TRIPOLI - the Libyan Government forces destroyed four tanks and together several others were set on fire in rebel-held Misrata, a blow to the ability of the city of port to withstand a head of Government, rebel, said Saturday.
The attack on the city from the West came as artillery shells fired by forces loyal to Muammar al-Gaddafi fell in Tunisia in an escalation of fighting near the border with the rebels while trying to put an end to the rule of Gaddafi more of four decades.
Misrata, the last remaining town in the West under rebel control, besieged for more than two months and has witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the war.
Rebels gave various accounts of bombings but said he struck the fuel used for export and domestic consumption.
"Four (tanks) were totally destroyed and a huge fire broke out which now distributes for the other four. We cannot shut down because we do not have the right tools, "rebel spokesman Ahmed Hassan said to Reuters.
"Now the city will face a major problem." Those who were the only sources of fuel for the city. These tanks could have kept the city for three months with enough fuel, "he said by telephone."
Video of the incident, posted on YouTube by Libyan students Misrata showed firefighters turning on a light in a futile attempt to turn off water pipes.
Government forces last month flew on Misrata, at least a reconnaissance helicopter mission according to the rebels.
The NATO coalition aircraft were bombing of military targets of Libyan Government and do enforce a no fly zone by resolution of the United Nations. Western and Arab countries this week agreed to provide rebels with millions of dollars in aid non-military to help keep services and the economy running.
Rebels have long been demanding more weapons formed from the Libyan leader and heavy on the better-armed forces.
The head of the rebel forces in Libya is retracted a statement by a spokesman for rebels that the Italy had agreed to provide weapons to help in their fight to force Qaddafi.
"We have not received weapons, no the Italy, nor any other country," Abdel Fattah Younes said al-Jazeera television. "Perhaps one of the brothers did not to express themselves correctly... We apologize for the Italy for the brothers in the National Council.".
A spokesman for the National Council of transition rebels told a press conference of Benghazi with earlier in the day that weapons would be offered to the insurgents soon.
In Rome, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that no agreement was reached.
Italy submitted by the rebels, formally recognizing the Transitional Council as the legitimate representatives of the country, but it is unlikely that he would go further than the other countries of the anti-Gaddafi coalition.
FIGHTING IN BORDER
Fighting intensified in the region of the mountains of the West of the Libya as Gaddafi loyalists and rebels backed by the NATO bombing has reached impasse on other fronts in the civil war.
Government forces surrounding the Zintan rebels holding fired rockets 300 in the town on Saturday, rebel spokesman Abdulrahman al-Zintani, said. He gave no details of casualties in Zintan, which is largely empty of civilians.
"You can hear the NATO planes, but no there were no air strikes" al-Zintani told Reuters.
The Tunisian city of Dehiba was struck several times by stray shells in recent weeks, and on Saturday Tunisia condemned the bombing "extremely dangerous" and said that he would take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty.
The Libyan Government has denied targeting deliberately Tunisian soil.
"We said this (bombing) was a mistake and we have presented excuses that this took place and asked the military to ensure that it happen again," Minister Libyan Al - Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi told a press conference in Tripoli.
The battle is over the border crossing Dehiba-Wazzin, whose control gives the rebels a road to the outside world in strongholds in the mountains of the Western region. The Gaddafi forces control a plu passage far to the North.
Saturday the Dehiba schools were evacuated and residents to safety that nearly 100 mortars and missiles fell. The Crackle of small arms and large arms fire could be heard about 4 km in the Libya, said a witness for Reuters at the border.
"We are very afraid." The missiles are falling right around us, we know not what to do, "said Tunisian Mohammed Naguez, a resident of Dehiba." "Our children are afraid." The Tunisian authorities have stop this. ?
Most of the inhabitants of Western mountains belong to the Berber ethnic group and are distinguished from other Libyan. They have increased until there is two months and say of cities such as Zintan and Yafran, often bombed by the forces of Gaddafi, are far from food, water and medicine.
The civil war during the rule of Gaddafi has divided the desert-producing state of oil in a dedicated sector West by the Government around the capital, Tripoli, and a region held by rebel forces undisciplined but.
The revolt is the bloodiest yet against the leaders anchored long across the Middle East and the North Africa, which saw the overthrow of the Presidents veteran of the Tunisia and the Egypt.
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