Libyan rebels say they have made gains

BENGHAZI, Libya, April 22 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain made an unannounced visit to Libyan rebels in Benghazi Friday as they said NATO help might lead to a military victory.

McCain was greeted in Benghazi by rebels waving U.S. flags, CNN reported. McCain's visit came one day after the Pentagon announced President Barack Obama had authorized the use of armed U.S. Predator drones in Libya.

"The American people support you very strongly and we know it's necessary to help as much as we can," McCain told a crowd of about 100 Libyans.

Rebel leaders said they had been able to retake the central part of Misurata, driving Moammar Gadhafi's forces out, The Washington Post reported. They credited the advance and the seizure of a border crossing with Tunisia to NATO airstrikes.

McCain, the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, is a strong advocate of increasing military strikes to remove Gadhafi.

The first major crack in Gadhafi's control of Libya's western region since fighting broke out two months ago occurred Thursday, The New York Times reported.

Rebels in the western mountains seized control of a Tunisian border crossing at the town of Wazen after a battle that sent a small number of Gadhafi's soldiers in retreat.

The rebels detained 13 Libyan soldiers, including a colonel and two commanders.

In Benghazi, the rebels said 100 of Gadhafi's soldiers sought asylum.

U.N. aid workers reported more than 14,000 Libyan refugees had fled their homes in western Libya to escape the fighting.

"The western mountain region has been under siege for a month or so," said Faras Kaya, a spokesman for the U.N. Human Rights Commission. "What is clear is that they have fled because of the intensifying violence."