Libyan rebels recaptured the eastern oil town of Ras Lanuf and advanced farther west on Sunday, reclaiming territory after western air strikes destroyed regime tanks, armoured personnel carriers, rocket launchers and trucks.

The rapid push westwards by opposition forces, who just over a week ago had been under siege in Benghazi, underlined how air strikes against Muammer Gaddafi’s forces by US, French, Canadian and British fighter jets have changed the dynamics of the conflict.

The rebels, mostly volunteers with little or no training and light weapons, had been overwhelmed by the better equipped and better trained regime forces. But western intervention in the oil-rich nation has meant that Colonel Gaddafi’s air superiority has vanished, making it highly risky for his troops to move along flat, open desert highways that link east and west.