Rebels brace for faceoff in Libya

ZAWIYA, Libya - With residents shouting "Free, free Libya," anti-government rebels who control this battle-scarred city nearest to the capital deployed tanks and anti-aircraft weapons Sunday, bracing for an attack by troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.

Politicians in the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, meanwhile, set up a leadership council in a step that could lead to an alternative to the regime.

In Tripoli, where Gadhafi is still firmly in control, state banks began handing out the equivalent of $400 per family in a bid to shore up public loyalty.

"The Libyan people are fully behind me," Gadhafi defiantly told Serbian TV, even as about half of the country was turning against him and world leaders were moving to isolate him.

The United States, Britain and the UN Security Council all slapped sanctions on Libya this weekend, and President Barack Obama said it was time for Gadhafi to go.

Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam, in an interview Sunday on ABC's "This Week," insisted that his father won't relinquish power and denied that Libya had used force or airstrikes against its own civilians.

At the border, meanwhile, tempers flared and scuffles broke out as the Tunisian army and aid groups struggled to control the chaos of thousands of migrant workers streaming across from Libya.

Three British Air Force planes plucked 150 stranded civilians from multiple locations in the eastern Libyan desert and flew them to Malta on Sunday. Separately, two German military planes took 22 Germans and 112 others to the Greek island of Crete.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was on her way to Geneva to confer with foreign policy chiefs from Russia, the European Union and other global powers on Libya.

The regime, eager to reinforce its view that Libya is calm and under its control, took visiting journalists to Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, yesterday. The tour, however, confirmed that anti-government rebels control the center of the city of 200,000 people, with army tanks and anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks at the ready.

The charred hulks of cars littered the city, many buildings were pockmarked by bullets, and most streets were blocked by felled trees or barricades.