A sustained bombardment by Muammar Gaddafi's planes and tanks beat back rebels from the Libyan oil port of Ras Lanuf on Saturday, and insurgents warned the uprising could be crushed completely without a no-fly zone.

But the Arab League, meeting on Saturday, was expected to follow the European Union, the US and Nato and fall short of calling for a no-fly zone to be imposed on Libya.

The small coastal town of Ras Lanuf and the oil terminal there have changed hands several times over the last week as Libyan government troops, backed by tanks and air power have duelled with rebels armed with light weapons, heavy machineguns and outdated anti-aircraft guns mounted on pick-up trucks.

But warfare on Libya's flat desert terrain heavily favours the use of heavy armour and airpower. The Libyan army is also better trained and disciplined than the rag-tag, though enthusiastic, rebel force.

Libyan troops launched an amphibious assault on Ras Lanuf early on Friday, backed by tanks and warplanes. But after a day of skirmishing in which oil storage tanks were blown up sending black columns of smoke into the sky, the rebels retreated east.

'We're out of Ras Lanuf. They've beaten us back with bombardment,' said rebel Colonel Bashir Abudl Qadr. 'We've moved back 20 km (12 miles) from last night because we are also afraid the refinery will explode.'

Arab League meets

President Barack Obama said on Saturday the US and its allies were 'tightening the noose' on Muammar Gaddafi and said he had not taken any options off the table, a hint at military action. But there is little enthusiasm in Washington for enforcing a no-fly zone without United Nations' backing.

European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Friday sidestepped a British and French call to draw up a U.N. Security Council resolution to authorise a no-fly zone over Libya, but agreed on a three-way summit with the African Union and the Arab League to discuss the crisis.

The African Union, long courted by Gaddafi, has already said it is against foreign military intervention, but is to send delegation of the leaders South Africa, Uganda, Mauritania, Congo and Mali to Libya to try for a peaceful end to the war.

The Arab League is to discuss a no-fly at meeting in Cairo on Saturday, but is unlikely to agree to endorse such a move due to probable objections from Syria and Algeria.

'The chances of a clear position to be issued with consensus from the meeting ... saying 'yes' to a no-fly zone and recognition of the (rebel) council is very weak,' said Wahid Abdel-Meguid, an analyst at a Cairo-based political think-tank.

'Bracing for massacre'

After repeated assaults with tanks and planes crushed the revolt in Zawiyah, the only town still in rebel hands in eastern Libya is Misrata, some 200 km (125 miles) east of Tripoli.

Insurgents in Misrata awaited an onslaught on their city of 300,000 people.

'We know that his forces have encircled Misrata from all sides. They are 15 to 20 km away from the centre of town with their tanks and heavy weapons,' Mohamad Ahmed, a rebel fighter in Misrata told Reuters by telephone.

'We are bracing for a massacre. We know it will happen and Misrata will be like Zawiyah but we believe in God. We do not have the capabilities to fight Gaddafi and his forces. They have tanks and heavy weapons and we have our belief and trust in God,' he said.

The international community was doing nothing but talk, he said.

'The fighters here and the people of Misrata hold the international community responsible for the fall of Zawiyah and for all the deaths that happened. Gaddafi is responsible but they are partners in crime,' he said.

'They do not care for us. All they care for is the oil and it seems they are waiting to see who is going to win so that they can deal with them, whether it's Gaddafi or us. They do not want to burn their bridges with him. All they do is saying they are assessing the situation. Why are they taking so long?' – Reuters