Gaddafi Tells Rebels To Surrender
RYAN LUCAS and DIAA HADID 03/15/11 09:26 PM 
Read More: Gaddafi, Libya News, Libya Protests, Libya Rebels, Moammar Gadhafi, Muammar Gaddafi,No Fly Zone, World News
TOBRUK, Libya — Moammar Gadhafi's forces overwhelmed rebels in the strategic eastern city of Ajdabiya, hammering them with airstrikes, missiles, tanks and artillery Tuesday in an assault that sent residents fleeing and appeared to open the way for an all-out government offensive on the opposition's main stronghold in the east, Benghazi.
In desperation, rebels sent up two antiquated warplanes that struck a government ship bombarding Ajdabiya from the Mediterranean. But as tanks rolled into the city from two directions and rockets relentlessly pounded houses and shops, the ragtag opposition fighters' defenses appeared to break down.
Only 10 days ago, the rebellion was poised to march on Tripoli, the capital, and had appeared capable of sweeping Gadhafi out after 41 years in power, but the regime's better armed and organized military has reversed the tide. Efforts led by France and Britain to create a no-fly zone to protect the rebels have gone nowhere, and some rebels lashed out at the West for failing to come to their aid.
"This is a madman, a butcher," one rebel fighter said of Gadhafi, speaking to The Associated Press by telephone from Ajdabiya as explosions were heard in the background. "It's indiscriminate fire."
"The world is sleeping," he said. "They (the West) drunk of Gadhafi's oil and now they won't stand against him. They didn't give us a no-fly zone."
Residents of the city of 140,000 streamed out, fleeing toward Benghazi, 140 miles (200 kilometers) northeast. But warplanes and artillery were striking roads in and out of Ajdabiya, several witnesses and fighters said. Some reported private cars had been hit, but the reports could not be independently confirmed. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from Gadhafi's regime.
Ajdabiya, 480 miles (800 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, is the gateway to the long stretch of eastern Libya that has been in the control of the opposition since early on in the month-long uprising. With its fall, regime forces would be able to bombard Benghazi, Libya's second largest city and the de facto capital of the opposition, by air, sea and land.
The opposition once had a seemingly unshakable hold on the eastern half of the country and control of several cities in the west. Gadhafi has reclaimed much of that territory, including all but one western city.
Gadhafi warned rebels: "There are only two possibilities: Surrender or run away."
