Qaddafi Forces Pull Back as Rebels Retake Ajdabiya

AJDABIYA, Libya — Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces retreated from this strategic city on Saturday in the first significant advance for the rebels who are challenging his rule since the American and European airstrikes began a week ago.

The capture of Ajdabiya is the first sign that the allied attacks, directed not only against Colonel Qaddafi’s aircraft and defenses but also against his ground troops as well, are changing the dynamics of the battle for control of the country. At the same time, however, Western leaders are debating the ability of the military operation to achieve its dual goals: to protect Libyan civilians and remove Colonel Qaddafi from power.

President Obama, in his weekly radio address, tried to reassure Americans that the mission was both important and effective. “Today, I can report that thanks to our brave men and women in uniform, we’ve made important progress,” he said, adding, “We are succeeding in our mission.”

In Ajdabiya, charred government tanks that were destroyed by the airstrikes through the night were still smoldering on Saturday at the city’s gates, where they had driven back rebel assaults over the past few days. But on Saturday, hundreds of rebels streamed in, honking their horns, shooting weapons into the air and waving their tricolored flags in celebration.

“Without the planes, we couldn’t have done this,” Ahmed Faraj, 38, told The Associated Press. “With the help of the planes, we are going to push onward to Tripoli, God willing.”

Rebels said they believed that Colonel Qaddafi’s militias had retreated about 50 miles to the west, toward the city of Brega.

“People are celebrating,” said Najib al-Mukasabi, who was driving from Ajdabiya north toward Benghazi, the rebels’ capital. “The west and east gates are liberated.”

The evidence of intense fighting could be seen everywhere, with homes badly damaged and wreckage in the streets. Before being routed from the city by the pro-Qaddafi forces, rebel fighters had vowed to make their stand in Ajdabiya, which is on both the major highway networks in northeastern Libya. A vital city of 120,000 before the battles began, it seemed more a damaged husk on Saturday.

At a news conference in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Kaim confirmed that government fighters had made a “tactical pullback.” And he reiterated the government’s charge that the American and European forces were overstepping mandates from the United Nations and NATO by providing close air support to the rebels instead of merely establishing a no-fly zone or protecting civilians.

The airstrikes in Ajdabiya had hit the pro-Qaddafi troops who were not advancing but merely “stationary,” he said.

He also repeated accusations that the airstrikes have killed dozens of civilians, though the Qaddafi government has not yet presented evidence of those deaths. In a news conference late Friday night, Health Ministry officials said more than 100 people had died in the air attacks, but they did not break out civilian casualties from the military deaths.

In his radio address, President Obama defended American involvement and the airstrikes’ targets, arguing that the United States was protecting a strategic interest in preserving the stability of the region as well as an international mandate to prevent a bloodbath.

“In places like Benghazi, a city of some 700,000 that Qaddafi threatened to show ‘no mercy,’ his forces have been pushed back,” Mr. Obama said. “So make no mistake, because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided, and the lives of countless civilians — innocent men, women and children — have been saved.”

The rebel forces are still outgunned on the ground by Colonel Qaddafi’s better-equipped militia, the rebel battle lines are still hundreds of miles from the capital and there is no indication of an imminent uprising in the west against the government.

Mr. Obama did not address how the conflict might end, but he repeated his vow that the United States would not send ground forces into Libya.

“This is now a broad, international effort,” he said. “Our allies and partners are enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya and the arms embargo at sea. Key Arab partners like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have committed aircraft.”

He added, “This is how the international community should work: more nations, not just the United States, bearing the responsibility and cost of upholding peace and security.”

There was evidence on Saturday that the allied military effort was having an effect not just in the rebel-held east, but in the west as well. In Misurata, where Libya’s military has kept up a tight siege against the last opposition redoubt in the western part of the country, rebel commanders said the allied airstrikes had allowed them to hold out.

Fighting around Misurata erupted again on Saturday, according to a rebel spokesman using the name Aiman. He said tanks and artillery resumed firing into the city on Saturday morning until three waves of airstrikes forced them back.

“After the airstrikes, things have been quiet,” he said by telephone, though he added that pro-Qaddafi snipers remained active in the center of the city. His report could not be confirmed because the government has barred journalists from entering the city.

In eastern Libya, an armed rebel convoy moved toward Brega, in pursuit of the retreating government forces.

The pro-Qaddafi fighters appeared to have fled in a hurry. About four miles southwest of Ajdabiya, the wreckage of six ammunition trucks blown up by the allied airstrikes lay by the side of the road, with green boxes of unused ammunition strewn on the ground. Several rebels cheered when they encountered the bloated body of a dead soldier near an armored personnel carrier that had been destroyed.

As far as 30 miles west of Ajdabiya — roughly halfway along the road to Brega — rebel fighters could be seen rejoicing as they reached a gas station. There was no sign of a government soldier anywhere in site.

In Ajdabiya, though, residents were just beginning to take emerge from taking shelter. The battle had badly damaged a mosque and a youth center on the eastern side of the city, and holes had been blown through shop windows everywhere.

Flies swarmed over three bodies under sheets outside the city morgue. Doctors said two of the dead had been on Colonel Qaddafi’s side and the other has been loyal to the rebels. It was unclear why they had been left outside, although the morgue’s refrigerators were not working in any event because electricity to the city had been cut off.

Inside the main hospital, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Kareem — one of six physicians who remained through the battle — said many residents had been afraid to come in. Those who neared the door often came under fire, he said, and all but three of the hospital’s ambulances had been destroyed. The hospital morgue counted about 30 victims during the battle, and the local cemetery counted 81 bodies. Many were buried in graves with no marker or only a number.