In this image taken from Libya State TV, broadcast Tuesday March 15, 2011, showing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, as he faces a jubilant crowd, and shown on state TV. Gadhafi's forces are reported to have overwhelmed rebels in the strategic eastern Libyan city of Ajdabiya, earlier Tuesday, hammering them with airstrikes, missiles, tanks and artillery.

Anti-Gaddafi demonstrators stand on the top of the burnt city council building in the main square of Tobruk March 15, 2011. Muammar Gaddafi's forces seized a strategic town in eastern Libya on Tuesday, opening the way to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi while world powers failed to agree to push for a no-fly zone. As well as the coastal road to Benghazi, there is also a 400 km (250 mile) desert road straight to Tobruk, near the Egyptian border, that would cut off Benghazi.

A rebel fighter fires his anti-aircraft gun as they flee from Ajdabiyah, on the road to Benghazi, March 15, 2011. Muammar Gaddafi's forces seized the strategic town in eastern Libya on Tuesday, opening the way to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi while world powers failed to agree to push for a no-fly zone.

Libyan rebels direct a traffic of fleeing people at the southern entrance of the coastal city of Benghazi on March 15, 2011, as Libyan government forces assaulting the key city of Ajdabiya outflanked insurgents and cut the road north to the rebel capital of Benghazi, rebel sources said amid scenes of chaos in the town.

A fleeing Libyan rebel falls from a truck driving back to the coastal city of Benghazi on March 15, 2011, as Libyan government forces assaulting the key city of Ajdabiya outflanked insurgents and cut the road north to the rebel capital of Benghazi, rebel sources said amid scenes of chaos in the town.

Rebel fighters flee in cars after a tank shell explodes in Ajdabiyah March 15, 2011. Libyan state television said on Tuesday that forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi had cleared rebels out of the eastern town of Ajdabiyah, which was heavily bombarded before government troops moved in.

Rebel fighters and civilians flee from Ajdabiyah, on the road to Benghazi, March 15, 2011. Libyan state television said on Tuesday that forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi had cleared rebels out of the eastern town of Ajdabiyah, which was heavily bombarded before government troops moved in.

A man from a tribe in southern Libya is seen in central Tripoli March 15, 2011. Heavy bombardment by Muammar Gaddafi's warplanes and artillery forced Libyan rebels to abandon a strategic town on Tuesday, and world powers failed to agree to push for a no-fly zone.

Following the announcement on Libyan state television that Moammar Gadhafi's forces took the Eastern city of Ajdabiya, Gadhafi supporters celebrate on Green Square in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday March 15, 2011. Government forces struck the rebellion's heartland with airstrikes, missiles and artillery on Tuesday, trying for the first time to take back a city that serves as a crucial gateway for the band of fighters who threatened his four-decade hold on power.