Clashes between Libyan Moammar Gaddafi’s forces and protesters still going on in the two cities closest to the capital, as Western nations are ramping up pressure on the long-time ruler.

Clashes between Libyan Moammar Gaddafi’s forces and protesters still going on in the two cities closest to the capital, as Western nations are ramping up pressure on the long-time ruler.

Reports on Monday said that Gaddafi\'s warplanes bombed an ammunition depot in the eastern city of Ajdabiya, while residents of Az-Zawiyah, 50km west of Tripoli, said that fighting started on Monday evening and intensified after sundown when troops loyal to Gaddafi attacked the city from the west and east.

Forces loyal to Gaddafi on Monday attacked the town of Misrata, 150 kilometers east of Tripoli, and killed two people, a witness said.
Opposition forces in control of the city said they thwarted an attack by pro-government forces and a military helicopter was hit by anti-aircraft fire.

According to witnesses, the cities of Zliten, west of Misrata, and Kadhafi\'s hometown of Sirte were still under the control of pro-regime forces late Monday.

US NAVAL FORCES CLOSE TO LIBYA
Meanwhile, the United States has moved naval and air forces closer to Libya and says all options were open, including the creation of a no-fly zone.
However, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that although US naval vessels were being repositioned near Libya there was no military action pending.

France also said it would fly aid to the opposition-controlled eastern half of the country.
But Libya\'s former interior minister, Abdel Fattah Younes, who has defected to the opposition, told Al Jazeera that welcoming "foreign troops" was "out of the question" although "touching down in Libya is acceptable only in the case of emergency".

"For example if any pilot was forced to eject, he will be hosted and protected by us," he said.

RICE: “DELUSIONAL GADDAFI”
For its part, US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Gaddafi was "delusional" and "unfit to lead".

Rice was speaking after the embattled Colonel Gaddafi was interviewed by Western journalists in Tripoli on Monday.
"They love me. All my people with me. They love me all. They will die to protect me," Kadhafi said, laughing off suggestions that he might leave Libya.

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
On the other hand, the US said it had blocked around $30 billion in Libyan assets, the largest amount ever frozen, while the European Union also imposed its toughest international sanctions yet on Gaddafi’s crumbling regime.

US and European leaders weighed the use of NATO air power to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and stop Gaddafi from using air strikes against his own people.

Foreign ministers at a UN human rights conference in Geneva have called for Col Gaddafi to go.
Clinton accused Col Gaddafi and his followers of using "mercenaries and thugs" to attack unarmed civilians, and of executing soldiers who refused to turn their guns on fellow citizens.
"It is time for Gaddafi to go, now, without further violence or delay," she said.