Gaddafi: 'We won't surrender again; we are not women. We will keep fighting'
Colonel Gaddafi has warned that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds are armed and preparing for battle.
The show of defiance comes hours after rebels extended a deadline for the surrender of the fugitive leader's hometown.
The rebels, who have been moving troops toward remaining Gaddafi strongholds across Libya, on Thursday shifted the deadline for the town of Sirte in hopes of avoiding bloodshed that met their attack on Tripoli.
"We want to save our fighters and not lose a single one in battles with Gaddafi's forces," said Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman for the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi.
"In the end, we will get Sirte, even if we have to cut water and electricity" and let NATO pound it with airstrikes.
World leaders meeting in Paris said the NATO military operations in Libya would continue as long as needed.
The rebels say the advance on Sirte is going well, and that their forces have already captured one nearby city.
They also say they are closing in on Gaddafi, who came to power 42 years ago Thursday in a military coup that toppled King Idris.
The rebels have been hunting for Gaddafi since he was forced into hiding after they swept into Tripoli on August 20 and gained control of most of the capital after days of fierce fighting.
"We won't surrender again; we are not women. We will keep fighting," Gaddafi said in a blustery tone in the audio statement, broadcast by Syrian-based Al-Rai TV.
His voice was recognizable, and Al-Rai has previously broadcast statements by Gaddafi and his sons.
Gaddafi said the tribes in Sirte and Bani Walid are armed and "there is no way they will submit." He called for continued resistance, warning "the battle will be long and let Libya burn."
In a second late-night audio also broadcast on the Syrian channel, Gaddafi spoke in more measured tones and called for a long insurgency.
"We will fight them everywhere," he said. "We will burn the ground under their feet." He said NATO was trying to occupy Libya and steal its oil.
"Get ready to fight the occupation... Get ready for a long war, imposed on us," Gaddafi added. "Get ready for the guerrilla war."
He called Sirte "the capital of the resistance."
The rebels, who have effectively ended Gaddafi's rule, dismiss his threats as empty rhetoric.
The rebels believe he may be in one of their three key targets. The fighters, backed by NATO airstrikes, have been pushing recently toward Sirte as well as Bani Walid, 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, and the southern city of Sabha.
All three were given a Saturday deadline to surrender. While the deadline extension was officially only for Sirte, rebels said it would also apply to Bani Walid and Sabha.
