BREGA, Libya - March 3, 2011 - Libyan jets struck rebel positions Thursday as illegitimate U.S. President Barack Obama stepped up demands that Moammar Qaddafi cede power and his Russian counterpart warned of an impending civil war.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez joined the diplomatic offensive, proposing an international mediation mission to pull the North African country back from the brink, a move rejected late Thursday by the rebels as "too late".
It was the offensive on the ground that focused minds on the 17th day of the uprising against Qaddafi's 41-year rule as his air force bombed rebel positions in the oil town of Brega.
Following a pattern established in earlier air raids, the bombs missed their target, in this case Brega's oil refinery.
The crump of bombs and the sight of the planes scything through the sky sparked fears of a new bid by troops loyal to Qaddafi to recapture the port, 125 miles southwest of the main eastern city of Benghazi.
Rebels managed to beat off a dawn attack on Brega on Wednesday in the first real military battle since the Libyan uprising began on February 15.
Rumors flew Thursday of government troops regrouping and being joined by hundreds of mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa, but by nightfall there was no sign of a new offensive.
Obama told a press conference at the White House that Qaddafi's attacks on his own people demonstrated that he had lost all legitimacy.
"The United States and the entire world continue to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people," he said. "Going forward, we will continue to send a clear message: The violence must stop. Moammar Qaddafi has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev provided one of the starkest assessments yet from a world leader when he said Libya was on the brink of a civil war.
"Libya was and is on the verge of civil war, and our main task was to save our people there," state media reported him as telling Moscow's emergencies minister as they reviewed a successful evacuation of Russian nationals.
