20110423
reuters

TUNISIA-LIBYA BORDER (Reuters) - Libyan rebels rushed supplies on Saturday to remote mountain towns under attack by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, cheered by reports of gains for fellow fighters in the city of Misrata.

Two days after insurgents seized a remote border crossing with Tunisia and raised the pre-Gaddafi flag, people queued in cars to bring food and gasoline from the neighbouring country into the area known as the Western Mountains.

"The fact that we control this border gate means we have broken the isolation of the mountain region after several weeks," one rebel, who gave his name as Ezsine, said.

The fighting in Libya's Western Mountains has not received as much international attention as the siege of Misrata or clashes in the east, but rebels in the mountains have also been putting Gaddafi's forces under pressure.

Residents and insurgents say pro-government forces have been bombarding Western Mountains towns, which joined in a wider revolt against Gaddafi's four-decade rule in February.

At least 14,000 people have fled escalating violence there over the few weeks through the border crossing near the southern Tunisian town of Dehiba, saying the region faces worsening hardship with a lack of water, food and medicines.

Mountain towns such as Nalut and Yafran are inhabited by Berbers, a group ethnically distinct from most Libyans and traditionally viewed with suspicion by Gaddafi's government.

"There is nothing in Yafran. If the rebels hadn't seized this border crossing, people there would have died of hunger," a man named Imed said as he waited to cross into Libya by car.