Moamer Gaddafi’s troops unleashed a salvo of Grad rockets on towns in Libya’s western mountains, and destroyed key fuel supplies in Misrata, aggravating a desperate humanitarian crisis in the besieged city

Moamer Gaddafi's troops unleashed a salvo of Grad rockets on towns in Libya's western mountains, and destroyed key fuel supplies in Misrata, aggravating a desperate humanitarian crisis in the besieged city.
  
The rebels, meanwhile, said Italy will supply them with weapons which Rome hastened to explain comprised "self-defense material", while 40 advisers from Britain, France and Italy were reportedly turning untrained insurgents into a fighting force in Benghazi.
  
At least nine rebels were killed and 50 wounded in fierce clashes in the northwestern town of Zintan Saturday as forces loyal to the Libyan strongman pressed the insurgents on several fronts.
  
The troops shelled fuel depots in Misrata, under siege from pro-Kadhafi forces for over two months, and dropped mines in its harbour using helicopters bearing the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems, the rebels said. The attacks could trigger fuel shortages that would hamper access to electricity and travel.
  
"It seems that the more desperate Gaddafi gets, the more he unleashes his firepower on the people," said Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, vice-chairman of the opposition National Transitional Council. Intensified shelling struck the besieged port city of Misrata and western towns near the Tunisian border, according to Ghoga, while loyalist fighters attacked the southern oasis towns of Ojla and Jalo, which neighbour oil facilities.
  
In the western mountains towards the border with Tunisia, Kadhafi forces unleashed a salvo of Grad rockets on Zintan and Wazin, forcing an estimated 20,000 people to flee for shelter across the border, Ghoga said.

Representatives of the international community have promised $250 million (175 million euros) in humanitarian aid to the rebels and said the Gaddafi regime's frozen overseas assets, estimated at $60 billion, would be used later to assist the Libyan opposition.

The economic situation in rebel held areas, including Benghazi, is steadily worsening, with costs of basic commodities skyrocketing and the rebel administration facing shortage of funds to replace receipts from oil exports which have come to a virtual halt.
  
The rebels said Italy has agreed to supply them with weapons "very soon" to fight Gaddafi's forces, although foreign ministry officials in Rome explained that this was "self-defence material." And even as France, Britain and Italy send their warplanes to bomb Gaddafi's military in western Libya, they have also put a small number of "boots on the ground" in the rebel-held east.
  
About 20 British advisers and 10 each from France and Italy were reportedly holed up in the rebel bastion of Benghazi and working with senior rebel commanders to turn a ragtag, poorly armed and badly trained force into a fighting machine.