Libyan Rebels Chased From Eastern Town

Pro-Gadhafi forces pressed their assault on rebel positions in Libya, pushing the revolutionary army from the eastern town of Brega. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meantime, was preparing to meet with the rebels’ revolutionary council. —JCL

The Guardian:

The rebel army fled in hundreds of pick-up trucks, many with machine guns mounted on the back, and saloon cars back toward the nearest major town of Ajdabiya. Some of the revolutionaries, many of whom are young men with no previous combat experience, appeared close to panic. Many of the remaining civilians in the area fled with them.

The rapid advance by pro-regime forces came as Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, prepared to travel to the region to meet representatives of the Libyan rebels’ revolutionary council.

Clinton’s trip follows an unprecedented Arab League call for western military intervention to assist the embattled rebels.

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AP / Hussein Malla

Rebel fighters sit atop a pile of ammunition in the town of Brega in eastern Libya on Saturday.