Latest Updates on Libyan War and Mideast Protests - NYTimes.com

9:58 A.M. Libyan Rebels Retreat From Another Eastern Town

My colleague C.J. Chivers reports from outside Brega, in eastern Libya:
With the momentum of ground combat tilting in favor of forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, rebels seeking to oust him embarked on a large-scale withdrawal from the coastal oil town of Brega on Wednesday - the latest in a string of apparent setbacks.

Rebel forces also said Colonel Qaddafi's troops had pushed them out of another oil town, Ras Lanuf, further west.

On the approaches to Brega, hundreds of cars and small trucks heading east clogged the highway as rebel forces pulled back toward Ajdabiyah, recaptured from loyalist troops only days ago. Some rebels said Colonel Qaddafi's forces, pushing eastward from Ras Lanuf, were within 10 miles of Brega. The retreating force seemed rudderless, a sea of vehicles and fighters armed with rudimentary weapons that have proved no match for Colonel Qaddafi's better trained and better armed forces.

As rebels clustered at a gas station and small mosque between Brega and Ajdabiyah, a single artillery shell or rocket exploded several hundred yards away, causing the rebels, who were chanting "God is great" and waving assault rifles, to jump into their vehicles and speed eastward.
The latest retreat means that government forces have now nearly erased all of the gains the rebels made over the weekend.

My colleagues on our graphics desk have produced this interactive map that tracks the shifting frontline in Libya.