TRIPOLI/TUNIS Libya's two-month civil war spilled over the border into Tunisia, provoking outrage in the western neighbor, while rebels in Misrata said only NATO could halt the bombardment of the besieged city. 
 
 The struggle between forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and rebels trying to end his more than four decades of rule drew in outsiders last month, as NATO began air strikes on government troops under a United Nations mandate. 
 
 But on Thursday the fighting spilled over Libya's land frontier, when Gaddafi troops battled rebels on Tunisian territory for control of the Dehiba-Wazin frontier crossing. 
 
 The incursion was brief and limited, and Gaddafi's troops even apologized locally. But the response was nevertheless furious from Tunisia, where the Arab world's wave of uprisings began late last year, leading to the overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January. 
 
 "Given the gravity of what has happened ... the Tunisian authorities have informed the Libyans of their extreme indignation and demand measures to put an immediate stop to these violations," a Tunisian Foreign Ministry statement said. 
 
 Illustrating the difficulty of keeping the Libyan conflict sealed within the country's land borders, artillery shells fired by Gaddafi forces also struck the Tunisian side of the crossing. 
 
 Rebels seized the post a week ago, as it controls the only road link which their comrades in Libya's Western Mountains have with the outside world, making them rely otherwise on rough tracks for supplies of food, fuel and medicine. 
 
 After weeks of advances and retreats by rebel and government forces along the Mediterranean coast, fighting has settled into a pattern of clashes and skirmishes. 
 
 Thursday's battle for the crossing between Dehiba in Tunisia and Wazin on the Libyan side was typical of the fluid and confused conflict, which broke out in mid-February. 
 
 First government troops stormed the post in what appeared to be part of a broader offensive to root out rebel outposts beyond their eastern heartland around Benghazi, Libya's second city. 
 
 Gaddafi's soldiers apologized to their Tunisian counterparts for the incursion and hoisted their flag at the border, tearing down a pre-Gaddafi era flag that had fluttered for a few days. 
 
 But then the rebels, who had retreated into Tunisia, counter-attacked and as the fog of war descended, rumors spread that the post was back in their hands. 
 
 In the confusion, scores of vehicles headed for the border from the Tunisian side with civilians on board shouting "We've won! We've won!" but they swiftly turned back when they found Gaddafi's forces were still there. 
 
 MISRATA'S PLIGHT DEEPENS 
 
 In the port city of Misrata, the rebels' biggest enclave in western Libya, the plight of residents worsened. 
 
 Rebels accused Gaddafi's forces of firing bigger rockets than the Russian-made Grad missiles largely used until now. A rebel called Marwan said in an audio statement on YouTube that the bigger rockets cause much greater destruction. "Gaddafi the tyrant is trying to wipe out the city of Misrata," he said. 
 
 Gaddafi denies his forces are attacking civilians and says his opponents are Islamist militants and foreign-backed agitators who deliberately put non-combatants in harm's way. 
 
 Rebel spokesman Abdelsalam said from Misrata that there had been sporadic clashes on the road to the port and shelling of residential areas. "Those areas are packed with civilians who fled the fighting in the city center," he said. 
 
 "The ball is now in NATO's court. After Gaddafi's soldiers and snipers were driven out from the city center and Tripoli Street by the rebel fighters, their strategy has been to shell the city from the outskirts. This can only be solved by NATO." 
 
 The Western alliance has been conducting air strikes on Libya since last month under a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for civilians to be protected. 
 
 But military deadlock in Libya has exposed growing international rifts, with critics of NATO bombing calling it another case of the West trying to overthrow a government by stretching the terms of a U.N. resolution. 
 
 At least two loud explosions were heard in Tripoli on Thursday night and NATO jets rumbled overhead. It was not immediately clear what the targets were. 
 
 The official Libyan news agency Jana also said that "the colonial, crusader aggression" hit civilian and military sites in a Western Mountains region town on Thursday evening. Two people were killed and many others were wounded, it said. 
 
 Gaddafi forces also took a town in the remote southeastern desert, state television reported. "Libyan forces have seized full control of the town of Kufra and purified it of the armed gangs," it quoted a military spokesman as saying. 
 
