Libyan Rebels Gain Control of Oil Refinery as Qaddafi Forces Flee

Bryan Denton for The New York Times

ZAWIYAH, Libya — Rebel fighters gained complete control on Thursday of the oil refinery in Zawiyah — just a half hour’s drive from Tripoli, the country’s capital — routing government soldiers after days of battle and advancing into other parts of this strategic port city still controlled by loyalists of Libya’s increasingly isolated leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

Employees at the large refinery complex here said the remaining pockets of Qaddafi soldiers who had been defending it were driven out overnight. A rebel commander said 5,000 rebel fighters were deployed around the refinery. Rebel sentries manning checkpoints could be seen Thursday on a drive around the complex, which appeared to be undamaged by the fighting. The discarded green uniforms of Libyan national army soldiers littered the grounds, signs of desertion by the Qaddafi defenders.

The fight for Zawiyah represents a potentially decisive moment in the six-month rebellion against Colonel Qaddafi, the quixotic leader whose four decades of rule has been challenged as part of the tide of uprisings that have spread through the Arab world, upending the autocrats of Tunisia and Egypt and threatening regimes elsewhere, including Syria and Yemen.

Colonel Qaddafi has rejected calls to leave power, defying defections by subordinates, increased economic and political isolation and NATO air assaults. The rebels themselves have suffered from internal dissension and lack of training. But there have been increasing signs that Tripoli, Colonel Qaddafi’s last stronghold, is fracturing. People fleeing the capital said Wednesday that there was no electricity and that prices of basic goods have soared amid shortages.

Rebel fighters interviewed at the Zawiyah complex said some Qaddafi loyalists had tried to escape in two boats docked at the refinery port, and that NATO fighter jets had bombed the boats. There was no immediate corroboration of their account from NATO.

Parts of the refinery grounds showed clear signs of battle, with destroyed vehicles and buildings hit by rocket and machine gun fire. Some squads of rebel fighters were seen building defensive berms in anticipation of a counterattack by the Qaddafi forces.

The rebel seizure of the refinery followed a flood of civilian refugees from Zawiyah, imperiled by sniper and artillery fire from the pro-Qaddafi forces.

About 2,000 families from Zawiyah, Tripoli and other cities near the fighting on the Libyan coast passed through one rebel checkpoint on Wednesday, according to rebel officials registering the names. Cars and trucks, piled high with refrigerators and other household items, filled a road to the Nafusah Mountains.

For the past week, Libya’s rebels have undertaken a broad offensive with local fighters to seize strategic towns in a bid to shift the course of the stalled war. Their gains have been hard to tally: reports of towns falling to the rebels are frequently amended hours later.

An American official said Wednesday that the United States had deployed two morePredator drones for surveillance operations over Libya, further increasing the pressure on Qaddafi’s forces, according to Reuters. The drones arrived earlier this week, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear how many American drones had been deployed for the NATO mission so far.