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Pro-democracy fighters have regained ground in a new advance on the oil port of Brega in eastern Libya.
Fighters said the loss of ground early this week to forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi is a normal occurrence in fluid desert wars, and will not prevent them from ousting the Libyan leader.
Meanwhile, NATO stepped up the pace of its air campaign over Libya on Wednesday, a day after facing fierce criticism of not doing enough to protect civilians in Misurata.
The alliance dismissed opposition criticisms, saying the safety of civilians is its top priority and pledged to do everything it can to ensure that.
It accused Gaddafi's troops of hiding tanks, troops and heavy weapons among civilians to stop NATO aircrafts from carrying out air strikes.
But Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reporting from Benghazi, said that Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, the vice-chairman of the Libyan National Provisional Council, continues to insist that NATO do more.
"He has certainly strengthened his language, and he even went on to call NATO a "burden", which is an extraordinary thing to say under the current circumstances."
"There is obviously agreement here among the opposition that if more military gains are to be made, international forces must step up their operations."
On Tuesday Gaddafi's forces pushed back opposition fighters from Brega in the pro-democracy movement's first significant loss of territory in almost a week.
"This kind of desert fight is very fluid; advancing 20 kilometers and then retreating 20 kilometers is normal in a desert war," Mustafa Gheriani, an opposition spokesman, said.
"Look at the desert war during the Second World War, around [the eastern Libyan town of] Tobruk: they were moving by 50 kilometers every day."
Gheriani said "our forces are at the eastern border of the city, the [Gaddafi] militias are inside the city and the fight is going on".
Gaddafi's letter
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, rebuffed a personal appeal from Gaddafi to Barack Obama, the US president, saying the Libyan leader should impose a ceasefire, withdraw his forces and go into exile.
The White House confirmed Gaddafi had written a letter to Obama but did not disclose its contents. The Associated Press news agency, which first reported the letter, said Gaddafi had appealed to Obama for a ceasefire in a rambling, three-page letter.
Targeting oil fields
Attacks by government troops this week have also halted production in opposition-held oil fields, just as a tanker with the first shipment of crude left Tobruk on Wednesday.
The opposition has a deal to export oil via the Gulf state of Qatar and use the profits to pay salaries and buy food, medicine and arms to fight Gaddafi.
Hafiz Ghoga, an opposition spokesman, said groups of armored vehicles attacked the oil field of Messla and of Sarir earlier this week.
"I think we will not depend on oil revenues in the coming stage because our production has been affected in this crisis."
He said that while the extent of damage remains unclear, the opposition can no longer sustain the 100,000 barrels a day they had been producing. By contrast, in 2009, Libya produced 1.65 million barrels of oil per day.
The opposition still has about one million barrels in storage in Tobruk, which is being exported through the Qatari deal.
"Colonel [Gaddafi] seeks to deprive us of even this by hitting the oil fields that feed this port. This is our wealth and we have to protect it," added Ghoga.
The two fields are part of the massive Sirte Basin region, which is one of the world's largest oil fields and holds 80 per cent of Libya's oil reserves.
Sarir field was discovered in 1961 and is the largest oil field in the country, with estimated reserves of 12 billion barrels. A pipeline carries its oil north to Tobruk.
Messla, discovered in 1971 and just 40km north of Sarir, is estimated to hold three billion barrels of oil.
Libya has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa, even more than Nigeria, at an estimated 46.4 billion barrels as of January 2011, according to Oil and Gas Journal.
PHOTO CAPTION
A Libyan revolution fighter scans the horizon in the desert some 40 kilometers outside Brega.
Al-Jazeera
