Rebels now looking to Tripoli

Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan army faced an increasingly organised and confident rebel force which is appealing for international support and looking to take its military successes west towards Tripoli.

As the struggle between Gaddafi loyalists and rebels who have taken swathes of Libya intensified, one report said Gaddafi and the president of the Arab League had agreed to a peace plan from Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

A senior official in Caracas said he did not know what Gaddafi had said about Chavez's idea. Libyan and Arab League officials were not immediately available for comment.

Al Jazeera news network reported that Muammar Gaddafi and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa had agreed to Chavez's plan. But when asked if he had agreed to the plan proposed by Chavez, Moussa said "no".

On the military front, Libyan rebels repelled a land and air offensive by Gaddafi's forces on the eastern oil terminal of Brega. This comes as the defiant leader warned foreign powers of "another Vietnam" if they intervened in the popular uprising against his 41-year rule.

Rebels in their eastern bastion of Benghazi called for UN-backed air strikes to halt attacks by African mercenaries, they said Gaddafi was using them against his own people.