The Libyan government claimed on Wednesday that it would defeat opposition forces in Benghazi within 48 hours and put an end to the most serious challenge to Muammar Gaddafi's rule in more than 40 years.
But as the leader's son Saif al-Islam boasted of imminent victory, rebels said they had inflicted heavy losses on government forces fighting to regain control of Misrata, a key port and the last big anti-Gaddafi stronghold in western Libya.
Opposition sources said they had destroyed 16 tanks and captured 20 members of an elite unit commanded by Khamis, another of Gaddafi's sons, after an armoured force attacked Misrata from the south and west. Artillery and rockets were also deployed.
Libyan officials, however, were speaking with mounting confidence about the outcome of the month-long crisis, insisting that foreign media had exaggerated the extent of the violence and portraying the rebels as influenced by al-Qaida – a claim for which there is little evidence.
Saif al-Islam poured scorn on talks at the UN and elsewhere to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. "The military operations are finished," he told France's Euronews channel. "In 48 hours everything will be over. Our forces are close to Benghazi. Whatever decision is taken, it will be too late."