Libyan military launches air strike on protesters: Report

[Lankan Ranger]

Egyptians say killing, banditry unleashed in Libya

Piled onto tractors and trucks, hundreds of Egyptians streamed over the border from Libya on Tuesday, describing a wave of killing and banditry unleashed by the revolt against leader Muammar Gaddafi.

A witness who had fled the city of Benghazi said at least 2,000 people had been killed there -- a figure that could not be independently corroborated but which indicated the scale of destruction people believed was wrought by a week of violence.

Human Rights Watch says at least 233 people have been killed across Libya so far.

Egyptians described a treacherous journey out of Libya in which they were shot at by armed bandits taking advantage of the chaos.

Hassan Kamel Mohamed, a 24-year-old steel worker who had fled from Tobruk, said: "There were thugs everywhere and they would pull weapons on you at any time."

"We were trying to sleep at night but we couldn't. Thugs would fire in the air every fifteen minutes. They took our money, they took everything."

Mohamed Bayoumy, 37, said he had been travelling for three days in the western part of the country and that there were armed groups along the road, demanding bribes. Another man, who declined to be named, said: "The situation is bad for Egyptians right now."

"They took money from us and shot at us," he said, declining to give his name.

"EXTREMELY DANGEROUS"

"Five people died on the street where I live," Mohamed Jalaly, 40, told Reuters at Salum on his way to Cairo from Benghazi. "You leave Benghazi and then you have ... nothing but gangs and youths with weapons," he added. "The way from Benghazi is extremely dangerous," he said.

At the Salum crossing on the Egyptian side of the border with Libya, the Egyptian army had set up dozens of tents to serve as a field hospital to receive those fleeing the turmoil, though they were mostly empty on Tuesday morning.

Jalaly corroborated reports that security forces in Libya used heavy weaponry against anti-Gaddafi protesters in Benghazi, attacking them with military aircraft and heavy machine guns.

Two Libyan Air Force fighter pilots defected on Monday, flying their planes to Malta where they told authorities they had been ordered to bomb protesters, Maltese authorities said.

There are up to 1.5 million Egyptians living in Libya, Egypt's foreign minister said. Cairo got permission to send two military aircraft to evacuate some of them on Tuesday.

Egyptians say killing, banditry unleashed in Libya | News by Country | Reuters

 

[Hussein]

The libyans airforce have been attacking weapons dumps to make sure they dont fall into the hands of the rioters.........not a single plane has attacked any rioters but a few helicopters fired shots into the air to disperse rioters who where looting shops and houses.

---------- Post added at 02:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:46 PM ----------



When and where?

here:
Default Viral Title Player
just to remind:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2mcxuo.jpg

so much power for militia (basij):

and so on

 

[anon45]

The libyans airforce have been attacking weapons dumps to make sure they dont fall into the hands of the rioters.........not a single plane has attacked any rioters but a few helicopters fired shots into the air to disperse rioters who where looting shops and houses.

Any source for this, because all the news sources ive seen are saying otherwise based on word of mouth of the protestors.

 

[tallboy123]

Soon Kings rule,communist rule will come to an end in this world..
Democracy rules....

 

[KS]

If this is confirmed news then it is pretty much a barbarian rule over there in Libya

 

[Irfan Baloch]

If this is confirmed news then it is pretty much a barbarian rule over there in Libya

on Al Jazera I have seen blurred footage of mutilated bodies of people killed by cannon fire... its gruesome even while blurred
problem is getting these images and videos out of Libya while the pro- Qadaffi elements are still in power. The communications and internet access is blocked for obvious reasons so people are using satellite phones or sending details via Egypt.

the human rights organisations use satellite imagery to track massive exodus in African conflicts thats a big give away of a genocide and other human rights violations

the Egyptian immigrants that are coming back in large caravans tell the stories of Libyan security forces and missionaries from Chad, killing and hacking civilians indiscriminately.. I think in such case it is unfair to expect a fleeing person to stop and make a video footage so that cynics and believe there is a human crises and the scale of the issue

 

[DelhiDareDevil]

Egypt was the first, Libya wont be the last.

