* NATO meets to discuss assault's command structure
* U.S. warplane crashes, crew rescued
* Analysts see stalemate as rebel army stalls
(Adds details of Tripoli attack, Algeria)
By Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy
TRIPOLI, March 22 (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's forces attacked two west Libyan towns, killing dozens while rebels were pinned down in the east and NATO tried to resolve a heated row over who should lead the Western air campaign.
With anti-Gaddafi rebels struggling to create a command structure that can capitalise on the air strikes against Libyan tanks and air defences, Western nations have still to decide who will take over command once Washington pulls back in a few days.
In the latest fighting on Tuesday, Gaddafi's tanks shelled the rebel-held western town of Misrata and casualties included four children killed when their car was hit, residents said, adding the death toll for Monday alone had reached 40.
Residents painted a grim picture of the situation in Misrata which has been under siege by Gaddafi loyalists for weeks, with doctors operating on people with bullet and shrapnel wounds in hospital corridors and tanks in the city centre.
"The situation here is very bad. Tanks started shelling the town this morning," a resident, called Mohammed, told Reuters by telephone from outside the city's hospital, adding: "Snipers are taking part in the operation too. A civilian car was destroyed killing four children on board, the oldest is aged 13 years."
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More on Middle East unrest: [nTOPMEAST] [nLDE71O2CH]
US military leads on Libya but for how long? [nN19235888]
Libya Graphics http://link.reuters.com/neg68r
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In the first apparent air force casualty of the campaign, a U.S. F-15E crashed in Libya overnight and its two crew members were rescued, the U.S. military said. The crash was likely caused by mechanical failure and not hostile fire, it said.
Explosions and anti-aircraft rounds rang out around Tripoli for a third time overnight, and Libyan state television said several sites in the capital had come under attack by what it called the "crusader enemy".
A Reuters correspondent taken to a naval facility in east Tripoli by Libyan officials saw four Soviet-made missile carrier trucks which were destroyed. They were parked inside a building whose roof had collapsed, leaving piles of smouldering rubble.
"We knew the place was a potential target so we received a warning and evacuated the place. No ships were hit, but maybe tomorrow," said Captain Abdul Bast, a naval officer.
REBELS PINNED DOWN IN EAST
Gaddafi forces were trying to seize the western rebel-held town of Zintan near the Tunisian border in an attack using heavy weapons, and one resident said 10 people were killed on Tuesday. People had fled the town to seek shelter in mountain caves.
Security analysts say it is unclear what will happen if the Libyan leader digs in, especially since Western powers have made clear they would be unwilling to see Libya partitioned between a rebel-held east and Gaddafi-controlled west.
Rebels in east Libya were stuck just outside Ajdabiyah on Tuesday, making no further advance on the strategic town despite a third night of Western air strikes on the north African oil-producing state.
At the frontline in the desert scrub about 5 km (3 miles) outside the town located at the gateway to the rebel-held east, fighters said air strikes were helping to cripple Gaddafi's heavy armour. But there was no sign of a swift drive forward.
When asked why rebel units had not advanced towards their objective, which is the eventual taking of Tripoli, Ahmed al-Aroufi, a rebel fighter at the frontline, told Reuters: "Gaddafi has tanks and trucks with missiles."
Commenting on the air campaign to protect civilians in this uprising against Gaddafi's 41-year rule, Aroufi said:
"We don't depend on anyone but God, not France or America. We started this revolution without them through the sweat of our own brow, and that is how we will finish it."
Washington, wary of being drawn into another war after long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, has ruled out specific action to overthrow Gaddafi, though France said on Monday it hoped the Libyan government would collapse from within.
A special U.N. envoy, Abdel Elah Al Khatib, held his first meeting with leaders of the Libyan rebel forces late on Monday in the eastern city of Tobruk.
Facing questions at home about the U.S. military getting bogged down in a third Muslim country and the future of Libya, the U.S. administration has been keen to say the aim of the resolution was to protect civilians.
Commenting on the mission, former U.S. diplomat Nicholas Burns said: "We have to recognise this situation for what it really is -- the first time in American history when we have used our military power to prop up and possibly put in power a group of people we literally do not know."
The United States expects to hand over command of the air campaign in "a matter of days" but has not said which nation or organisation would take charge.
Britain and France took a lead role in pushing for air strikes which have destroyed much of Libya's air defences.
NATO TALKS "EMOTIONAL"
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the intention was to transfer command to NATO, but France said Arab countries did not want the U.S.-led alliance in charge of the operation.
NATO officials resumed talks in Brussels on Tuesday after failing to reach agreement at fractious talks on Monday.
Some allies were now questioning whether a no-fly zone was necessary, given the damage already done by air strikes to Gaddafi's military capabilities, a NATO diplomat said, adding: "Yesterday's meeting became a little bit emotional."
Underlining the differences in the anti-Gaddafi coalition, Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said if agreement was not reached on a NATO command, Italy would resume control of the seven airbases it has made available to allied air forces.
A NATO role would require political support from all the 28 states. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a NATO member, said on Tuesday that the United Nations should be the umbrella for a solely humanitarian operation in Libya.
In a speech in parliament, Erdogan said: "Turkey will never ever be a side pointing weapons at the Libyan people."
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Erdogan and they affirmed their full support for the U.N. resolution "and agreed that this will require a broad-based international effort, including Arab states," the White House said on Tuesday.
"GADDAFI'S LIES"
Algeria on Tuesday called for an immediate end to military intervention in Libya, calling the action "disproportionate".
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday on a trip to Moscow that some people in Russia seem to believe what he termed Gaddafi's "lies" about civilian casualties in Libya.
Libyan officials have said air strikes have killed dozens of civilians. They also say the rebels are al Qaeda militants assisted by Western powers who are trying to steal Libya's oil.
Gates said he told his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov, who also wants a ceasefire to protect Libyan civilians, "that I thought the significant military fighting that has been going on should recede in the next few days."
In Tripoli, Reuters correspondents said that some residents, emboldened by a third night of air strikes, dropped their customary praise of Gaddafi and said they wanted him gone.
"My children are afraid but I know it's changing," one man said. "This is the end. The government has no control any more."
Libyan television was showing archive footage of Gaddafi being greeted by cheering crowds waving his portrait. The images were set to stirring patriotic music. Gaddafi himself has not been since in public since the air strikes began at the weekend. (Reporting by Mohammed Abbas and Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy in Tripoli, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Christian Lowe in Algiers, Tom Perry in Cairo; David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Phil Stewart in Moscow; Writing by Peter Millership; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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