TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi is willing to hold elections and step aside if he lost, his son said on Thursday, an offer unlikely to placate his opponents but which could test the unity of the Western alliance trying to force him out.

The proposal — which follows a string of concessions offered by the Libyan leader that Western powers have dismissed as ploys — comes at a time when frustration is mounting in some NATO states at the progress of the military campaign.

GHARYAN, Libya, June 16 (Reuters) – Libyan rebels have
pushed deeper into government-held territory from their base in
the Western Mountains, taking two villages from which forces
loyal to Muammar Gaddafi had been shelling rebel-held towns.

But the rebels are still a considerable way from Gaddafi’s
main stronghold in Tripoli, while their fellow fighters on the
other two fronts — in Misrata and in eastern Libya — have made
only halting progress against better-armed government troops.

GHARYAN, Libya, June 15 (Reuters) – Libyan rebels pushed
deeper into government-held territory south of the capital on
Wednesday, but their advance came as strains began to emerge in
the Western alliance trying to topple Muammar Gaddafi.

Fighters in the Western Mountains, a rebel stronghold about
150 km (90 miles) south-west of Tripoli, built on gains made in
the past few days by taking two villages from which pro-Gaddafi
forces had for months been shelling rebel-held towns.

GHARYAN, Libya (Reuters) – Despite an outward appearance of normality there is an undercurrent of tension in this town, gateway to Tripoli from Libya’s Western Mountains where rebels are advancing toward Muammar Gaddafi’s capital.

On numerous walls around town on Wednesday graffiti had been recently painted over. The windows of one government building were smashed, the sign for another was riddled with holes.

TRIPOLI/KIKLA, Libya (Reuters) – NATO warplanes attacked Tripoli on Tuesday night after Libyan rebels pushed back forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi on three fronts, bringing them closer to the capital.

The strikes followed a lull in NATO bombing of Tripoli on Tuesday, but in the evening loud blasts rocked the city with plumes of smoke filling the sky to the east and aircraft flying overhead.

BENGHAZI/ZAWIYAH, Libya, June 13 (Reuters) – Rebels fighting
against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi say they were repulsed by
his forces in a battle to retake the eastern oil town of Brega,
suffering at least four dead.

In the west, rebels said they were fighting Gaddafi’s forces
for a second day in the town of Zawiyah on Sunday, bringing the
revolt against his rule closer to the capital.

ZAWIYAH, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels said they were fighting forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for a second day in the town of Zawiyah on Sunday, bringing the revolt against Gaddafi’s rule close to the capital.

A spokesman for the government in Tripoli said rebels had tried to enter Zawiyah, about 50 km (30 miles) from Tripoli, but had been stopped by government troops and defeated on Saturday.

ZAWIYAH, Libya (Reuters) – For a city that the Libyan government has said is under no real threat from rebels, the center of Zawiyah was eerily quiet Sunday.

The main square was all but deserted when the government brought in a small group of reporters in the late afternoon a day after rebels advanced on the city from the west.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Rebels fought forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for a second day in the town of Zawiyah on Sunday, bringing the revolt against his rule to within a few kilometers (miles) of the capital.

A rebel spokesman in the town said 13 rebel fighters and civilians were killed in fighting there on Saturday, and the main road to neighboring Tunisia — a supply line that has kept the country running despite sanctions — was shut.

ZAWIYAH, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi fought gun battles with rebels in the town of Zawiyah on Saturday, witnesses said, shutting the coastal highway that links the capital Tripoli with Tunisia.

Two Reuters reporters traveling via the town, which lies just 50 km (30 miles) outside of Tripoli, on two separate trips six hours apart, were diverted via backstreets with a police escort while the fighting raged on.