Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to remain in the country "dead or alive" in an audio message on state TV.
He called on his supporters to defy the continuing NATO air and missile strikes and gather at his compound in Tripoli, reports the BBC.
Col Gaddafi said he would welcome death because martyrdom would be a "million times better" than surrender.
The statement came hours after NATO carried out one of its heaviest daytime raids on the capital so far, with more than 20 air strikes by low-flying jets.
The Libyan government acknowledged that military installations belonging to the Republican Guard had been targeted.
Meanwhile, China and Russia are involved in separate diplomatic efforts to try to end the conflict. Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi is visiting Beijing, and a Russian envoy is in Benghazi to meet the rebels.
In his speech broadcast on state TV, Col Gaddafi vowed: "We only have one choice. This is our country and we shall stay here till the end - dead, alive, victorious. It doesn't matter."
"We shall not leave. We shall not surrender. We shall not sell it," he added. "We welcome death. Martyrdom is a million times better."
Col Gaddafi also called on his supporters at Bab al-Aziziya, and warned that the Libyan people would soon defeat their enemies.
State TV aired footage it said showed Gaddafi meeting tribal leaders on Tuesday
"The Libyan people will march, in the direction of the east or the west, or to any place where there are armed gangs to strip them of their arms without fighting."
Addressing NATO, he added: "Your planes will not be able to stop these marches of the millions, nor will the armed gangs that you support be able to resist for even a minute in the face of these marches".
"We are stronger than your missiles, stronger than your planes and the voice of the Libyan people is louder than explosions."
Separately, Libyan state TV broadcast images purporting to show Col Gaddafi meeting tribal leaders at an unidentified location on Tuesday.
Col Gaddafi's comments came not long after NATO warplanes repeatedly pounded targets in and around his Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli. Reporters counted at least 27 air strikes by Tuesday afternoon.
Some of the bombs hit a military barracks near the compound, officials said. Others hit the compound itself, Libyan television reported.
The New York Times said what appeared to be bunker-busting bombs had destroyed six or seven buildings, including a reception house and VIP guesthouse where South African President Jacob Zuma was received last week.
Officials told the newspaper that 10 to 15 people had died in the attack, but the figure could not be verified. Foreign journalists taken to the area late in the afternoon saw one body that had been pulled from the rubble.
Until now, most NATO air strikes in Tripoli had been carried out at night. The alliance recently said it was increasing the scope and intensity of its UN-mandated campaign to protect civilians.
Libyan government spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim condemned the latest NATO raids, telling reporters: "Instead of talking to us, they are bombing us. They are going mad. They are losing their heads."
But US President Barack Obama said there had been "significant" progress in NATO's mission to protect Libyan civilians, hundreds of whom have been killed since anti-government protests began in mid-February.
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Editor - This Day (Lagos);
I am sure I speak for billions of people across the globe when I say that Col Qaddafi has my fullest support (101%, support) in his call for Libyans to fight to the death; to the end. This is their country; they can NEVER go anywhere else but remain in Libya, "dead or alive, or victorious". "Martyrdom is a million times better" than surrendering to the enemy or selling the country to the evil crusaders. There is no need to fear death, especially death caused by invader "bloody vampires" because it is staring all of us.
We, in Zimbabwe, were in similar situation in which Libyans find themselves today; way back during the Chimurenga war of liberation, when you (Col Qaddafi) helped us materially and morally. With all the heavy armour they had against a poorly armed guerrilla force (with no car or even bicycle to rapidly deploy), the western crusaders failed to defeat us.
The evil crusaders killed many of us, with their fighter jets, helicopters, tanks, armoured vehicles, NATO and FN guns, napalm bombs and what have you, but they did not kill the resolve; the determination we had to liberate our country. We were victorious at the end of it all, just as you, Brother Colonel Qaddafi, will be victorious against "Bloody Vampires" slaughtering your people.
LIBYANS should listen and respond to the call by Col Qaddafi to fight to the bitter end. This (the bombing of Libya), my brothers and sisters, is not "UN-mandated campaign to protect civilians" (meaning you Libyans) but to destroy you. The evil crusaders have never protected a single civilian in the world. All they have done is to slaughter them into submission. History, my courageous brothers and sister, is littered with examples of massacres perpetrated by these people as they sought to dominate the world.
In Vietnam, Grenada, Nicaragua, here in Africa (especially here in Zimbabwe whose history I know best), in the Middle East and in the Far East; innocent people have chemically, biologically and nuclearly been bombed into submission. In most of these examples, ordinary people refused to submit to these imperial devils and their resistance paid off when they won.
You LIBYANS can also do the same - resist, resist and RESIST until you are victorious. It should not worry you how long this is going to take because you know you have our FULL SUPPORT and BACKING. Although we are unable to be with you in the many vicious and barbaric battles you are going through, you should always know that we are ALWAYS with you in all our prayers.
God will answer you very soon in all your cries; He is seeing everything as children, women, men and the elderly are being slaughtered everyday with so-called 'precision or smart bombs'. He is not going to abandon you to suffer any time longer than you have already suffered. You have 101% right to resist these crusaders.
Joshua, Caleb and Ericho had to go up the mountain to ask God to fix the sun at 3 PM (1500 hrs) because leaving the sun to set would have meant defeat for the chosen people of God - The Sons of Israel. You are today, Africa's Sons of Israel (Israel, in spiritual sense does not mean Jews); it means people who are being persecuted, exterminated, annihilated and enslaved. You Libyans are our representatives in this fight against evil westerners led by America.