He was speaking in a telephone call to state television, which, apparently for security reasons, did not disclose his whereabouts. The Libyan leader has not been seen in public since the United States and European countries unleashed warplanes and missiles in a military intervention on a scale unparalleled in the Arab world since the Iraq war. On Sunday, American B-2 stealth bombers were reported to have struck a major Libyan airfield.

In a first assessment from Washington, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first day of “operations yesterday went very well,” news reports said. Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press he said a no-fly zone over Libya to ground Colonel Qaddafi’s warplanes — a prime goal of the attacks — was “effectively” in place and that a loyalist advance on the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi had been halted.

Despite those major setbacks, Colonel Qaddafi said his forces on the ground would win in the end. And he repeated an assertion made on Saturday that he had opened military depots to his supporters and the Libyan people were now fully armed. Instead of an image of the Libyan leader, state television showed a statue of a golden fist clutching a crumpled American fighter plane, a monument to an American strike on his compound in 1986.

Speaking of a “long war,” Colonel Qaddafi said: “We will not leave our land and we will liberate it.”

“We will fight you if you continue your attacks on us,” he Qaddafi said. “Those who are on the land will win the battle,” he declared, warning without explanation that “oil will not be left to the United States, France and Britain.”

The mission to impose a United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone was portrayed by Pentagon and NATO officials as under French and British leadership.

But the Pentagon said that American forces took the lead in the initial campaign to knock out Libya’s air defense systems, firing volley after volley of Tomahawk missiles from nearby ships against missile, radar and communications centers around Tripoli, the capital, and the western cities of Misurata and Surt.

Early on Sunday, the sound of antiaircraft fire and screaming fighter jets echoed across Tripoli, punctuated by heavy explosions. Muhammad Zweid, secretary of the Libyan Parliament, said the intervention had “caused some real harm against civilians and buildings.” But he declined to specify which civilian buildings or locations were hit. And other officials took pains on Saturday to show reporters a group of civilians they portrayed as volunteers who had flocked to Mr. Qaddafi’s compound to shield him from the attacks.

In the rebel-held east, Benghazi seemed quiet after fighting on Saturday that inspired a panicky exodus by thousands of residents. Hundreds of cars streamed back into the city from towns further east on Sunday, finding long fuel lines, and barricades of debris on main roads. A tire repair store and a butcher shop had reopened, but most shops were shuttered.

Earlier, President Obama, speaking during a visit to Brazil, reiterated promises that no American ground forces would be used.

“I am deeply aware of the risks of any military action, no matter what limits we place on it,” he said. “I want the American people to know that the use of force is not our first choice, and it’s not a choice that I make lightly. But we can’t stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy.”

China, which, like Russia, abstained from the United Nations Security Council vote authorizing the strikes, said Sunday it regretted the attacks and urged a return to stability, news reports said.

As a buildup of Western airpower continued at bases in the Mediterranean on Sunday, the French foreign minister, Alain Juppé said, “The operations will continue in the days to come, until the Libyan regime accepts the U.N. resolution,” Asked if the military operation was meant to remove Colonel Qaddafi from power, he said: “No. The plan is to help Libyans choose their future.”

The strikes came with heavy historical references, almost eight years to the day after America and its allies began bombing Baghdad in March 2003, and nearly 25 years after the night in April 1986 when President Ronald Reagan ordered American warplanes to strike at Tripoli to avenge a terrorist bombing in Berlin.

American and European forces intensified their barrage of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces by air and sea on Sunday, a day after an initial American cruise missile barrage badly damaged Libyan air defenses, military officials said.

In a first assessment from Washington, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first day of “operations yesterday went very well.” Speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said a no-flight zone over Libya to ground Colonel Qaddafi’s warplanes — a prime goal of the attacks — was “effectively” in place and that a loyalist advance on the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi had been halted.

American warplanes became more involved on Sunday, with B-2 stealth bombers, F-16 and F-15 fighter jets and Harrier attack jets flown by the Marine Corps striking at Libyan ground forces, air defenses and airfields, while Navy electronic warplanes, EA-18G Growlers, jammed Libyan radar and communications. British planes flew frequent bombing missions, and French forces remained heavily involved in patrol and airstrike missions near Benghazi, officials said.

Rebel forces, battered and routed by loyalist fighters just day before, began to regroup in the east as allied warplanes destroyed dozens of government armored vehicles near the rebel capital, Benghazi, leaving a field of burned wreckage along the coastal road to the city. By nightfall, the rebels had pressed almost 40 miles back west toward the strategic crossroads city of Ajdabiya, witnesses and rebel forces said. And they seemed to consolidate control of Benghazi despite heavy fighting there against loyalist forces on Saturday.

A day after a summit meeting in Paris set the military operation in motion, some Arab participants in the agreement expressed unhappiness with the way the strikes were unfolding. The former chairman of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, told Egyptian state media that he was calling for an emergency Arab League meeting to discuss the situation in the Arab world and particularly Libya.

“What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians," he said, referring to Libyan government claims that allied bombardment had killed dozens of civilians in and near Tripoli.

In assessing the results for the military mission so far, Admiral Mullen said the allies had made great progress toward their short-term military roles. “We hit a lot of targets, focused on his command and control, focused on his air defense, and actually attacked some of his forces on the ground in the vicinity of Benghazi,” Admiral Mullen told Fox News.

But it remained unclear just how those short-term military objectives — establishing a no-flight zone and protecting Libyan civilians, as mandated by United Nations Security Council — aligned with the political objectives of the Obama administration. Both Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have said in recent days that Colonel Qaddafi must go.

Admiral Mullen said the military was focused only on the mission given to it by Mr. Obama and the United Nations, protecting Libyan civilians from attack and opening up humanitarian relief, by whatever means necessary. He did not mention ousting Colonel Qaddafi or arming the Libyan rebels as an objective.

That left Christiane Amanpour of ABC’s “This Week” to ask if it was possible that Colonel Qadaffi could end up remaining in office, with the allies operating a no-flight zone over Libya for 12 years, as happened with Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

“I think circumstances will drive where this goes in the future,” Admiral Mullen said. “I wouldn’t speculate in terms of length at this particular point in time.”

In Libya, Colonel Qaddafi delivered a fresh and defiant tirade against the allied military action on Sunday, pledging retaliation and saying his forces would fight a long war to victory.

He was speaking in a telephone call to state television, which, apparently for security reasons, did not disclose his whereabouts. The Libyan leader has not been seen in public since the United States and European countries began their strikes.

“We will fight you if you continue your attacks on us,” Mr. Qaddafi said. “Those who are on the land will win the battle,” he declared, warning without explanation that “oil will not be left to the United States, France and Britain.”

David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Tripoli, Libya, and Elisabeth Bumiller from Washington. Kareem Fahim contributed reporting from eastern Libya, and Steven Erlanger from Paris.