Libyan Forces Withdraw From a Besieged City, and the Rebels Wonder Why

  Government troops retreated to the outskirts of Misurata under rebel fire? and the opposition claimed victory after officials in Tripoli decided to pull back forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

BENGHAZI, Libya — Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces have withdrawn from most of the besieged city of Misurata, rebel spokesmen and independent observers said Saturday, but they continued to fire artillery barrages into the heart of the city, with heavy loss of life.

Captured soldiers loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in a pick-up truck outside Misurata hospital on Saturday.

Rebel leaders were puzzling over whether the move was an abrupt change in their fortunes, a subterfuge by pro-Qaddafi forces who might return in plainclothes under the guise of a tribal conflict, or a redeployment to new fronts in the mountains along the western border with Tunisia.

Rebels in Misurata, speaking over Internet phone, said that Colonel Qaddafi’s soldiers had disappeared from all but two buildings, where they were besieged while rebels demanded their surrender. Captured Libyan soldiers told Reuters that they had been ordered to withdraw, which would correspond to a plan the government announced Friday to turn the fighting there over to tribal supporters.

NATO announced that the first airstrike by a Predator drone had taken place in the Misurata area, and rebels said it destroyed government tanks stationed at the city’s vegetable market, which had been heavily contested just the day before.

Rebels were encouraged by Saturday’s developments and celebrations broke out in the provisional rebel capital of Benghazi, in the east, but there were no celebrations in Misurata, where hundreds have been killed in two months of violence. On Saturday, doctors said 24 had died and 70 were wounded, most of them civilians caught in artillery barrages.

Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, announced Friday night that the Libyan army would turn the battle for Misurata over to area tribes, some of which may have historical rivalries with the people of the city. One rebel said they already feared that the Qaddafi government was trying to inflame tribal animosities by telling residents of the nearby cities of Zliten and Bani Walid that their relatives had been killed by Misurata residents.

Many of the Qaddafi soldiers engaged in the Misurata siege came from the tribes centered in Zliten and Bani Walid, which dominate the Qaddafi military, so substituting armed tribe members for uniformed soldiers may amount to little more than discarding the uniforms.

Such a move could also be a tactic to evade NATO attacks by blending in with civilians. A rebel spokesman in Misurata, identified only as Mohammed for his personal safety, said he had seen three government tanks destroyed by the Predator attack. NATO however said the drone had struck a rocket-launching vehicle.

The Qaddafi forces may also be moving away from Misurata to combat an escalating battle on the mountainous Western border with Tunisia, where for three days rebels have held control of the strategic border crossing of Wazen.

Still, a government siege that has pounded the city with rockets, mortar shells and sniper fire for nearly two months, taking hundreds of lives, appeared to have been broken, and the rebels took the news as an important defeat for Colonel Qaddafi’s forces.

“What we are hearing from Misurata is very positive,” said Jalil el-Gallal, a spokesman for the rebels’ Transitional National Council, their de facto government in Benghazi.

Government soldiers captured in Misurata on Saturday said they had been in the process of retreating when they were taken by rebel forces. “We have been told to withdraw,” a wounded Libyan soldier, Khaled Dorman, told Reuters. “We were told to withdraw yesterday.”

Mr. Gallal denounced the move as an attempt by the Qaddafi government to provoke a tribal conflict, which he said was bound to fail. “Qaddafi is trying to project the view they are leaving it to the tribes, which is a great concern to us,” he said. “It is a familiar tactic that he has used for a long time, but I think people understand now that he wants to start a tribal war.”

Mr. Gallal said that much of the long-range artillery used by the Libyan military against rebel forces in Misurata had been based in neighboring towns like Tarhuna and Zliten, where rival tribes are based, in an effort to stir up tribal animosity.

“It won’t work,” he said. “Any city he will withdraw from he won’t be able to control again. It’s suicidal on his part.”

Rod Nordland reported from Benghazi, Libya, and David D. Kirkpatrick from Tripoli. Scott Sayare contributed reporting from the Dhiba Border Crossing, Tunisia, and Thom Shanker from Washington.