Libyan rebels make little progress

The surgery was taking place against a backdrop of steady artillery fire. Curtains had been taken down to let in light through the windows to make up for the lack of electricity.

There was no oxygen available, and the doctors monitored the elderly patient's heartbeat with anxiety.

The hospital at Ajdabiya had been treating the tide of injured from the battles on the eastern front even before the war came to the city itself and its residents began to be ferried in.

Resources, human and material, already acutely stretched, have dwindled even further. And the continuous fighting has prevented new supplies from getting through.

The possibility of that changing soon is fading. The rebels were yesterday pushed further back from the city, having failed to take advantage after Western air strikes which destroyed Muammar Gaddafi's tanks and armour on the eastern front and drove his troops into a terrified retreat.

The absence of any coherent operational plans by the revolutionary forces and their reluctance to take on their opponents makes any tangible military gains unlikely in the short term, raising, in turn, the prospect of a long-term commitment from the West in a mission which is already proving contentious and divisive.

Meanwhile, there is a lack of political leadership in Benghazi, with the opposition's provisional government engaging in a round of infighting sparked by the de facto recognition by the international community. "They are fighting over who gets to appoint ambassadors to where," said a disgruntled official.

Commanders of the rebel fighters, the Shabaab, outside Ajdabiya yesterday blamed their failure to progress on the scaling down of air strikes by the US, Britain and France in the eastern areas over the past 24 hours. Elsewhere, regime forces were said to have launched an assault on Zintan and Mistrata, an opposition stronghold near Tripoli, in which up to 40 people were reported to have been killed.

In contrast to the Shabaab outside the gates of Ajdabiya, there is a resilient resistance inside the city which had driven the regime's forces from some areas. They had protected the hospital from raiding parties on several occasions, the firefights evident from the damage to the building.

The few doctors and nurses - down to under 20 from 350 a few weeks ago - were keen to hear about the latest developments. But they soon had to return to immediate concerns.

The shortages have meant serious cases have to be transferred to Benghazi and Tobruk for treatment during any lull in fighting. But Milad Mussa's fragility has necessitated emergency care before he can be moved. The 72-year-old retired driver was walking home after praying at his mosque when regime troops opened fire with a machine gun and he was injured in the leg.

Dr Muswa Al-Majberi, said: "We did not think he would survive, there was trauma, a lot of blood lost, and the bones had shattered. I do not think we can save that leg. The main worry now is infection, we cannot treat that here, we need to send him somewhere they have the drugs. The problem is we have no ambulances at the moment." Three ambulances sat outside, windscreens and tyres shot out - by Gaddafi's troops, claimed staff.

Mussa's son Jalad was desperate to drive his father to Benghazi for treatment in his own car, but he was unable to do so because there was little petrol left in the city. Jalad set off with his father after siphoning some petrol from the car used by the Independent.

We saw him a little later on a dirt track through the desert used to avoid the main road which remains under regime control.

Gaddafi forces intensify attacks

Gaddafi loyalists intensified their attacks on Misrata and Zintan, cities in the west that remain in rebel hands. Shelling of Misrata reportedly killed at least 40 in heavy fighting on Tuesday with four children hit by aerial bombardment, although this is almost impossible to verify.

Rebels attempting to retake Ajdabiya have so far failed to drive loyalists from the city despite Western air strikes crippling tanks and armour. But a hard core of rebels remains in the city.

- INDEPENDENT