Libya: Qaddhafi Violates Ceasefire, Foreign Forces Mount Attack

[hembo]

A doctor in Misrata, who wanted to remain anonymous, tells the BBC: "This is the fifth or sixth consecutive day of shelling the city. Our clinic is full of patients. We have no more beds to treat the patients. There is no light in the city. There has been no communication for 10 days and no water for more than one week. And still the heavy shelling continues. The situation is so serious. The international community must take responsibility. Since yesterday we have received 125 injured including an entire family with four children, shot in their car while trying to leave. Even my medical resources are running out. We can't sustain this any more."

Apparently, Misrata is being attacked heavily by Gaddafi forces to pull it back to their fold in a last ditch effort, inspite of the so called, ceasefire declared by Gaddafi!!

 

[hembo]

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris reports: "The French are fiercely proud of the role they played this weekend in saving the people of Benghazi. President Nicolas Sarkozy has looked decisive, far more assured than he did during the crisis in Tunisia. But at time it is his mercurial diplomatic style that has come to the fore. He is criticised in some quarters this morning for being too impulsive. The New York Times reports the US and UK were frustrated by his decision to launch unilaterally the first attacks on Libya without fully informing his allies. On Saturday, before the leaders had left the summit at the Elysee Palace, President Sarkozy hurried to a press conference to announce to the world that French planes were already over Libya, and engaging Col Gaddafi's forces. It is also clear that despite pressure from the US and the UK, President Sarkozy has objected strongly to Nato taking the lead. There are even reports the French and German ambassadors to Nato walked out of a meeting last week after criticism from the Nato secretary general."

 

[hembo]

9:16am China isn't backing down on its opposition to the no-fly zone. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu used a regular news briefing today to say that China had "deep concern" about civilian casualties and the possibility of a "humanitarian disaster" and wanted an end to the fighting.

Though Gaddafi's regime claims dozens of people have died in the air strikes, there's no way of knowing for sure, and the coalition has completely denied any civilian casualties.

8.31am GMT: China has called for an immediate ceasefire in Libya, AP is reporting.

The agency said foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference Tuesday that China wants an immediate cease-fire and talks to end the violence.

China was one of five countries that abstained from last week's vote on the UN resolution

 

[hembo]

0823 GMT: The BBC's Allan Little reports from Tripoli: "We have been shown no evidence of destruction but for the single exception of the missile that struck Col Gaddafi's own compound on Sunday night. The government said that was proof that the air strikes had nothing to do with protecting civilians. A government spokesman said that a naval base 10km east of Tripoli had been targeted last night, as well as locations in Seba in the south and a fishing village on the Mediterranean, known as Area 27. The government insists that civilians have been killed and wounded. "Our hospitals are filling up," one minister told us. We have pressed the government here to show us evidence that civilians had indeed been affected but so far they have not done so.

0848: Britain's Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey tells the BBC that bombing raids on Libya are only targeting military facilities. He says that an attack on Libyan leader Col Gaddafi's compound on Sunday actually hit a military capability within that compound. Mr Harvey adds: "The targets will be the military targets which the coalition identifies as presenting a threat to the Libyan population. And anyone who is at those targets, in those target locations, regrettably becomes a target."

 

[hembo]

8:49am So far, the military coalition enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya and attacking Gaddafi forces on the ground has been an entirely Western affair: The United States, United Kingdom and France have provided all of the forces in action, while other nations have made bases available and offered support, if necessary.

That's about to change. Reuters reports that six Qatari Mirage fighter jets are due to land at a military base in Souda, Crete, today. We don't know yet how they'll participate in the action. Twelve F-16s and 12 Mirages from the United Arab Emirates are also going to head to Sicily soon, but the exact date isn't know, Reuters says.

Reuter news link

 

[hembo]

Libyan air strikes: reactions around the Middle East
Only Syria remains adamantly opposed to the military intervention in Libya, but other governments are reluctant to give wholehearted support

 

[hembo]

BBC: 0917 GMT: Pro-Gaddafi forces are attacking the town of Zintan using heavy weapons, Reuters is quoting al-Jazeera as saying.

Guardian: 9.23am GMT: Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are attacking the town of Zintan, in west Libya, with heavy weapons, al-Jazeera is reporting. More as we get it.

 

[hembo]

9.16am GMT: There have been fresh air strikes on Ajdabiya, the Guardian's Chris McGreal reports. Chris says he saw four large plumes of smoke coming from Ajdabiya, which is under control of Gaddafi's forces, a short while after hearing aircraft overhead.

9.42am GMT: More on those Ajdabiya air strikes – Chris McGreal has been on the phone from the city, where he has seen four large plumes of smoke after hearing aircraft overhead.

The presumed air strikes occurred around 9.15 GMT after what had been a quiet morning. Chris says the rebels appear to have learned their lesson after the debacle yesterday when they rushed into the town after some air strikes only to flee in chaos when they came under fire from Gaddafi's tanks. He added that the rebels will be more careful now to make sure that Gaddafi's armour and heavy weapons in and around Ajdabiya are destroyed before they try to enter the city.

