Â鶹ӰÊÓ

With Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's air force destroyed, and NATO warships patrolling the coasts, the opposition forces have begun taking haphazard steps towards forming a government in the eastern part of the country.

Despite the rebel's disorganization, the international coalition's air support has kept Gadhafi from overrunning his opponents. But the opposition forces haven't made much headway either, leading to worries of a protracted fight.

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates noted there's not a clear end to the international no-fly mission over Libya, but U.S. President Barack Obama said there will "absolutely" not be a U.S. ground invasion.

When asked about an exit strategy, Obama said: ""The exit strategy will be executed this week in the sense that we will be pulling back from our much more active efforts to shape the environment."

Gates said the U.S. could hand off control of the mission as soon as Saturday. However, coalition members are still divided about what to do next.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Gadhafi can end the battle quickly -- by giving up power and instituting a ceasefire.

Air force ‘no longer exists'

According to the commander of British aircraft engaged in the mission to enforce a United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya, the air force of embattled leader Moammar Gadhafi has been all but destroyed.

In comments to reporters at the Gioia del Colle air base in southern Italy, Britain's top Royal Air Force commander in the region said Gadhafi's airborne capability "no longer exists as a fighting force".

"We are watching over the innocent people of Libya and ensuring that we protect them from attack," Air Vice-Marshal Greg Bagwell said in comments published online by the BBC on Wednesday.

"We have the Libyan ground forces under constant observation and we attack them whenever they threaten civilians or attack population centres," he said, suggesting that coalition fighters can now patrol the skies over Libya "with near impunity."

His comments came the same day Gadhafi intensified efforts to reconquer an eastern city that holds strategic importance, while proclaiming to the world that his forces will beat the determined Libyan rebels who are fighting to depose his regime.

Gadhafi's forces shelled rebel positions in Ajdabiya on Wednesday, leaving the outgunned rebel fighters scrambling to hold their ground in the city that is the gateway to eastern Libya.

"The weapons they have are heavy weapons and what we have are light weapons," said Fawzi Hamid, a former Libyan soldier who supports the rebels.

"The Gadhafi forces are more powerful than us so we are depending on airstrikes."

The UN has backed airstrikes from a coalition of international forces, in hopes of protecting Libyan civilians whose lives are at risk on the ground.

Since the airstrikes began on the weekend, aircraft from a handful of Western armed forces have flown more than 300 missions over Libya. As a result, rebel forces made up of volunteer recruits and Libyan army defectors are now on a more level playing field when it comes to the ongoing ground war.

No one is sure how many people have been killed in the weeks-long battle between the rebels and Gadhafi's forces. The rebels claim that more than 1,000 people have been killed, while Gadhafi says the death toll is 150. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that more than 335,000 people have fled Libya since the fighting began.

In Ajdabiya, fighting has raged for days between the rebels and Gadhafi's forces with neither side capable of wresting control from the other.

Gadhafi has remained defiant, telling Libyans in a television address on Tuesday night that "in the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them."

He appeared to be speaking to Libyans from his residential compound in Tripoli, which was struck by a cruise missile on Sunday night. Reporters were not allowed to enter the compound as he made his address.

CTV's Ben O'Hara-Byrne told CTV's Canada AM that Gadhafi condemned the bombings from international forces and painted them as "attacks by crusaders, by colonialists on the Islamic nation."

The speech appeared to be geared towards his remaining supporters in western Libya, as Gadhafi "anticipates having to take on this rebel force moving towards him," O'Hara-Byrne reported from Cairo on Wednesday.

O'Hara-Byrne said Gadhafi has stated plans to arm up to 1 million Libyans, a plan which he claimed is now underway.

Clinton told ABC News that reports have emerged that one of Gadhafi's sons may have been killed.

Clinton said the "evidence is not sufficient" to confirm his death and she did not identify which Gadhafi heir was cited in the reports.

The United States has led the Libyan airstrikes so far and is in the midst of handing over responsibility for the no-fly zone to NATO.

At sea, NATO warships have begun patrolling the Libyan coast to enforce a UN arms embargo. A NATO official told The Associated Press Wednesday that the naval mission will initially consist of two flotillas that routinely patrol the Mediterranean.

With files from The Associated Press