20110314
reuters

ALGIERS (Reuters) - The difficulty Libyan forces had stamping out small numbers of rebels in the west of the country points to a long, hard and nasty fight when Muammar Gaddafi's troops reach the main rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Another lesson from the fighting in the west is that an internationally enforced no-fly zone will do little to halt the advance of Gaddafi's forces because, at decisive moments, they have been beating the rebels on the ground, not from the air.

After losing control over large parts of his oil-exporting country last month to an uprising against his rule, Gaddafi has regained momentum. His forces have recovered two oil terminals in the east and are pushing on toward Benghazi.

U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper said last week that eventually, because of its military strength, "the regime will prevail".

The advance in the east has so far been relatively straightforward: Gaddafi's forces have been fighting in a bleak strip of desert coastline where they can use artillery and aircraft to scatter the disorganised rebel fighters.

But when they reach Benghazi, Gaddafi's superior firepower is likely to be blunted by the kind of urban warfare waged first in the city of Zawiyah, just to the west of Tripoli, and now in Misrata, 200 km (130 miles) east of the capital.

"Fighting in an urban environment is not only difficult but it is also confusing and confused," said Graham Cundy, a military specialist at Diligence, a Western security and intelligence consultancy.

"So it's not overly surprising it took so long to clear the urbanised areas," said Cundy, a former British military officer.