Libyan opposition fighters, who control eastern cities, are to move west toward the capital, Tripoli, as US warships enter the Suez Canal en route to the African country.

Libyan opposition fighters, who control eastern cities, are to move west toward the capital, Tripoli, as US warships enter the Suez Canal en route to the African country.

At locations across the eastern city of Benghazi, civilians were gathering for boot camp, learning how to move as a battalion and fire weapons, in preparation to the march.
The leaders of these ragtag units springing up across eastern Libya said they already have 5,000 volunteers.

Media outlets reported that long-time ruler Moammar Gaddafi’s forces tried to re-take three cities in the east overnight, but they were repelled by opposition forces. In one of those cities, Zawiya, there were celebrations in the streets Tuesday.

MILITARY INTERVENTION 
These developments came as two US warships carrying marines and equipment entered the Suez Canal on Wednesday en route to Libya.

"The USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce entered the Suez Canal from the southern entrance at 6:00 am (0400 GMT) and are making their way to the Mediterranean sea," a canal authority official said.
On average it takes 12 to 14 hours for a ship to transit the canal.

Those ships currently have 800 marines, in addition to 400 U.S.-based Marines who will be airlifted to meet the ships.
"We're certainly moving assets to be closer (to Libya)," a US defense official told AFP news agency in Washington on Tuesday. "A ship like the Kearsage is capable of many types of missions."

At a Pentagon briefing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced he had ordered to the Mediterranean the USS Ponce and the USS Kearsarge.

Gates wouldn't specify the other military options he has offered President Barack Obama. But he sounded a note of caution about sending U.S. assets into Libya. "We have to think about the use of the U.S. military in another country in the Middle East," Mr. Gates said. "We are sensitive about all these things."

UN SUSPENDS LIBYA FROM HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
On the other hand, the UN has called for a mass humanitarian evacuation of people fleeing Libya for Tunisia, as it suspended Libya from the UN human rights council.

The general assembly voted by consensus on the council's recommendation to suspend Libya's membership on the UN's top human rights body for committing "gross and systematic violations of human rights".
The resolution sponsored by Arab and African states also expressed "deep concern" about the human rights situation in Libya.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said thousands of lives were at stake. Some 75,000 people have fled to Tunisia since unrest began and 40,000 more are waiting to cross, the UN reported.
Ban said reports had suggested about 1,000 people had so far died in the Libyan unrest.

The UN High Commission for Refugees said it was urgently appealing, along with the International Organization for Migration, for governments to engage in "a massive humanitarian evacuation of tens of thousands of Egyptians and other third country nationals".