Chris reports that the fight for Ajdabiya has been going on for 10 days now but that the rebels remain disorganised militarily and that the air strikes have proved utterly decisive; on Saturday Gaddafi's forces were fighting inside Benghazi, now they are defending Ajdabiya, 100 miles from the rebel stronghold. That is very much due to air power.

Here is Chris's vivid account of the rebel debacle yesterday.

 

[hembo]

9.52am GMT: The Telegraph's Rob Crilly is reporting that a crashed US aircraft has been found in a field in Libya. He says he believes a mechanical failure brought it down last night.

The Telegraph says the plane is an F-15E Eagle. Rob Crilly tweeted that the crew are believed to be safe.

10.09am: Richard Norton-Taylor says British official sources have told him they were aware a US plane went down over Libya, and the pilot appeared to be safe in the hands of rebels.

10.52am: Little bit more on that US plane which has crashed in Libya, courtesy of AP:

The US military says an Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle has crashed in Libya but it was not shot down. Vince Crawley, a spokesman for the Africa Command, says both crew members ejected and sustained minor injuries. He says one crew member has been safely recovered and the operation to recover the other is under way. Crawley said Tuesday the plane was not shot down and may have suffered a mechanical problem.

 

[Hussein]

Libya Live: coalition enforces no-fly zone on Muammar Gaddafi - Telegraph
source above
yes pilots seem to have been found by rebels so it is ok

 

[hembo]

10.00am GMT: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has arrived in Moscow for talks on Libya, in the middle of the first major public disagreement between President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Gates will not meet Putin but will see Medvedev, Reuters reports. Yesterday Medvedev said he did not consider the UN resolution to be wrong – in stark contrast with Putin, who compared the military action to "medieval calls for crusades".

On his flight to Russia, Gates praised strengthening ties with Moscow and noted that Russian leaders "despite their reservations" chose not to vote against the UN Security Council resolution authorising military action in Libya. Russia abstained along with Brazil, China, Germany and India.

Yesterday Putin compared action on Libya to the Iraq invasion and said it showed Russia was right to spend billions on its military. He told workers at a missile factory in Votkinsk in central Russia that the UN security council resolution was flawed and it "resembles medieval calls for crusades".

 

[hembo]

Locals inspecting an American F-15 E Strike Eagle jet that crashed in a field

 

[Lankan Ranger]

Children die in shelling by Gaddafi forces

Forces loyal to longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have shelled Misurata, pressing their siege of the embattled western city.

Four children were killed in the shelling on Tuesday, a resident named Mohammed Ahmed told the Reuters news agency. The children were killed while trying to flee their home, a rebel spokesman told Al Jazeera.

Gaddafi's regime has encircled Misurata for days, bringing in tanks and stationing snipers on rooftops, in an attempt to choke off one of the only cities in the west where a strong rebel presence remains. Shelling there killed at least 40 people on Monday, Ahmed said.

Misurata lies around 200km east of Tripoli, the capital, and is home to a major oil refinery.

Libyan government spokesman Ibrahim said Misurata, Libya's third-largest city, was "liberated three days ago" and that Gaddafi's forces were hunting "terrorist elements".

But a spokesman for opposition fighters in the city told the AFP news agency that the opposition remained in control despite an onslaught by Gaddafi loyalists, who he said opened fire with tanks and set snipers on roofs to gun down people in the streets.

"Casualties fell in their dozens," after snipers and a tank "fired on demonstrators", the spokesman said.

A medic in Misurata said 40 people had died and at least 300 had been wounded.

The opposition spokesman said Gaddafi's troops "have taken up position along the main road where they have deployed three tanks, as well as positioning snipers on rooftops".

There was also fierce fighting further east in Ajdabiya. Opposition fighters were seen retreating in the face of an attack by government forces.

Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from an area close to Ajdabiya, said there had been clashes outside the city.

"There's been heavy fighting and heavy shelling going on ... the rebels told me there have been heavy casualties and there are a number of corpses between here and the town [of Ajdabiya] that they have been unable to reach."

He said the road between the eastern city of Benghazi and Ajdabiya was littered with the "burned-out wreckage of what was Gaddafi''s armour and tanks," destroyed in air raids by coalition forces.

Government troops retreated 100km from Benghazi, the opposition stronghold, after fierce strafing by coalition aircraft destroyed much of their armour, AFP news agency reported.

Meanwhile, around 106km south of Tripoli, Libyan pro-democracy fighters forced government troops to withdraw from the outskirts of Zintan, breaking a siege of the town.

After enduring heavy shelling the day before, rebels on Tuesday pushed pro-Gaddafi troops out of the eastern outskirts of the city, a Swiss journalist, Gaetan Vannay, told Al Jazeera.

Gaddafi's forces withdrew around 10km east, to a village that is still controlled by Gaddafi, he said.

During their push, rebels managed to capture four regime tanks, Vannay said. The international military coalition that is enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya did not aid the rebels by launching air strikes against Gaddafi's forces.

Children die in shelling by Gaddafi forces - Africa - Al Jazeera English

 

[Lankan Ranger]

Two crew members ejected from their U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle when the aircraft experienced equipment malfunction over northeast Libya, March 21, 2011 at approximately 10:30 p.m. CET.

Both crew members ejected and are safe.

The aircraft, based out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, was flying out of Aviano Air Base in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn at the time of the incident.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

 

[Lankan Ranger]