 

[lonelyone]

Gaddafi has lost legitimacy. He must resign. He has no excuse to cling to power. If he hadn't killed all the protesters, he would have been remembered as an eccentric dictator, but now he will be remembered as a murderous pig.

 

[hembo]

Middle Eastern media see end of Gaddafi

Arab media commentators hail what they see as the end of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's rule in Libya, although many fear that his latest speech shows he will not quit without further bloodshed.

Many fear that Gaddafi's speech means he will not quit without further bloodshed​

Pan-Arab TV channels continue to lead on the story, with even usually reticent Syrian satellite TV noting international calls for Libya to halt attacks on its own people.

The pro-Libyan London newspaper a-Arab al-Alamiyah also reported on the disintegration of Colonel Gaddafi's regime. One Saudi paper criticizes the pan-Arab TV station al-Jazeera, which has led the critical coverage of the Libyan leader, accusing it of behaving unprofessionally.

Iranian comment from left and right sees no way out for Colonel Gaddafi, and one Turkish newspaper columnist said former African, British and US allies cannot save him.

Some writers criticise Arab and other states for having tolerated the Libyan regime for so long, and one Israeli commentator calls for Colonel Gaddafi to be put on trial for genocide and shot.

Tariq al-Hamid in the Saudi-owned London newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat

The speech Gaddafi delivered yesterday suggests that the Libyan regime is living out its last moments and has actually lost control over many parts of the country... But it also betrays something that is absolutely terrifying. It implies that the Libyan people are in for some exceptionally difficult, if not downright horrifying, days and that God only knows the scale of the carnage awaiting them. The Colonel has openly threatened to fight his own people to the last drop of his blood, which means that he is going to resort to a scorched-earth policy.

Abd-al-Bari Atwan in the London Arab nationalist newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi

The speech delivered by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi last night is the most dangerous of its kind because every word or expression conveyed an infernal conspiracy. If it is successfully implemented then it would lead to the disintegration of Libya or turn it into a state similar to Somalia, or even an ocean of blood... He was like a blood-thirsty wounded wolf ready to burn the whole of Libya for the sake of maintaining his rule, his tribe's influence and the safety of his followers. We should not underestimate this speech or its author.

Samir Rajab in the Egyptian pro-government newspaper Al-Jumhuriyah

Libya in the last five days has turned into a field of fire. Its people, for the first time, came out and started hurling insults and cursing the "ruler", his sons and daughters! Even government representatives abroad could not stand what the world was seeing... and decided to urge Gaddafi to leave.

Muhammad Bin Suleiman al-Ahidib in the mainstream Saudi newspaper Ukaz

We ask the al-Jazeera TV channel to review all the interviews it has conducted with Gaddafi and it will see that it is part and parcel of the suffering that the Libyan people are currently enduring. Its work lacked professionalism, information and foresight.

Imad Sharif in the Iraqi Communist newspaper Tariq al-Sha'ab

The air is full of slogans such as "Scrap the regime!", "Reform the regime!" or "Down with the Colonel!" because many people in our part of the world want bread, freedom, jobs and equality as they can no longer stand being downtrodden and discriminated against by a few cliquish individuals who insist on monopolising wealth, power and influence even as the disenfranchised majority continue to live in intolerable squalor and destitution. The wonderful bug of change has already been caught by several Arab countries and will soon infect the rest, for our region is too infested with grievances to be immune to the fast-spreading contagion of change.

Pro-Fatah Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds

Arab countries need to take more serious steps to put an end to the adventures of Colonel Gaddafi and his irresponsible behaviour over his long years in power ... At a time when some European countries see him as a friend because of his country's oil, which makes them either keep silent in the face of his crimes or criticise him gently, international human rights organisations should take immediate action against him.

