It could be that the rebels moved back into the area and consider whatever they hold to be the town.
Regardless of the status right now, I don't think the rebels can hold it for long with the firepower the loyalists have. The rebels do best in cities, where buildings provide cover and restricted fields of fire that nullifies part of the firepower advantage, and the people are a source of recon and fighters. So I doubt that the rebels can really mount a credible defense west of Ajdabiyah.
UPDATE: Interesting news from the battlefield. One, the rebels did counter-attack Burayqa:
After fleeing the bombardment Sunday, the rebels then pushed back into Brega in the evening and claimed to have captured dozens of fighters from Gadhafi's elite Khamis Brigade.
On Monday, about 2,000 rebel fighters — mainly members of a special commando unit that defected to the opposition — held Brega's residential district, while pro-Gadhafi troops controlled the industrial oil facilities some distance away, said rebel spokesman Abdul-Bari Zwei.
As I thought, both have parts of "Brega."
Second, one thing I mentioned early on about the prospects of a successful loyalist counter-offensive as that given the low number of trained troops available, the loyalists would need to garrison captured objectives with locally raised paramilitaries. That does not seem to have happened:
But the regime offensive appears to be hampered by a lack of manpower: They can drive out rebels with barrages, but not necessarily hold the territory.That's a problem for the government. With lots of rebel strength static defenders of the cities, every loyalist victory that pushes closer to the rebel heartland requires more trained troops to defend the gains against a revolt once the troops move on. At what point does the tip of the loyalist spear get too dull to pierce the rebel defenses that aren't really reduced since they aren't capable of moving out of the cities anyway? (The rebels had best hope that takes place by Ajdabiyah.)
Third, and this is an opportunity for the rebels to exacerbate the second, the loyalists are not yet immune to defections:
The regime's campaign in the west appeared to be hitting problems. Government shelling of the opposition-held city of Misrata that lasted until Monday morning stopped during the day. Rebels on Monday reported that fighting had erupted among pro-Gadhafi troops surrounding the city, apparently after some in their ranks had refused to attack.
This shows that recent loyalist victories haven't completely restored loyalist morale. An information campaign to get loyalists to defect or desert could still pay dividends. Also, the rebels should do whatever it takes to keep Misrata fighting. The rebels should be sending small boats at night into the harbor with men and supplies just to show the rebels in the city that they aren't alone and forgotten. Zawiyah was cut off and so pretty much a lost cause if the loyalists got enough time to attack. Misrata could hold out if supplied from the sea and occupy the attention of the scarce regulars of the loyalists better used further east to drive into the main rebel areas.
[Oh, I almost forgot: the loyalists are attacking Zwara, a small city of 45K held by rebels near the Tunisian border. I didn't know other cities out there were held by rebels. It would be nice to have a map of who has what in this fight. Until now Zwara was off my radar screen.]
So for the rebels, their strategy is reinforce Misrata--but not so much that they weaken the main front; hold the main front no futher east than Ajdabiyah at all costs; beg for foreign intervention of any type--even an ineffective no-fly zone; use the time they've gotten to sell oil, recruit, train, and organize fighters; put weapons from captured depots into service; and wage a propaganda campaign against loyalist forces.
For the loyalists, they need to take Misrata; capture Ajdabiyah; avoid atrocities that would provoke a foreign intervention sooner rather than later (or never); raise loyal loyalist militias to garrison captured objectives; and then take action to defeat the main bastion of the rebels. If the loyalists manage to keep the spearhead largely intact by garrisoning captured locations with locally raised militias, the loyalists should drive north to Benghazi to hit the heart of the rebellion.
If, once the loyalists can take Ajdabiyah, the loyalists find their spearhead units are too weak to fight for a city, they should advance northeast to the Egyptian border to cut off the rebel heartland from Egypt and their southern oil resources.
The key to the war is Ajdabiyah. Watch that location.
