Rebels in Libya are struggling to hold their front line after Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces recaptured several towns in the east of the country.
The rebels have now lost the key oil port of Ras Lanuf and the nearby town of Bin Jawad. However, reports say the fighting is continuing in the area. In the west, the rebel-held town of Misrata is still coming under attack from pro-Gaddafi troops, reports say.
US President Barack Obama earlier said he did not rule out arming the rebels.
France and the US say they are sending envoys to the rebel-held city of Benghazi in the east to liaise with the interim administration there.
Allied friction Mr Obama told reporters on Tuesday that Col Gaddafi had been greatly weakened by the coalition air strikes and would ultimately step down.
As fighting intensified on Wednesday, the BBC's Ben Brown in Ajdabiya said he had seen the rebels sending reinforcements to the front line, including four Katyusha rocket systems.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hague both suggested the UN resolution authorising international action in Libya could also permit the supply of weapons.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied UN Security Resolution 1973 gave a mandate to arm the rebels.
"The Nato Secretary General Fogh Rasmussen declared that the operation in Libya was being staged to protect the population and not to arm it - and here, we completely agree with the Nato secretary general," he said.
In a separate development, an international conference on Libya in London has agreed to set up a contact group involving Arab governments to co-ordinate help for a post-Gaddafi Libya.
Several thousand people have been killed and thousands wounded since the uprising against Col Gaddafi's rule began more than six weeks ago.
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