Fighting continues in Libya inside the city of Zawiya, 50km west of the capital Tripoli, after a rebel offensive on Saturday.
The Libyan government insists it controls the city, which lies on the motorway west to Tunisia.
Zawiya's fall would effectively cut the government off from the outside world.
The BBC reports the city was briefly held by rebel forces early in the uprising against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's rule this year, but they were driven out by tanks and suffered heavy casualties.