The European Union established formal diplomatic contact with the Libyan opposition on Sunday by opening an office in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
It was part of growing international recognition of the rebels' political leadership in Benghazi, centre of the eastern region they have pulled from Libyan ruler Moammar Qadhafi's control. A number of other countries including France, Italy, Qatar and the small West African nation of Gambia already had recognised the rebels, while the United States and other countries have sent envoys to open talks.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton arrived Sunday to open the office and promised support "long into the future" for a democratic Libya.
"I have seen the vision of the Libyan people today all around. I saw the posters as I came from the airport with the words 'We have a dream,"' she said after meeting with Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, chairman of the rebels' civilian National Transitional Council.
In a statement, she said she had discussed European support in border management, security reform, economy, health, education and in building civil society.
Ashton did not offer what the rebels say they need most heavy weapons to match the arsenal of Qadhafi, Libya's leader of more than 40 years who controls the capital, Tripoli, and most of western Libya.
Qadhafi has responded to the uprising that began in mid-February by unleashing his military and militias against the rebels, who have been aided by Nato bombing runs aimed at maintaining a no-fly zone and at keeping Qadhafi from attacking civilians.
The two sides have been stalemated in recent weeks, with the rebels complaining they cannot defeat Qadhafi's better-equipped army. But no country has agreed to send arms.
Most EU nations have frozen their relations with Qadhafi's government and withdrawn their diplomats. Hungary, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency, is the only member nation still maintaining a diplomatic mission in Tripoli.
The opening of the diplomatic office came as Nato has widened its campaign to weaken Qadhafi's regime with airstrikes on desert command centers and sea patrols to intercept ships.
Nato on Sunday said in Brussels that its aircraft flew 49 strike missions on Saturday. They hit a command and control facility near Tripoli, as well as ammunition dumps, air defence radars, and a tank and truck near the rebel-held town in the mountains south of Tripoli.
Early Sunday, Nato raids again targeted the sprawling, heavily fortified Qadhafi compound in the capital Tripoli, said government spokesman Ibrahim Uthman. The spokesman earlier said a Nato strike hit the port but later said that information was incorrect. Uthman said he believed four people were hit in the strike but the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.
Reporters, who cannot move about freely in Tripoli and must be accompanied by government minders, were not taken to see the compound after the reported bombing.
Meanwhile, there were signs of growing public anger over fuel shortages in government-held territory. In the coastal town of Zawiya, crowds apparently outraged by dwindling fuel supplies tried to stab reporters in a minibus on a state-supervised trip to the Tunisian border.
The journalists a Chinese news correspondent and two Britons: a BBC technician and a Reuters video producer were not harmed in the attack, the first of its kind targeting foreign reporters covering the Libyan conflict.