16/03/2011 10:29
Gaddafi hopes to regain control over all rebel-held territories
Muammar Gaddafi's forces pushed eastwards towards the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi and his government predicted victory within days while world powers debated imposing a no-fly zone to help stop him, Reuters reports.
A senior Libyan Foreign Ministry official said the government hoped to regain control over all rebel-held territories soon.
"We hope (it will be done) as soon as possible. I hope it will be in a matter of days," Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told Reuters in Tripoli.
In a televised speech, defiant Gaddafi taunted Western countries that have backed the imposition of a no-fly zone to come and get him.
"France now raises its head and says that it will strike Libya," he told a gathering of supporters at his Bab al-Azizia fortified compound in central Tripoli.