Facing the onslaught it has long feared, the rebel leadership in the second city of Benghazi, just 100 miles north of Ajdabiya, appealed for international military intervention for the first time. On sand dunes along the desert coast scores of untrained and poorly equipped volunteers loyal to the rebel cause struggled to hold at bay the vast superior forces ranged against them. Theirs seemed a hopeless cause. Yet, even as the blood of their fallen comrades stained the desert sand, the rebels held their line and, remarkably, even appeared to push Col Gaddafi's forces back.