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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/18-die-in-battle-for-rebel-city.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Protesters shout anti-Gadhafi slogans after Friday prayers at court sqauare in Benghazi (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/min-18-die-in-battle-for-rebel-city.jpg" alt="Protesters shout anti-Gadhafi slogans after Friday prayers at court sqauare in Benghazi (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>Muammar Gaddafi&#8217;s forces have launched a powerful attack in a bid to recapture a rebel-held Libyan city in fierce fighting which left at least 18 people dead and 120 injured.</p>
<p>The casualties of the fighting in Zawiya, the closest opposition-held city to the capital Tripoli, included the top rebel commander &#8211; an army colonel who defected.</p>
<p>In Tripoli, Gaddafi loyalists fired tear gas and live ammunition to halt a new outbreak of protests.</p>
<p>To the east, rebels advanced on an oil port along the Mediterranean coast in their first offensive against Gaddafi&#8217;s military. Explosions were heard as the two sides battled around the air strip at Ras Lanouf, residents said.</p>
<p>The rebellion has broken away the entire eastern half of the country from Gaddafi&#8217;s control and has swept over several cities in the west close to the capital. So far, Gaddafi has had little success in taking back territory, with several rebel cities repelling assaults in the past weeks.</p>
<p>The assault on the rebel city of Zawiya, about 30 miles west of Tripoli, appeared to be the strongest yet by Gaddafi&#8217;s forces after repeated earlier forays against it were beaten back.</p>
<p>Troops from the elite Khamis Brigade &#8211; named after the son of Gaddafi who commands it &#8211; bombarded the city&#8217;s western edges with mortars, heavy machine guns, tanks and anti-aircraft guns, several residents said.</p>
<p>The commander of the rebel forces &#8211; Hussein Darbouk &#8211; was shot dead by fire from an anti-aircraft gun, according to activist Alaa al-Zawi. Libyan state TV claimed the attackers had retaken the city but al-Zawi and other residents said it remained in opposition hands.</p>
<p>In Tripoli more than 1,500 anti-Gaddafi protesters marched out of the Murad Agha mosque after noon prayer in the district of Tajoura, chanting &#8220;the people want to bring the regime down&#8221; and waved the red, black and green flag of Libya&#8217;s pre-Gaddafi monarchy, adopted as the banner for the uprising.</p>
<p>Pro-Gaddafi forces fired volleys of tear gas and &#8211; when the marchers continued &#8211; opened fire with live ammunition, according to witnesses. A doctor said several people were wounded and taken to a nearby hospital.</p>
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