Monday, March 21, 2011

TRIPOLI: Western forces pounded Libya’s air defenses and patrolled its skies Sunday, but their two-day-old intervention hit a diplomatic setback as the Arab League chief condemned the “bombardment of civilians.”
More than 8,000 Libyans aligned with the rebel movement have been killed in the revolt, a spokesman for the rebels told Al-Jazeera.

As European and U.S. forces unleashed warplanes and cruise missiles against Moammar Gadhafi’s air defenses and armor, the Libyan leader said the airstrikes amounted to terrorism and vowed to fight to the death.
Later, however, an armed forces spokesman appeared at a live televised news conference at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) to say the army was ordering all troops to cease fire immediately.

But sporadic explosions and heavy gunfire broke out in central Benghazi at around 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) and lasted about 40 minutes, a Reuters witness reported from the city.

In Tripoli, strong blasts rocked the capital Sunday night, including one in the area where leader Gadhafi has his residence, as a column of smoke rose skyward and anti-aircraft fire rang out.
The military intervention had forced Gadhafi’s eastern forces to flee from the outskirts of Benghazi in the face of the allied air attacks.

However, tanks also moved into Misrata, the last rebel-held city in western Libya. Among the densely packed houses full of civilians, they were less vulnerable to attack from the air.

A Libyan government health official said 64 people had been killed in the Western bombardment overnight, but it was impossible to verify the report.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa called for an emergency meeting of the group of 22 states to discuss Libya. He requested a report into the bombardment, which he said had “led to the deaths and injuries of many Libyan civilians.”

“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,” Egypt’s state news agency quoted Moussa as saying.
But his criticism came in marked contrast to comments from Western

officials who indicated that they expected or had already secured specific Arab involvement in the military operations.
Aircraft from Qatar were approaching Libya Sunday to participate in the operation, said U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

The Italian command at Decimomannu airbase said Sunday it was awaiting the arrival of F-16s from the United Arab Emirates. It was not clear how many, or when they would arrive.

Britain and the United States rebuffed Moussa’s comments.

A British Foreign Ministry spokesman said the safe enforcement of the no-fly zone required the targeting of Libya’s air defense capabilities, but that all missions were carefully planned to avoid civilian casualties.

Mullen, said the no-fly zone was effectively in place. Mullen said he had seen no reports of civilian casualties from the Western strikes. But Russia said there had been such casualties and called on Britain, France and the United States to halt the “non-selective use of force”.
French planes fired the first shots of the intervention Saturday, destroying tanks and armored vehicles near Benghazi.

France sent an aircraft carrier toward Libya and its planes were over the country again Sunday, defense officials said. Britain said its planes had targeted Libya’s air defenses, mainly around the capital Tripoli.
U.S. and British warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles overnight against air defenses around Tripoli and Misrata, U.S. military officials said. They said U.S. forces and planes were working with Britain, France, Canada and Italy in operation “Odyssey Dawn.” Four Danish fighter planes took off from a base in Italy, apparently to join the mission over Libya.

Libyan state television showed footage from an unidentified hospital of what it called victims of the “colonial enemy.” Ten bodies were wrapped up in white and blue bed sheets, and several people were wounded, one of them badly, the television said.

Outside the eastern city, the advance by Gadhafi’s troops was stopped in its tracks with smoldering, shattered tanks and troop carriers littering the main road. The charred bodies of at least 14 government soldiers lay scattered in the desert.

Rebels who have been fighting for a month to end Gadhafi’s 41 years in power advanced south from Benghazi toward the strategic junction at Ajdabiya, which they lost last week. But in Misrata, east of Tripoli, residents said government tanks and snipers had entered the center of the city after a base outside it had been hit by Western airstrikes.

“Two people were killed so far today by snipers,” one Misrata resident, called Sami, told Reuters by telephone. “There are also boats encircling the port and preventing aid from reaching the town.” – Agencies