Gadhafi Pounds Rebel-Held Libyan Towns

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Government forces loyal to embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi attacked opposition fighters in Ajdabiya on Tuesday in a violent crackdown aimed at regaining control of every rebel-held city, according to several media reports.

Men wait in line for their rations during food distribution in a refugee camp in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia near the Libyan border. Over 250,000 migrant workers have left Libya for neighboring countries in the past three weeks.

Gadhafi's forces have taken back every town west of Libya's capital city Tripoli and have been leading a counter-offensive attack that has pushed the opposition 100 miles eastwards over the past week, Reuters reported.

Government warplanes continued to drop bombs and rockets on Ajdabiyah, one of the remaining rebel-held towns located between Brega and the rebel's main stronghold of Benghazi.

"Just now they hit a group of fighters. They are dead, wounded," rebel spokesman Ahmed al-Zwei told The Associated Press in a frantic phone call. He said that residents were fleeing to nearby villages as Gadhafi's forces remained at the outskirts of the city.

Rebel troops were trying to stall the government advance as forces continue to pound the city entrance with missiles, artillery and airstrikes.

"They will not reach Ajdabiya," al-Zwei said. "God willing we can push them back."

Gadhafi has said that he is confident that his troops will quash the popular uprising and regain control of the entire nation.

"There are only two possibilities: Surrender or run away," Gadhafi was quoted as saying by the Italian newspaper Il Giornale. "People are on my side and give me strength."

The opposition continues to ask global leaders to impose a no-fly zone in Libya to protect them from Gadhafi's repeated air strikes on civilians.