 But rebels denied this. "The battle is not over and the situation is unclear," said spokesman Mohamed al-Muntasser. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Christian Lowe in Algiers, Guy Desmond and Maher Nazeh in Tripoli, Deepa Babington and Alexander Dziadosz in Benghazi, Matthew Tostevin in Tunis, Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Sami Aboudi in Cairo, Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Jessica Donati in London; writing by David Stamp; Editing by Jon Hemming) ||||| TATAOUINE, Tunisia — A century ago, fleeing Italian colonizers, the inhabitants of Libya ’s remote western mountains descended upon this wind-whipped Tunisian outpost, many to stay permanently. 
 
 With those desert plateaus once again under siege, this time by the armies of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, about 30,000 Libyans have repeated their ancestors’ flight. Astonishingly, to aid workers, hundreds upon hundreds of Tunisians, some of them the descendants of those earlier refugees, have opened their homes to these Libyan families since early April, when Colonel Qaddafi’s forces went on the attack. 
 
 There are no sprawling refugee camps at the border, just two modest clusters of tents housing around 2,500 people. The vast majority of the newcomers are now living with Tunisian families here and in neighboring villages, an area that in normal times counts just 150,000 residents. 
 
 “It’s the first time I’ve seen such an impressive response,” said Firas Kayal, a spokesman in Tunisia for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. That generosity is all the more remarkable, he added, given the challenges Tunisia faces in the wake of its own revolution — which in January ended 23 years of kleptocratic rule by President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali — and previous waves of Libyan refugees this year in the north. 
 
 Even some of the refugees seem baffled by it. 
 
 “Would you give your house to someone you didn’t know, from another country?” asked Maren Abouzakhar, 22, who fled the besieged Libyan city of Yafran early this month. She spoke in the airy drawing room of the house she and 10 relatives now shared with a local family; the owner had moved himself, his wife and their three children into the unfinished ground floor, leaving the comfortable, perfumed second story for their guests. 
 
 “We don’t even know how to thank them for something like this,” Ms. Abouzakhar said. 
 
 Abdallah Awaye, 35, a thin, sun-darkened man and the owner of the house, described his gesture as a matter of obligation and pride. “This is how it is, these are our customs,” he said. “If there is something to eat, we will eat it together. If there is nothing to eat, we will have nothing together.” 
 
 Most of the refugees arrived at the border with little more than the clothes on their backs and fears for the sons they left behind to fight the Qaddafi militias, and were rapidly taken in by local residents whose compassion and good cheer have drawn the admiration of Libyans and international aid workers alike. 
 
 Mr. Kayal also praised the generosity of the Tunisian government, which has kept the country’s borders open from the start of the Libyan conflict. As many 276,000 people — most of them foreign workers — have fled Libya for Tunisia, according to United Nations estimates. 
 
 Asked about their willingness to provide shelter to strangers, residents of Tataouine like to cite an apt local proverb: Travelers cry upon arriving in this desolate place, but leave with tears in their eyes. 
 
 Despite the abundance of good intentions, though, the city and surrounding areas are feeling the strain of so many refugees. The afterglow of January’s jubilant revolution has largely given way to old frustrations, with people complaining of a stagnant economy, inadequate infrastructure and widespread unemployment. 
 
 The police, the lackeys of the deposed government, are largely absent from the streets, having gone into hiding after the revolution. And many worry that the country’s transitional government has failed to break with what they call decades of neglect for the arid Tunisian south. 
 
 “Generosity and fraternity have been taking precedence over the problems,” said Ali Mourou, the mayor of Tataouine. 
 
 Nevertheless, he said, in response to appeals from the city, truckloads of aid have flowed in from as far as Tunis, the capital, 300 miles to the north. 
 
 Three local coordinating centers have been opened, placing Libyan families in homes and distributing donated couscous, macaroni, milk and tomatoes, as well as mattresses and blankets. Libyan children have been placed in local schools, and doctors and nurses have opened a clinic offering free medical care. 
 
 “We’ve taken the thing as a human obligation, a religious obligation, an obligation of fraternity,” Mr. Mourou said, and the Libyans have been “truly appreciative.” 
 
 He added, “They ought to be.” 
 
 He worries, though. ||||| Army units and militiamen loyal to Moammar Gadhafi struck back against rebellious Libyans who have risen up in cities close to the capital Thursday, attacking a mosque where many were holding an anti-government sit-in and battling with others who had seized control of an airport. A doctor at the mosque said 10 people were killed. 
 
