The West sent its first real aid to Libyan rebels today hoping to support their bid to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.
But the dictator remained entrenched in the capital Tripoli, where his forces squashed an attempt to hold street protests.
France sent two planes with humanitarian aid to opposition stronghold Benghazi with doctors, nurses, medicines and medical equipment.
"It will be the beginning of a massive operation of humanitarian support for the populations of liberated territories," said Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
He said he was studying "all solutions" - including military options - so that "Gaddafi understands that he should go, that he should leave power
The two sides in Libya's crisis appeared at stalemate and the direction the uprising takes next could depend on which can hold out longest.
Gaddafi's opponents, including mutinous army units, hold nearly the entire eastern half of the country, much of the oil infrastructure and some cities in the West. Gaddafi is dug in in Tripoli and nearby cities, backed by security forces and militiamen who are generally better armed than the military.
In the two opposition-held cities closest to Tripoli - Zawiya and Misrata - rebel forces were locked in stand-offs with Gaddafi loyalists.
In the capital, several hundred protesters started a march in the eastern district of Tajoura, which has been the scene of frequent clashes. After the burial of a person killed in gunfire last week, mourners began to march down a main street, chanting against the Libyan leader and waving the flag of Libya's pre-Gaddafi monarchy, which has become a symbol of the uprising.
But they quickly dispersed once a brigade of pro-Gaddafi fighters rushed to the scene, scattering before the gunmen could fire a shot.
Meanwhile a large pro-Gaddafi force massed on the western edge of Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, with about a dozen armoured vehicles and tanks and jeeps mounted with anti-aircraft guns, anticipating a possible attack.
"Our people are waiting for them to come and, God willing, we will defeat them," one resident said.
In Misrata, Libya's third largest city 125 miles east of Tripoli, Gaddafi troops who control part of an air base on the city's outskirts tried to advance but were repelled by opposition forces who hold the rest of the sprawling base.
Gaddafi's air force also bombed an ammunition depot held by the opposition near the city of Ajdabiya, about 450 miles east of Tripoli along the Mediterranean coast, several residents said.
Gaddafi opponents have moved to consolidate their hold in the east, centred on Benghazi where the uprising began. Politicians there have set up their first leadership council to manage day-to-day affairs, taking a step toward forming what could be an alternative to Gaddafi's regime.
The opposition is backed by numerous units of the military in the east that joined the uprising, and they hold several bases and Benghazi's airport. But so far, the units do not appear to have melded into a unified fighting force. Gaddafi long kept the military weak, fearing a challenge to his rule, so many units are plagued by shortages of supplies and ammunition.
Gaddafi supporters said that they were in control of the city of Sabratha, west of Tripoli, which has seemed to go back and forth between the two camps the past week.
In Tripoli, a government spokesman blamed the West and Islamic militants for the upheaval, saying they had hijacked and escalated what he said began as "genuine" but small protests demanding "legitimate and much needed political improvements."
"On one hand, Islamists love to see chaos ... this is paradise for them," he said. "The West wants chaos to give them reason to intervene militarily to control the oil."
"The Islamists want Libya to be their Afghanistan ... to complete their crescent of terror," he said. "This is not the first time the Islamic militants and the west find common cause."