US President Barack Obama said all options were on the table for driving Kadhafi out of power as the strongman's son said air strikes on rebel-held positions were scare tactics rather than to inflict serious damage.

Despite grave reservations expressed by the US military command, Obama said a no-fly zone was among the "full range" of options as he demanded that Kadhafi "step down from power and leave."

Forces still loyal to the veteran strongman, who has ruled the oil-rich North African state for 41 years, have been bombing rebel-held positions in Libya's east and thousands of people are desperate to flee the country.

The latest air strike, early Friday, targeted a military base on the edge Ajdabiya, a strategic crossroads, but caused no injuries or damage, rebels said.

"There was a bomb outside the military base near Ajdabiya," said Mohammad Abdallah, a rebel fighter at the last checkpoint of the town on the road to Brega, where rebels fought deadly battles with government forces on Wednesday.

The military barracks on the outskirts of Ajdabiya has been targeted repeatedly by Kadhafi's forces since rebels in the east began a popular uprising on February 15 to evict the Libyan leader.

Rebels managed to beat off a dawn attack on Brega on Wednesday in the first real military battle since the start of the uprising. Another bombing raid was carried out early Thursday but caused little damage.

Kadhafi's son Seif Al-Islam told Britain's Sky News the air strikes were designed only to scare the rebels rather than cause damage, amid reports pilots reluctant to bomb their compatriots were deliberately missing their targets.

"This is the oil and gas hub of Libya," he said, vowing the regime would do all in its power to recapture Brega.

"All of us, we eat, we live because of Brega. Without Brega six million people have no future because we export all of our oil from there."

The patchwork Libyan opposition now controls swathes of eastern and western Libya including the city of Benghazi and some oil installations. Kadhafi remains firmly in control of the capital Tripoli.

Kadhafi's tight grip on the capital was to be tested following calls among the opposition to gather for demonstrations after Friday prayers, according to several Facebook and Twitter groups run by Libyans abroad.

Separately there were reports that Libyan state TV had called for protests against any foreign intervention in Libya. There was no immediate confirmation.

Scattered protests were staged in Tripoli on the Muslim day of rest a week ago but security forces opened fire indiscriminately on worshippers leaving mosques, killing several people and wounding dozens.

More than 100,000 people have left Libya to escape the violence, which has killed at least 1,000, according to conservative UN estimates.

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor said in The Hague that Kadhafi and key aides would face investigation over alleged crimes against humanity.

"We have identified some individuals with de facto or formal authority, who have authority over the security forces," Luis Moreno-Ocampo told journalists.

"They are Moamer Kadhafi, his inner circle, including some of his sons."

Kadhafi's ally President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela joined the diplomatic offensive, proposing an international mediation mission to pull Libya from what Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said was the "verge of civil war".

The Chavez proposal got short shrift from the West, and Libyan rebels in their eastern fiefdom argued that Kadhafi was free to flee to Venezuela if he chose.

"We have a very clear statement. It's too late. Too much blood has been spilt," Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the opposition's self-declared national council in Benghazi, told AFP.

The rebels would "never negotiate with anybody on the blood of our people", he said.

"The only way we can negotiate with Chavez is if Kadhafi goes to Venezuela (for good). Then we'll ask him to have Kadhafi back in Libya to be prosecuted by our justice."

Obama told a White House news conference that Kadhafi's "appalling violence" on his own people showed that he had lost all legitimacy.

"Going forward, we will continue to send a clear message: The violence must stop. Moamar Kadhafi has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave," he said.

Obama said he did not want to be "hamstrung" in his options and confirmed that a no-fly zone was under consideration. Britain and France back the idea, but there are divisions internationally and even within Washington.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates and top US military officials warned Wednesday that imposing no-fly zone would be a major military undertaking, and would necessarily require air strikes to take out Libya's air defences.

"Let's just call a spade a spade," Gates told US lawmakers, decrying "loose talk" about a no-fly zone.

A major European operation is under way to airlift from Tunisia thousands of people who have fled the bloodshed in Libya, and Obama also offered US planes to repatriate Egyptian refugees.

The Libya disruption has been a factor in driving up world oil prices, along with unrest against authoritarian regimes across the Arab world.

Crude prices resumed their upward path in Asian trade Friday on doubts about Venezuela's proposal to mediate in the crisis in oil-rich Libya, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, or West Texas Intermediate, rose 12 cents to $102.03 per barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for April delivery gained 12 cents to $114.91.

In Sunni-controlled Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, cyber activists called for a "Day of Anger" on Friday in the country's eastern Shiite-majority region, following the arrest of a Shiite cleric.

earlier related report
Air strike near Libyan town Ajdabiya as rebels reinforce
Ajdabiya, Libya (AFP) March 4, 2011 - Libyan forces Friday launched a fresh air strike on the town of Ajdabiya, as pumped-up rebels armed themselves with anti-aircraft missiles on the third day of an offensive by the regime.

There were no casualties or damage in the bombing run near a military base on the outskirts of the strategic town, which came as hundreds of opposition volunteers rushed to defend their frontline in the nearby oil port of Brega.

"There was a bomb outside the military base near Ajdabiya," said Mohammad Abdallah, a rebel fighter at the last checkpoint of the town on the road to Brega, where rebels fought deadly battles with government forces on Wednesday.

"It was about 8:00 am (0600 GMT)," Abdallah added. Other rebels also reported the air strike, but there were no casualties nor any visible damage.

The Mediterranean coastal towns of Brega, with its oil refinery, and Ajdabiya, a key road junction, are vital for rebels in eastern Libya if Moamer Kadhafi's forces are not to isolate them from the rest of the country.

An AFP reporter saw a group of cars heading out of Ajdabiya towards Brega. One group came from the eastern town of Al-Baida while another car came from Tobruk, nearer the Egyptian border.

Mohammad, 35, who works in a bank in Tobruk said he had come to fight in the "jihad" with a group of friends.

"A lot of cars have started to come from Tobruk in the last two days. I'm coming with four friends. We don't have heavy guns, but we expect to get them when we reach Brega. We have to prove to him (Kadhafi) that this is our land," he said.

"This is the time of jihad," he told AFP.

Regime forces have repeatedly targeted the military barracks on the outskirts of Ajdabiya since rebels in the east began a popular uprising to evict the Libyan leader who has ruled for four decades.

An AFP reporter on Friday saw crates upon crates of abandoned ammunition inside the barracks about 500 metres (yards) down the road from the checkpoint into the desert, but no damage.

A warehouse was full of anti-tank rockets, bazookas and rocket launchers, the reporter said. The buildings were all abandoned, bedding and military uniforms had been left behind.

Rebels also reported a series of explosions near Ajdabiya at around 3:00 am (0100 GMT), but the cause of the blasts was not immediately clear.

About 15 to 20 rebel fighters manned the checkpoint.

In Ajdabiya, about 10 shops were open but the streets were deserted, in keeping with usual custom early Friday, the Muslim day of rest and the start of the Libyan weekend.

In the main rebel-held city of Benghazi, there were scenes of chaos as young men pushed and shoved each other to grab old Libyan flags which organisers handed out ahead of a rally planned after Friday prayers, an AFP reporter said.

Opposition groups have also called for protests in the capital Tripoli, where Kadhafi retains his grip on power.

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