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In this photo from a government-organised visit for media, a pro-Gadhafi soldier stands on a tank next to a destroyed building in of Zawiya.
AP PHOTO
ZAWIYA, Libya — Showing growing confidence, Moammar Gadhafi’s regime celebrated Friday after retaking a strategic city near Tripoli following days of shelling and strengthening its hold on the capital and surrounding areas.
Loyalists celebrated on Zawiya’s main square, which had been the center of resistance, amid a heavy presence of pro-Gadhafi troops, tanks and snipers. There was talk of rebel bodies having been bulldozed away, and the dome and minaret of the nearby mosque were demolished, grim evidence of battle after days of relentless shelling by government forces.
With Gadhafi’s men also on the march against rebels in the east, Western nations appeared in disarray over how to stop the bloodshed.
President Barack Obama said a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the civilian population from the Gadhafi regime’s fighter jets remains a possibility as “we are slowly tightening the noose” around Gadhafi, but he stopped short of moving toward military action.
He cited actions already taken, including getting American citizens and embassy workers out of the country, slapping tough United Nations sanctions on Libya and seizing $30 billion in Gadhafi’s assets.
But the European Union said any such action would need diplomatic backing from international organizations like the Arab League, which was to discuss situation in Libya on Saturday in Cairo.
The capture of Zawiya, a coastal city of about 200,000 people that lies 30 miles west of Tripoli, seals off a corridor around the capital and solidifies the government’s control over the western half of the country to the border with Tunisia. The government still faced a rebel challenge in Misrata, Libya’s third-largest city. The government had claimed victory on Wednesday, but the rebels who are seeking to oust Gadhafi said fighting was ongoing.