Fears that Gaddafi forces occupying oil town will be able to threaten Ajdabiya and then the rebel capital of Benghazi
Libya's revolutionary leadership has denied that its military campaign is in crisis even as its forces were driven further into retreat after a failed attempt to retake the oil town of Brega.
The rebels launched an assault on Brega in a bid to prevent Muammar Gaddafi's forces from threatening Ajdabiya, the gateway to the revolutionaries' de facto capital of Benghazi and other "liberated" towns along Libya's eastern coast. But the government army swiftly repelled the rebel attack even though Gaddafi's forces were also hit by western air strikes.
The rebels again turned and fled under a barrage of rocket fire as Gaddafi's army adopted some of the revolutionaries' own tactics – highly mobile units using weapons mounted on pickup trucks so as to be less vulnerable to the air strikes.
The government's army is now apparently in a position to move on Ajdabiya if it chooses, although it is not clear that it will. It has already retaken two important oil terminals in recent days.
Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the revolutionary council in Benghazi, said that in spite of the setbacks, which have seen the rebels almost forced back to their positions of a week ago, the situation is far from lost.
"We are very actively building a professional army, or as close to a professional army as possible. We're trying to make sure they're properly armed," he said.
"We have a lot of soldiers – ex-army that are returning, pledging to the revolution. But this process takes time. It takes quite a bit of time to train a professional soldier. But there's quite a bit of progress. I think in the next few days we'll see developments that are going to be very positive."
Gheriani declined to directly answer a question about whether the CIA is involved in training the new army, as the New York Times reported. The paper also revealed that British special forces were on the ground, directing air strikes.
Gheriani did not deny the report but shifted his answer between suggesting that foreign ground forces would not be needed and saying the council does not discuss intelligence matters.
The issue is sensitive in rebel-held areas of Libya where, in spite of overwhelming support for western air strikes against Gaddafi's forces, there is also strong objection to foreign troops on the ground. This is partly because of Libya's history of colonisation by Italy, but also represents a wish to avoid the horrors of the US occupation of Iraq. Asked if foreign ground forces would still be objected to by Libyans in rebel areas, he replied: "I think for the general population it would be."
Gheriani said air strikes should continue. Despite the shift in Gaddafi's tactics, he is still reliant on artillery and tanks to back his assault on the rebels. He hinted that one frustration for the rebels is that they do not know where the bombing will target, which can make planning their campaign difficult.
"Why didn't they bomb yesterday or the day before or they're bombing in a different area? This is very difficult for us to say because they have their military plan. They dictate their military plan. We don't dictate it for them," he said.
Gheriani said he was unconcerned about international support waning if the rebels did not make significant advances and the conflict dragged on.
He said the London conference stated clearly that Gaddafi had to go and he believed that remained the common goal for the revolutionaries and the west.
However, he acknowledged that it is likely to take months to bring down Gaddafi.