Gaddafi vows to fight as opposition closes in

By Ahmed Jadallah and Maria Golovnina

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi vowed to "crush any enemy" on Friday, addressing a crowd of supporters in Tripoli as Libya's popular uprising closed in around him.

"We will fight if they want," the 68-year-old leader declared after a day of clashes all over the capital between security forces and crowds of protesters, which Gaddafi's opponents said had left some districts in their hands.

With eastern Libya already under opposition control after a week of unrest, protesters held the center of Zawiyah, west of the capital, a witness said, and laid makeshift defences to fend off government forces after successive fierce attacks.

The United States, whose calls for restraint have fallen on deaf ears, said it was preparing sanctions against Gaddafi and was not ruling out military action.

The U.N. Security Council also drew up sanctions including an arms embargo, travel bans and freezing top officials' assets, and threatened Libyan leaders with indictments for crimes against humanity.

But the international community has struggled to keep up with the pace of protests which have already swept away the authoritarian rulers of Egypt and Tunisia this year.

Gaddafi's own people seemed close to forcing him from power.

A string of other towns were reported to have fallen to the opposition, although Gaddafi retained the defiance he has often displayed against the West over more than four decades.