said, appalled that Kadhafi would mine his own country.
In the west, rebels consolidated their grip on the desert hamlet of Gualish south of Tripoli as commanders readied for a new push on the capital.
"We are preparing for the battle. We hope (it will take place), God willing, before Ramadan," said rebel commander Mokhtar Lakhdar.
France has said it accepts that Kadhafi could stay in Libya if he quits politics, under a ceasefire deal to end a conflict with rebels backed by Paris."One of the possibilities being considered is that he stay in Libya but on the clear condition that he steps aside from Libyan political life," the minister, Alain Juppe, told LCI television.
"That is what we are waiting for before we start the political process for a ceasefire," he added. "The ceasefire comes about by a formal and clear commitment by Kadhafi to give up his civil and military responsibilities."
France is taking part in NATO-coordinated strikes against Kadhafi's military assets and was the first outside state to formally recognise the rebels' Transitional National Council.
Libyan rebel military leaders from the city of Misrata were due to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday seeking extra aid for their fight, a source close to their delegation told AFP on Tuesday.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Kadhafi on charges of crimes against humanity during his crackdown on the uprising against him that began in mid-February.