 A Libyan doctor treats a wonded man who was injured last week during the demostration against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in Benghazi, Libya, on Thursday Feb. 24, 20011. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (Associated Press) 
 
 Tunisians carrying their belongings are guided by a Tunisian army border guard after crossing the border from Libya and into Tunisia, near the village of Ras Ajdir, Tunisia, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011. ... (Associated Press) 
 
 Tunisians carry their belongings after crossing the border from Libya and into Tunisia, near the village of Ras Ajdir, Tunisia, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011. Many thousands of people are fleeing from Libya... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a man walks inside a burned police station in the eastern Libyan town of Derna Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Nasser Nouri) NO SALES (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, people attend a protest in the eastern Libyan town of Derna Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. (AP pHoto/Xinhua, Nasser Nouri) NO SALES (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, people attend a protest in the eastern Libyan town of Derna Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Nasser Nouri) NO SALES (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, people attend a protest in the eastern Libyan town of Derna Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Nasser Nouri) NO SALES (Associated Press) 
 
 Tunisian men who fled from Libya eat at the Tunisia-Libyan border, near the town of Ben Guerdane,Tunisia, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (Associated Press) 
 
 A Libyan man Fathi Masour, 39, mourns his brother killed last week during the demostration against Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, at a morgue hospital, in Benghazi, Libya, on Thursday Feb. 24, 20011.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Egyptian men, that used to work in Libya, carry their belongings through a checkpoint after crossing the border from Libya and into Tunisia, near the village of Ras Ajdir, Tunisia, Thursday, Feb. 24,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Egyptian men, that used to work in Libya, carry their belongings after crossing the border from Libya and into Tunisia, near the village of Ras Ajdir, Tunisia, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011. Many thousands... (Associated Press) 
 
 This photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency shows general view of the eastern Libyan town of Derna Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Nasser Nouri) NO SALES (Associated Press) 
 
 This Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011 photo made available in Rome Thursday Feb. 24, 2011 shows people outside Tripoli's International airport. European countries are sending planes and ferries to Libya to evacuate... (Associated Press) 
 
 Libyan mortuary assisstants look to unidentified dead burned bodies who were killed last week during the demonstration against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi at a morgue hospital, in Benghazi, Libya,... (Associated Press) 
 
 The assaults aimed to push back a revolt that has moved closer to Gadhafi's bastion in the capital, Tripoli. The uprising has already broken away nearly the eastern half of Libya and unraveled parts of Gadhafi's regime. 
 
 In the latest blow to the Libyan leader, a cousin who is one of his closest aides, Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, announced that he has defected to Egypt in protest against the regime's bloody crackdown against the uprising, denouncing what he called "grave violations to human rights and human and international laws." 
 
 In Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tripoli, an army unit attacked the city' Souq Mosque, where regime opponents had been camped for days in a protest calling for Gadhafi's ouster, a witness said. The soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons and hit the mosque's minaret with fire from an anti-aircraft gun, he said. Some of the young men among the protesters, who were inside the mosque and in a nearby lot, had hunting rifles for protection. 
 
 A doctor at a field clinic set up at the mosque said he saw the bodies of 10 dead, shot in the head and chest, as well as arond 150 wounded. 
 
 The witness said that a day earlier an envoy from Gadhafi had come to the city and warned protesters, "Either leave or you will see a massacre." Zawiya is a key city near an oil port and refineries. 
 
 After Thursday's assault, thousands massed in Zawiya's main Martyrs Square by the mosque, shouting "leave, leave," in reference to Gadhafi, the witness said. "People came to send a clear message: We are not afraid of death or your bullets," he said. 
 
 The other attack came at a small airport outside Misrata, Libya's third largest city, where rebel residents claimed control Wednesday. Militiamen with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars barraged a line of them who were guarding the airport, some armed with automatic rifles and hunting rifles, said one of the rebels who was involved in the battle. 
 
 During the fighting, the airport's defenders seized an anti-aircraft gun used by the militias and turned it against them, he said. He said dead and wounded had been taken to Misrata hospitals but could not give exact figures. 
 
 The militias pulled back in the late morning. In Misrata, the local radio _ controlled by the opposition like the rest of the city _ called on residents to march to the airport to reinforce it, said a woman who lives in downtown Misrata. 
 
 In the afternoon, it appeared fighting erupted again, she said, reporting heavy booms from the direction of the airport on the edge of the city, located about 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Tripoli. 
 
 She and other witnesses around Libya spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. 
 
 Gadhafi's crackdown has so far helped him maintain control of Tripoli, a city that holds about a third of Libya's 6 million population. But the uprising has divided the country and threatened to push it toward civil war: In cities across the east, residents rose up and overwhelmed government buildings and army bases, joined in many cases by local army units that defected. In those cities, tribal leaders, residents and military officers have formed local administrations, passing out weapons looted from the security forces' arsenals. 
 
