Fortified by formal U.S. recognition as Libya’s legitimate government, fighters loyal to the rebel Benghazi-based Transitional National Council (TNC) made a key advance Monday by reportedly gaining control of most of the eastern oil port of Brega.
But whether that achievement, combined with the diplomatic gains made by the TNC in recent days, will be enough to decisively break the protracted deadlock in the civil war, now entering its sixth month, remains doubtful, according to both officials and independent analysts.
Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gadhafi, who has been personally rallying forces loyal to him in cities in and around Tripoli, appears well-entrenched in the capital, even as rebel forces in the east and west seem to be advancing for the moment.
“We think the overall tide of events has clearly shifted toward the rebels,” one administration official told IPS. “But that doesn’t mean this isn’t going to take a good while longer.”
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