Libya, North Africa | featured news

Col. Muammar Qaddafi has gained the upper hand on the Libyan battlefield, even as British and other Western officials maintain that his regime is "crumbling" from the inside. Benefiting from a change in tactics, Colonel Qaddafi's forces have made significant gains against rebels with more nimble units that are harder for Western allies to target by air. Rebels, now lacking the curtain of airstrikes that paved their rapid westward advance last weekend, appear to be relinquishing their determination to battle Qaddafi's forces all the way to Tripoli.

The coalition has told the rebels that they are no less subject to bombardment by NATO planes than pro-Qaddafi forces if they endanger civilians.

President Obama cast the U.S. military action in Libya in stark strategic and humanitarian terms Monday in an address to the nation.

The agreement by alliance ambassadors, meeting on Sunday night in Brussels paves the way for the United States to relinquish its temporary leadership of the operation, ending days of diplomatic wrangling.

U.S.-led military action in Libya has bolstered rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi's forces, but the international operation could continue for months, the Obama administration says.

Libyan rebels pushed past the oil town of Brega on Sunday, moving toward the major refinery at Ras Lanuf in the second day of a counterattack aided by allied airstrikes against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces.

On Face the Nation, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that intelligence reports Moammar Gaddafi's forces are planting dead bodies to sites attacked by coalition forces.

A woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli Saturday and fought off security forces as she told journalists that she had been raped and beaten by Qaddafi militia members.

Opposition fighters took control of Ajdabiya overnight after allied fighter jets bombed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's tanks that were entrenched at the city's gates, according to an opposition spokesman.

NATO agreed late Thursday to take over part of the military operations against Libya - enforcement of the no-fly zone - after days of hard bargaining among its members. But attacks on the ground will continue to be run by the coalition led by the U.S., which has been anxious to give up the lead role....