 The leader's cousin, Gadhaf al-Dam, is one of the most high level defections to hit the regime so far, after many ambassadors around the world, the justice minister and the interior minister all sided with the protesters. 
 
 Gadhaf al-Dam belonged to Gadhafi's inner circle, officially his liaison with Egypt, but he also served as Gadhafi's envoy to other world leaders and frequently appeared by his side. 
 
 In a statement issued in Cairo on Thursday, Gadhaf al-Dam said he had left Libya for Egypt "in protest and to show disagreement" with the crackdown. 
 
 Gadhafi's control now has been reduced to the northwest corner around Tripoli, the southwest deserts and parts of the center. The uprisings in Misrata, Zawiya and several small towns between the capital and Tunisian border have further whittled away at that bastion. 
 
 The Zawiya resident said that until Thursday's attack, Gadhafi opponents held total sway in the city after police fled days earlier. Residents had organized local watchgroups to protect government buildings and homes. 
 
 The capital, Tripoli, saw an outbreak of major protests against Gadhafi's rule earlier this week, met with attacks by militiamen that reportedly left dozens dead. 
 
 Pro-Gadhafi militiamen _ a mix of Libyans and foreign mercenaries _ have clamped down on the city since the Libyan leader went on state TV Tuesday night and called on his supporters to take back the streets. Residents say militiamen roam Tripoli's main avenues, firing the air, while neighborhood watch groups have barricaded side streets trying to keep the fighters out and protesters lay low. 
 
 At the same time, regular security forces have launched raids on homes around the city. A resident in the Ben Ashour neighborhood said a number of SUVs full of armed men swept into his district Wednesday night, broke into his neighbor's home and dragged out a family friend as women in the house screamed. He said other similar raids had taken place on Thursday in other districts. 
 
 "Now is the time of secret terror and secret arrests. They are going to go home to home and liquidate opponents that way, and impose his (Gadhafi's) control on Tripoli," said the witness. 
 
 Another Tripoli resident said armed militiamen had entered a hospital, searching for protesters among the injured. He said a friend's relative being treated there escaped only because doctors hid him. 
 
 International momentum has been building for action to punish Gadhafi's regime for the bloodshed. 
 
 President Barack Obama said the suffering in Libya "is outrageous and it is unacceptable," and he directed his administration to prepare a full range of options, including possible sanctions that could freeze the assets and ban travel to the U.S. by Libyan officials. 
 
 French President Nicolas Sarkozy raised the possibility of the European Union cutting off economic ties. 
 
 Another proposal gaining some traction was for the United Nations to declare a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent it using warplanes to hit protesters. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that if reports of such strikes are confirmed, "there's an immediate need for that level of protection." 
 
 Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of some 1,000 people killed in the violence in Libya were "credible," although he stressed information about casualties was incomplete. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has put the death toll at nearly 300, according to a partial count. 
 
 Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam claimed Thursday that the reported death tolls have been exaggerated, although he didn't provide his own figure. In a press conference aired on state TV, he said the number killed by police and the army had been limited and "talking about hundreds and thousands (killed) is a joke." 
 
 He also said a committee had been formed to investigate alleged foreign involvement in the protests. 
 
 Earlier Thursday, Libyan TV showed Egyptian passports, CDs and cell phones purportedly belonging to detainees who had allegedly confessed to plotting "terrorist" operations against the Libyan people. Other footage showed a dozen men lying on the ground, with their faces down, blindfolded and handcuffed. Rifles and guns were laid out next to them. 
 
 ____ 
 
 Michael reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.
– Tunisia was not pleased today when a battle between Libya’s warring factions spilled across the border today, after Moammar Gadhafi’s forces attacked a rebel-held frontier crossing. The incursion was brief and limited, and Gadhafi’s forces even apologized locally, Reuters reports. But Tunisia’s foreign ministry still issued a statement expressing “extreme indignation” and demanding “measures to put an immediate stop to these violations.” But Tunisia has proven remarkably welcoming to Libyans who aren’t fighting. Some 30,000 refugees have fled there, and the vast majority of them have been welcomed into the homes of Tunisians, the New York Times reports. Only about 2,500 have had to settle in the relatively small refugee camp at the border. “It’s the first time I’ve seen such an impressive response,” says a spokesman for the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees.