Rebels plan victory march to Tripoli

Buoyed by French arms drops and intensified Nato air strikes on the regime's frontline armour, Libya's rebel army said it is poised for an offensive that could put it within striking distance of Tripoli.

The rebels' announcement late on Saturday was made as a prolonged deadlock on the battlefield prompted mounting pressure from countries outside the Nato-led coalition for a negotiated solution to a conflict that has dragged on for four-and-a-half months.

President Jacob Zuma was expected to hold talks in Moscow yesterday with representatives of the International Contact Group on Libya, and with Russian officials.

Rebel fighters are readying an advance out of their hill-top enclave in the Nafusa mountains, southwest of Tripoli, in the next 48 hours in a bid to recapture territory in the plains on the road to the capital, their spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said.

"In the next two days the [rebels] will come up with answers, things will change on the front line," he said.

The rebels retreated last week from around the plains town of Bir al-Ghanam, about 80km from Tripoli, in the face of loyalist bombardment.

But last week France made a series of weapons drops to rebel fighters in the Nafusa mountains and Nato has bombarded loyalist positions around Bir al-Ghanam and elsewhere on the front line around the rebel enclave.

Two armoured vehicles belonging to forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi were destroyed in the town on Friday night.

In Gharyan, another government stronghold, Nato aircraft struck eight targets in the past four days, including a complex used to resupply Gaddafi troops, tanks and other military vehicles.