Forces loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi pressed their offensive into eastern Libya on Sunday, as an unraveling and demoralized rebel force fled the coastal oil town of Brega and began to lose its grip on power in its de facto capital city of Benghazi. 
 
 The battlefield developments lent urgency to an Arab League request Saturday to the United Nations Security Council to enforce a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace that is likely to be taken up this week. 
 
 The League's decision was an unprecedented endorsement of military action aimed at an Arab country, but European diplomats said it wouldn't likely suffice to ensure the measure is enacted. 
 
 The opposition's armed ragtag volunteer corps continued to lose ground. Rebel officials on Sunday said they have begun rounding up Gadhafi supporters in Benghazi following a string of mysterious explosions, armed robberies and the assassination on Saturday night of a journalist from al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel. 
 
 In a sign of spreading panic, several international humanitarian groups and news organizations pulled their staff from Benghazi to the city of Tobruq near the Egyptian border, citing concerns that, after taking Brega, government forces might head straight to the frontier. If Mr. Gadhafi's troops succeeded in capturing Tobruq, they would cut off rebels' supply lines from Egypt and any hopes of an unimpeded retreat. 
 
 "There was a lot of speculation: will he try to seal everybody in?" said Cassandra Nelson of Mercy Corps, one of the aid groups that retreated to Tobruq. 
 
 In Tripoli, the spokesman for the Libyan armed forces made a rare appearance, telling foreign journalists the government's forces have routed rebels from areas as far east as the coastal town of Brega. "The areas have been cleansed," the spokesman, Col. Milad Hussein, said. 
 
 Col. Hussein said the government had full control of the town of Zawiya, about 30 miles west of Tripoli and the strategic eastern oil-facilities towns of Ras Lanuf and Brega. 
 
 Speaking in Benghazi on Sunday, Abdel Fattah Younis, the former Minister of Interior who defected early in the uprising to the rebels' side and is now the rebel military's chief of staff, countered that rebel defeats at Ras Lanuf and Brega were merely tactical withdrawals. 
 
 "Even if our forces have withdrawn a few kilometers, that doesn't mean much in military terms, especially if they are fighting in a semi-desert with little strategic value," he said. 
 
 Rebel forces are hoping to make a stand against Col. Gadhafi in more built up areas where the government's air and artillery advantage would matter less. In recent weeks the rebels have put up tough fights in urban areas of western Libya, but have proven less effective fighting in open terrain, where they are exposed to airstrikes. 
 
 European diplomats said the Arab League decision would turn the international focus back to U.N. deliberations this week. But they said the weight of the message would be softened somewhat by the fact that Libya's neighbors, Algeria and Syria, didn't back the no-fly zone. 
 
 Also tempering momentum is the reluctance of most, if not all, Arab countries to go beyond rhetorical, and perhaps some financial, support for United Nation's enforced no-fly zone. 
 
 Despite favoring the recommendation that the Security Council enforce a no-fly zone, the Egyptian military, the Arab world's largest, is unlikely to participate in such an operation or to offer strategic support, said analysts. 
 
 After assuming power in the wake of President Hosni Mubarak's departure, the armed forces are now more focused on internal affairs of state and will want to avoid the popular stigma of colluding with Western powers to attack a fellow Arab country, observers say. 
 
 "I don't think that the Egyptian armed forces have time now to engage in such outside problems. They are very busy here in Egypt," said Mohammed Kadry Said, a retired major general in Egypt's Air Defense Command and the head of security studies at the government-funded Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. 
 
 When European Union leaders met Friday to discuss Libya, many, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, showed reluctance to support no-fly-zone proposals being pushed particularly by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. 
 
 They agreed to such action only if there was a demonstrable need, a clear legal basis for it and regional Arab support. 
 
 At the Security Council, China is still seen as the big stumbling block; its reluctance to give a stamp of approval to any international intervention in a developing nation remains strong. Any move will be further complicated by the fact that China this month holds the rotating seat of Security Council president. 
 
 —Yaroslav Trofimov 
 
 in Benghazi, 
 
 Sam Dagher in Tripoli 
 
 and Gerald F. Seib 
 
 in Washington, D.C., 
 
 contributed to this article. 
 
 Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A13 ||||| As Pro-Gadhafi Forces Attack The East, Tripoli Sees Celebration 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 From Tripoli, NPR's David Greene spoke to Robert Siegel for this afternoon's All Things Considered. David said he found something rather surprising on the streets of the Libyan capital: a celebration. 
 
 David spoke to one man, who was a Gadhafi supporter. Here's a bit of audio from their exchange; note that we'll add David's whole piece later: 
 
 David Greene From Tripoli 
 
 David said his movements have been heavily controlled by the government. In fact, he says, on two occasions, Libyan officials showed him Libyan state news and emphasized that the uprising was being led by Al-Qaida. David says that every once in a while he'll hear a PA announcement at his hotel calling on all journalists to get on the bus, because there's a story they want them to cover. 
 
 David told Robert that it's been hard to get a real handle on what the mood is really like in the capital city. 
 
 Elsewhere in Libya, however, the violence has continued. The New York Times reports that Pro-Gadhafi forces launched fresh air attacks on Benghazi, which has become a home base for rebels. The government also offered amnesty to rebels who gave up their weapons. 
 
 The paper talks to a resident of Zawarah, which has been overtaken by the Gadhafi regime: 
 
 "We know what happened in Zawiyah, and we think that the same thing is going to happen here soon," one resident said, speaking anonymously to protect himself and his family from retribution. "They say that if you take down the flag, we will let you live," he added. "Maybe we will fight, but we will have a lot of casualties." 
 
 All of this is happening as the international community weighs its options. British Prime Minister David Cameron issued his strongest statements yet. Speaking to the British House of Commons, this afternoon, he said he wanted Britain to be involved in military action in Libya. 
 
 The Guardian reports: 
 
 He said that setting up a no-fly zone was "perfectly practical and deliverable" and that action would have to take place soon. "Time could be relatively short," he said. "To those who say it is nothing to do with us, I would simply respond: Do we want a situation where a failed pariah state festers on Europe's southern border, potentially threatening our security, pushing people across the Mediterranean and creating a more dangerous and uncertain world for Britain and for all our allies as well as for the people of Libya?" 
 
 The United Nations Security Council met today about establishing a no-fly zone over Libya, but nothing was decided. Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin expressed strong reservations. The AFP reports: 
 
 As far as we are concerned there are some fundamental questions that need to be answered," Churkin told reporters as he left the Security Council talks. "If there is a no-fly zone, who is going to implement the no-fly zone? How the no-fly zone is going to be implemented?" he asked. "We have not had enough information. To say 'we need to act quickly,' 'as fast as possible' but not to provide the fundamental answers to those fundamental questions, to us is not really helping. It is just beating the air." 
 
 The French ambassador said the no-fly zone was still on the table and a decision could come later this week. 
 
 Update at 6:08 p.m. ET: As Korva reported earlier, the Group of Eight leading economies was also meeting in Paris tonight. 
 
 Quoting Italy's foreign minister, the AP reports that the group came to no agreement about a no-fly zone over Libya. Franco Frattini told reporters that France and Britain favor a no-fly zone but Russia and Germany are "reluctant to approve" one. 
 
 Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was also there for the two-day meeting. 
 
 Update at 7:26 p.m. ET: NPR's David Welna reports that the Senate passed a non-binding resolution calling for the U.S. to recognize the provisional revolutionary government in Eastern Libya and establishing a no-fly zone over the country. 
 
 The Hill reports that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of the resolution's sponsors, gave an impassioned speech in favor of it:
– It was a bad day for rebel forces in Libya, but in the streets of Tripoli people were celebrating—in part because they believed the news state-run television was broadcasting. David Green of NPR talked to people in a crowd of a few hundred Moammar Gadhafi supporters, who said they believed that al-Qaeda was responsible for the uprising, a message the state-run media has been heavily propagating. The regime also used state television to attempt to undermine rebel morale today, as ministers announced that they’d give amnesty to anyone who gave up their weapons, the New York Times reports. At the same time, loyalist forces gained ground militarily, pushing rebels out of the coastal oil town of Brega, according to the Wall Street Journal. There were also a series of mysterious explosions in Benghazi, along with some robberies and the murder of an al-Jazeera journalist, prompting rebel authorities to round up Gadhafi supporters.