Everything in the Libyan rebel-held town of Zintan is at a standstill except the fighting. Nobody works any more, shops and schools are shut, cash is scarce and people rely on handouts to eat.

For the men, it’s a life of boredom and combat, for the women one of cooking and stress.

When pick-ups packed with rebels, rocket launchers and cannon are not roaring out of the key rebel town in the west, heading for the front, Zintan seems smothered in a heavy drowsiness brought on by the July summer heat.

Since the rebellion against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi erupted in mid-February, Zintan some 40 kilometres southwest of Tripoli in the Nafusa mountains has known only warfare and survival.

For five months, no one has been paid, and for the past four months there has been no paper money available at either of Zintan’s two banks.

This week, one of the two reopened for the first time and local residents flooded the place. Such was the demand that each person was allowed only 200 dinars ($154), an official said. Khalila Ahmed, 65, said he queued for three hours before reaching the cashier’s counter.

“I have no money at home, not a dime since the revolution began. I live on what people give me,” he said.

For months, most people in Zintan have been able to survive only because of vital supplies trucked in from Tunisia by a local charity that is funded from abroad.

Food stamps can buy enough oil, mineral water, pasta and tomatoes for a few days, but supplies are sporadic and most shops remain closed.

“We have nothing, we are totally drip-fed,” said Hana Akra, a 24-year-old medical intern.

Zintan was poor even before the conflict, and now it relies on the rebel stronghold in Benghazi in the east for everything.

Al-Wahda Bank was only able to reopen thanks to funds transferred by its management in Benghazi, while the National Transitional Council has, for the first time, also provided money for families in the west.

“But they don’t have much, we are waiting for donations or for Col. Gaddafi’s frozen assets to be released,” said Mohammed al-Malul, a local council official.