Kadhafi warns of bloodbath if West intervenes

TRIPOLI: Moamer Kadhafi warned on Wednesday "thousands" would die if the West intervened in Libya as rebels repulsed a fierce onslaught by his forces on a key oil town.

As the world clamoured for action to stop Kadhafi using warplanes against his own people and to protect refugees scrambling to escape, the United States and its allies cooled talk of imposing a no-fly zone over his country.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said any such decision was a "long way" off, and NATO officials were divided.

The 22-member Arab League appeared ready to offer alternative to western intervention. But it ruled out supporting any direct foreign military intervention in Libya.

With a humanitarian crisis worsening on Libya's western border, Britain said it was sending planes to airlift thousands of Egyptians stuck in refugee camps, while France said it was sending a helicopter carrier to waters off Libya to help evacuate civilians.

Kadhafi's prediction of more bloodshed came in a two-and-a-half-hour speech at a ceremony in Tripoli to mark 34 years since he announced his "republic of the masses".

Speaking live on state television, Kadhafi warned that the "battle will be very, very long" if there is any intervention by foreign powers.

"If the Americans or the West want to enter Libya they must know it will be hell and a bloodbath -- worse than Iraq."

Addressing "our friends in Europe and the West," he said it is "not at all in their interest to shake the Libyan regime."

In an impassioned speech, he again blamed Al-Qaeda for the challenge to his 41-year iron-fisted rule, saying the objective was to control Libya's land and oil.

"This is impossible, impossible. We will fight to the end, to the last man, the last woman... with God's help."

Calls for a no-fly zone have come in response to media accounts that Kadhafi's forces have used planes and helicopter gunships to fire on civilians.

The Arab League said after a meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo that "the Arab countries cannot remain with their arms folded when the blood of the brotherly Libyan people is being shed".

One of the issues it said it will consider is "the imposition of an aerial exclusion zone" in cooperation with the African Union.

Such a stance may win support from France, a strident supporter with Britain of a no-fly zone, albeit only with approval from the United Nations. Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said any operation could turn Arabs against Europe.

Muslim-majority Turkey has already said any NATO involvement would be "unthinkable".

Fighter jets launched air strikes on the rebel-held town of Brega and its oil installations as Kadhafi on Wednesday launched his first assault on opposition positions since a popular uprising swept most of the east of the country from his control.

Despite pounding rebels with heavy weaponry and tanks, Kadhafi's forces were driven back by reinforcements trucked in from Benghazi, the main city under opposition control. (AFP)