Deep rifts opened in Moammar Gadhafi's regime, with Libyan government officials at home and abroad resigning, air force pilots defecting and a bloody crackdown on protest in the capital of Tripoli, where cars and buildings were burned. Gadhafi went on state TV early Tuesday to attempt to show he was still in charge.

World leaders have expressed outrage at the "vicious forms of repression" used against the demonstrators.

Lebanon’s highest Shiite religious authority has slammed the international tribunal as a political tool designed to target Hizbullah and urged Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s cabinet not to cooperate with it.

The Higher Shiite Islamic Council’s religious and executive committees said in a statement following a meeting on Monday that the council considers the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as “null and void.”

Lebanese aviation authorities have reportedly refused to give the permission for a private Libyan jet with 10 people on board to land at Rafik Hariri international airport.

As Safir daily said Tuesday that the plane was due to take off from Tripoli’s airport before midnight but Lebanese authorities asked Libya to unveil the identity of the 10 people before allowing the jet to land in Lebanon.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized on Monday the West’s “suspicious” silence over the developments in Libya that are similar to the confusion it felt when confronting the anti-regime protests in Egypt.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine that the silence stems from the West’s interest in the oil wealth, “which remains the main drive behind most of western policies that turn a blind eye to human rights and democracy once their interests are jeopardized.”

British energy giant BP was on Monday making preparations to evacuate some of its staff from Libya amid escalating unrest in the country, a spokesman told Agence France Presse.

"We're just monitoring the situation and making preparations to evacuate some of the families, and some non-essential staff in the next day or two," said the spokesman.

Anti-regime protests spread closer to the Libyan capital Sunday amid new fighting in the flashpoint city of Benghazi, as Human Rights Watch said it feared a catastrophe with more than 170 people dead in an iron-fisted crackdown.

As the death toll continued to rise, world leaders stepped up their pressure over strongman Moammar Gadhafi's response to the unprecedented challenge to his four-decade rule of the oil-rich North African country.

Hizbullah on Sunday called on Lebanese authorities to take measures to protect Lebanese satellite TV networks from jamming.

"The attack that some Lebanese satellite TV networks have been suffering is not the first of its kind, although it represents a dangerous precedent after the broadcast of NBN TV network has been totally blocked," said a statement released by Hizbullah's Media Relations Unit.

Austria announced Sunday it was sending a military plane to Malta in view of evacuating Austrian and European citizens from Libya or other Arab countries, following recent unrest in the region.

"Due to the security situation in Libya, which has worsened in the last few hours, the government has decided to send a C-130 Hercules from the Austrian army, as well as special relief units, to southern Europe," the defense ministry said in a statement.

Internet service was cut off in Libya on Friday as the regime evidently moved to strip anti-government protestors of ways to organize and communicate, according to Arbor Networks.

Libya "abruptly disconnected" from the Internet at 4:15 pm.(00:15 GMT Saturday), according to the U.S. based tracker of online traffic.

Moammar Gadhafi's regime vowed on Friday to snuff out attempts to challenge the Libyan leader, after an opposition "day of anger" became a bloodbath and two policemen were reported hanged by protesters.

According to a toll compiled by Agence France Presse from different local sources, at least 41 people have lost their lives since demonstrations first erupted on Tuesday.