PRO-GADDAFI FORCES have succeeded in pushing rebel groups who were advancing on Sirte back towards Bin Jawad, which rebel fighters had seized yesterday.

The rebels had taken control of several coastal areas and oil towns yesterday and were gaining ground in their push for Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown.

The BBC reports that rebels said today that pro-Gaddafi forces had used heavy weaponry to stop their advance on Sirte.

Today, foreign leaders are gathering in London to discuss a possible exit for Gaddafi and the future for Libya if he steps down.

While US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is heading to London today, the US is planning to send an envoy to the rebel stronghold Benghazi in eastern Libya to strengthen ties with the opposition’s Transitional National Council.

Last night, US President Barack Obama defended the US involvement in coalition military action on Libya. He said that the coalition had saved countless Libyan lives and referred to Gaddafi as a tyrant who attacked his own citizens.

Protests

Al Jazeera reports that women have started a movement to locate the woman who accused Gaddafi’s forces of sexually assaulting and beating her.

Eman Obeidi had slipped into a hotel where foreign journalists were staying to tell them of her ordeal. She was forcibly removed by security and driven away, prompting groups of women to protest her detention.

In this Al Jazeera video, a government spokesperson claims she was not a lawyer, as she had told reporters, but a prostitute:

- Additional reporting by the AP