20110331
Xinhua
TRIPOLI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- When heavy shelling from ground troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi drove rebels out of the key oil port of Ras Lanouf on Wednesday, some coalition members began to discuss the possibility of arming the opposition.

The rebel, armed mostly with light weaponry and riding in pick-up trucks, said they were overwhelmed by the rocket bombardment from government forces and had to give up Ras Lanouf, a Mediterranean town in northern Libya.

The withdrawal slowed the rebels' advancement along the coastal road toward the nation's capital of Tripoli.

Airstrikes have neutralized Gadhafi's air force and pounded his army, but his ground forces remain far better armed, trained and organized than the opposition. Rebels have few weapons more powerful than rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, and are no match for Gaddafi's tanks and longer-range heavy weapons.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said, meanwhile, that his government has not precluded arming the retreating rebels.

"We do not rule it out but we have not taken the decision to do so," Cameron told the House of Commons.

He said the U.N. resolution imposing a no-fly zone and an arms embargo on Libya do not necessarily rule out providing weapons to the rebels.

Under the U.N. resolution authorizing necessary measures to protect civilians, nations supplying weapons would need to be satisfied they would be used only to defend civilians -- not to take the offensive to Gadhafi's forces.

The resolution, Cameron said, "allows all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas, and our view is that this would not necessarily rule out the provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that Washington also believes it would be legal to give the rebels weapons. As to whether the country would do so, President Barack Obama, though facing great domestic pressure questioning American military involvement in the North African country, told NBC, "I'm not ruling it out, but I'm also not ruling it in."

Others, meanwhile, cautioned of the consequences should a decision to arm the rebels be made.

Italian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Maurizio Massari said arming the rebels would be an "extreme" measure likely to divide the international community.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that his country believed foreign powers do not have the right to arm the rebels according to the U.N. resolutions.

He agreed with NATO Secretary General Fogh Rasmussen, who told the CNN on Monday that the on-going military actions were intend to protect civilians on the ground, not to arm them.

Lavorav also said Russia believed it was time for Gaddafi to step down and give Libyan people a chance to form a government of their own choosing without "foreign interference."

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday told visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy that "dialogue and other peaceful means are the ultimate solutions to problems".

"If military action brings disaster to civilians and causes a humanitarian crisis, then it runs counter to the purpose of the UN resolution," Hu said.

Sarkozy, whose nation launched the first round of attacks against Libyan government forces on March 19, said France hopes to resolve the crisis through political and diplomatic means.

France, one of the strongest backers of international intervention in Libya, believes arming rebels would require a new U.N. resolution; the existing one includes an arms embargo. But Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said, "We are ready to discuss it with our partners."