An embattled Moammar Gadhafi said he would throw open the country's arsenals to his supporters in a rabble rousing speech Friday that presaged a bloody battle for the Libyan capital.

In a brief but chilling address in Tripoli's Green Square, Gadhafi told hundreds of cheering supporters from the top of a building to prepare themselves for a fight.

Loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi killed several people in shooting that was spreading through Tripoli on Friday as French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the embattled Libyan leader "must go."

And as protesters against Gadhafi's iron-fisted four-decade rule braved deadly gunfire in several parts of the capital, opponents braced for a fightback by a regime that has suffered yet more defections.

Lebanon's Shiites are hoping that the revolt in Libya may shed light on the fate of their revered spiritual leader Moussa al-Sadr, whose 1978 disappearance soured relations between the two countries.

"We have long been waiting for Moammer Gadhafi the tyrant to fall or be killed in the hope of knowing what happened to our Imam," said Hussein Maana, 51, a resident of the southern Lebanese village of Maaraka, the hometown of Sadr's family.

Middle East Airlines announced on Thursday that it has prepared one of its planes to head to Libya on Friday once it receives permission from Libyan authorities to evacuate Lebanese citizens from the country.

The Lebanese foreign ministry is conducting the necessary contacts with friendly nations and the Lebanese mission in Libya in order to evacuate the citizens who have been trapped in Libya after the eruption of anti-regime protests.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Thursday accused residents of Az-Zawiyah, a town west of the capital hit by fierce fighting between his forces and rebels, of being linked to Osama bin Laden, warning that the U.S. might intervene in Libya "under the alibi of combating al-Qaida."

In what was said to be a live audio feed on state television, Gadhafi also accused the protesters of being on drugs.

Europe moved Wednesday to isolate Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, with France calling for sanctions and a freeze in financial relations while Italy accused the veteran strongman of perpetrating a bloodbath.

With hundreds killed in a week of raging protests, Europe has struggled with how to exercise leverage against Gadhafi, in power for more than 41 years and whose country provides Europe with a large slice of its energy needs.

A fighter pilot disobeyed orders on Wednesday to bomb the opposition stronghold of Benghazi and ditched his plane after he and his co-pilot ejected, a Libyan newspaper reported on its website.

The Russian-made Sukhoi 22 crashed near Ajdabiya, 160 kilometers west of the city which has fallen to anti-regime protesters, a military source said, quoted in Quryna newspaper.

The turmoil in Libya heaped further pressure on stocks around the world Wednesday as investors worry that the global economic recovery may be derailed by the sharp rise in oil prices and swelling inflation.

Concerns that the country is descending into civil war were heightened by comments Tuesday from longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi that he would fight to his "last drop of blood," while urging supporters to strike back against protesters to defend his embattled regime.

A private Libyan jet that was prevented from landing at Beirut airport was carrying on board the Lebanese wife of one of Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi’s sons, Voice of Lebanon radio reported Wednesday.

VDL said Hannibal Gadhafi’s wife, who is from the Skaff family, and several members of the ruling family were aboard the jet that Lebanese aviation authorities refused to give the permission to land at Rafik Hariri international airport on Tuesday.

The Arab League on Tuesday barred Libya from its meetings until Tripoli responds to the demands of protesters, threatening to suspend its membership after clashes that have killed hundreds.

The League decided to "stop the government of Libya from participating in meetings of the Arab League and all bodies affiliated to it, until the Libyan authorities respond to demands, guaranteeing the security and stability of its people," it said in a statement.