The Libyan army and rebel detachments continued battling on Wednesday in the western city of Misratah, while NATO expanded and intensified its air raids.

The residents of the third-most important city in Libya affirmed that rebels partially lost their control of the port after an attack by pro-Gaddafi forces to cut off the supposed supply of arms and provisioning.

The rebels described fierce battles, underlining that the army bombed the road to Misratah used to evacuate the wounded and civilians trying to escape the fighting that has lasted for two months.

The rebels also affirmed that pro-Gaddafi forces were still “positioned on the outskirts of the city,” despite reports that NATO air raids had forced government troops to retreat over the weekend.

Libyan government sources reported that the Foreign Ministry asked Russia to convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss what it describes as a “savage agression of the West” that has caused hundreds of deaths.

The NATO bombing is being done under the authority of UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which imposed a no-fly zone over Libya, theoretically to protect the population theorically, but the allies recognize that the conflict is at a standstill.

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