BENGHAZI, Libya — A rebel military leader lashed out at NATO on Tuesday, saying it was falling short in its mission to protect Libyan civilians. The alliance said ruler Moammar Gadhafi’s forces position heavy weapons in populated areas, preventing some airstrikes.

Abdel-Fattah Younis, chief of staff for the rebel military and Gadhafi’s former interior minister, said he was asking the opposition’s leadership council to take its grievances to the U.N. Security Council, which authorized force in Libya to stop government troops from wiping out the anti-Gadhafi uprising that began Feb. 15.

Additional Photos

Libyan rebels inspect vehicles of pro-Gadhafi forces that rebels claim were targeted by a NATO airstrike Tuesday near Brega. The rebels are looking more effective at the front and are reclaiming some of the territory lost to Moammar Gadhafi’s army, but the ragtag fighters are still a long way from being able to march to Tripoli. The Associated Press

NATO forces “don’t do anything” even though the United Nations gave them the right to act, Younis said. He said bureaucracy means that NATO strikes sometimes come eight hours after rebels have communicated targets.

“The people will die and this crime will be on the face of the international community forever. What is NATO doing?” Younis said.

NATO last week took control of the international airstrikes that began March 19 as a U.S.-led mission. The airstrikes thwarted Gadhafi’s efforts to crush the rebellion in the North African nation he has ruled for more than four decades, but the rebels remain outnumbered and outgunned and have had difficulty pushing into government-held territory even with air support.

The government pushed back rebel forces in a strategic oil town to the east Tuesday, while rebels claimed they fended off an attack by Gadhafi’s forces in one of a string of opposition-controlled towns southwest of Tripoli, the capital. The rebels have maintained control of much of the eastern half of Libya since early in the uprising, while Gadhafi has clung to much of the west.

Gadhafi has been putting out feelers for a cease-fire, but refuses to step down as the opposition is demanding. On Tuesday his government announced a new foreign minister: Abdelati al-Obeidi, who has been in Europe seeking a diplomatic solution. He replaces Moussa Koussa, who defected last week.

Al-Obeidi’s deputy Khaled Kaim said the opposition council doesn’t represent most Libyans and that al-Qaida is exploiting the crisis. He accused nations supporting the airstrikes of supporting terrorism “by arming the militias, by providing them with materials, and the coalition’s decision to starve 85 percent of the Libyan population, while there was another course for solving this crisis, which was the political course.”

Kaim said “history will not forgive” Libyans who sought foreign help to change the regime. “People will reject them whether they are with or against Moammar Gadhafi,” he said.

Some nations, including the United States, have considered arming the rebels but have not done so.

Brig. Gen. Mark Van Uhm of NATO said Tuesday that airstrikes have so far destroyed 30 percent of Gadhafi’s military capacity.

On Monday, the alliance said it carried out 14 attacks on ground targets across the country, destroying radars, munitions dumps, armored vehicles and a rocket launcher. Three-quarters of Monday’s scheduled strike missions, however, had to return without dropping their bombs or launching their missiles because Gadhafi loyalists made it more difficult for pilots to distinguish between civilians and regime troops, Van Uhm said.

The general and a doctor in the besieged western city of Misrata said Gadhafi’s forces had recently changed tactics there by moving tanks and other heavy equipment to civilian areas.

“They snuck their anti-aircraft weapons and tanks into the city. They are between the apartment buildings and the trees,” said the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Younis, however, said civilians have cleared out of areas of Misrata occupied by Gadhafi’s forces and that NATO “would have lifted the siege days ago” if it wanted to.

“Children are dying every day and women and men are dying every day from shelling. If NATO waited another week, that will be the end of Misrata. There won’t be anyone left,” he said.

Asked for a response, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said: “The facts speak for themselves. The tempo of operations has continued unabated.”