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Fighters in catch-22 as Nato instruction to pull back ahead of air strikes causes them to lose gains against Gaddafi’s forces The battered black pickup truck flying the Libyan rebel flag raced down the road from the frontline, mortar shells landing on either side. Fighters in the back clung to the machine gun, punching the air with their fists and shouting “Allahu Akbar!” The reason for their celebration was displayed on the bonnet as a trophy. The corpse of one of Gaddafi’s men was sprawled there, blood covering his midriff and his combat trousers. He had been killed minutes before as the rebels fought off a dawn offensive, and brought back as evidence of a small victory over the regime’s forces. A western photographer leaped out into the road. “No picture!” shouted a young doctor, one of the team at a field-ambulance station set up in a warehouse a short distance from the front. The photographs were deleted, the jeep made a U-turn, and the staff at the aid station went back to work, the young doctor scrambling into a grey ambulance as the radio called for his assistance. By mid-morning the rebels had launched an attack of their own. More black-painted jeeps hurtled past, some carrying long-barrelled recoilless rifles, the biggest artillery pieces in the rebel arsenal, and by lunchtime the rebels had broken through the regime’s lines and made it to the outskirts of the town of Zlitan. Clouds of black smoke billowed from a nearby shoe warehouse that had been hit by one of the Grad rockets fired by the regime’s soldiers. “Where are the Apaches?” said a young doctor, Mohamed Teeka, a 27-year-old medic who had been treating the victims of Gaddafi’s shelling. “People are dying here.” A bearded rebel fighter arrived in an old British ambulance, blood seeping through a bandage wrapped around his head. As the doctors fought to save him, mortar bombs fell out of the sky, crashing either side of the field hospital. But in the late afternoon, Nato came through with an instruction to pull back to the front – the “red line” beyond which the rebels had pushed that day. The red lines are marks on the map that allow Nato jets to bomb anything that moves beyond them. They are also a source of frustration for the rebels, who had not seen a Nato jet or helicopter all morning. They had lost one man and 13 more were wounded to conquer terrain they were now ordered to vacate. Sraia Swehli is the commander of a brigade of rebel volunteers. He is the great-grandson of Ramadan al-Swehli, lionised in Misrata as the famous warrior who led a rebellion against Italian colonial rule, briefly setting up what townsfolk say was Libya’s first ever democratic government. It did not last, but Swehli wants to do better and liberate all of Libya from Gaddafi – if Nato will let him. With exaggerated patience, Swehli explained the situation facing the Misrata rebels: “We are ready to attack, we can go forward. The Gaddafi forces are weak. They had seven strong points in front of us and now all of them are smashed. “Of course we are grateful for Nato’s help, but Nato insist we are behind the red lines. We are ready to kill the soldiers. Of course Nato helps us, but we are ready to attack, we want to go forward.” Swehli and his soldiers are in a double bind: Nato bombers will strike if they fall back, but the civilians of Misrata are once again in danger. But if they advance, they appear to be on their own. On Monday the ground they so expensively captured had to be given back on Nato instructions. Nato officials deny there are red lines. They say their main concern is targeting, and making sure civilians are not in the areas they plan to strike. Lines of communication are long. Rebels at the frontline report to Nato’s liaison in Benghazi about targets they have seen and what the rebels themselves plan to do. Benghazi then reports to Nato. Meanwhile, Gaddafi remains in control of much of the country, and some in his forces remain defiant. “Those guys are crazy,” said a doctor at the field hospital. “‘We captured a guy last night with a radio. When the [pro-Gaddafi forces] see we have their radio, they start to talk to us, saying: ‘We are doing to capture Misrata and kill you all. We don’t worry about Nato.’” One of those wounded yesterday was the doctor who had asked the photographer to stop taking pictures. The grey ambulance in which he had raced off came back half an hour later shredded with holes. The doctor had been hit in the head by shrapnel and rushed off to hospital in Misrata. His comrades said they thought he would live. Libya Nato Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi guardian.co.uk