Smadar Peri in mainstream Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot

The world's silence in the face of the massacre is horrifying... Just give him the chance and Gaddafi will murder the entire six million. Does that remind you of something? ... If you really are siding with the Libyan people, put a quick end to the massacre and do not let Gaddafi escape. Give the colonel what he deserves: a court-martial and a bullet in the head.

Hardline Iranian newspaper Jomhuri-ye-Eslami

The Libyan dictator Gadaffi's massacre of innocent people in the country showed his brutal face and his criminal nature hidden behind the mask of a revolutionary figure. It proved he rightly deserves the title of 'mad politician'... In his calculations he expects the Westerners to help him... That is why in threatening the Libyans his criminal and corrupt son warned Westerners that if his father's regime collapses anti-Western movements will take power in the country.

Pro-reform Iranian newspaper Arman

The recent movement by the Libyan people proves that the people of the country are fed up with the hypocrisy of the system. Although Gaddafi and his agents have shown their real faces by suppressing people the dictator would have never thought that the children of Libya would rise against him. The dictator has no option but to bow to the demands of the people.

Ibrahim Karagul in the moderate Islamic Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak

The end of history has come for Colonel Muammar. He will now go to the graveyard of dictators. No power can protect him. And they do not have such power anyway. Neither the African countries, into which he has poured money for decades, nor Britain and the USA, with whom he had improved relations in the last few years, can or will protect him.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

 

[hembo]

The UN's duty to LibyansThe United Nations' statement on Libya was completely inadequate. Gaddafi needs a tough resolution ringing in his earsCarne Ross guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 February 2011 19.00 GMT

Burning buildings at the entrance to a security forces compound in Benghazi, Libya. Photograph: Alaguri/AP​

Several days after the Gaddafi regime began attacking its own people, the UN Security Council, relaxed and refreshed from its long weekend (the UN was on holiday on Monday), met on Tuesday afternoon to issue its weakest form of expression: a press statement. That statement condemned the violence, demanded that civilians be protected, and – almost laughably – called for political dialogue. It was, of course, lowest common denominator stuff.

We can safely assume that China, Russia and perhaps others resisted any stronger decision, on the familiar if discreditable grounds that the council has no business in the "internal affairs" of states. But even I was shocked to learn that the meeting only took place because the Libyan deputy representative at the UN, who had announced his refusal on Monday to serve his "genocidal" government, had requested it. Not one member of the council itself made that request.

In other words, had the diplomat not defected there would have been no meeting at all.

People are being killed in Libya. Every member of the UN has declared its commitment to protect civilians, including in circumstances where they are being attacked by their own government. In 2005, every member state signed onto the so-called "Responsibility to Protect" (which you can see here), which states, among other things, that all countries must prevent mass killing. The UN Security Council itself endorsed this principle in its own resolutions, including on Darfur and in its resolutions on protection of civilians (including this one). What is happening in Libya is the true test of such declarations, and it is for every UN member, including the UK and US, in their positions as permanent members of the council, to declare loud and clear – and now – that this principle must be respected, and if it is not, that consequences will follow.

I spent four and a half years negotiating resolutions on the Middle East at the UN Security Council. When it wishes, the council can make decisions in hours. We agreed a resolution condemning the 9/11 attacks in less than an hour, the morning after the attacks took place. Time is of the essence. The only message that Gadaffi will understand is one of real substance and force. Such a resolution should state, at a minimum:

• The demand that all violence cease immediately, and that if lethal force continues to be used, the government will face consequences. At this point, such consequences do not need to be spelled out (and would unlikely be agreed) but imply sanctions, and, in extremis, force.

• Immediate freezing of all assets and an explicit travel ban on members of the regime, until all violence is halted and has been fully investigated.

• Since Libya is not a party to the International Criminal Court, the Council can and should refer Libya to the ICC for an immediate investigation into possible war crimes.

• Demand that there be an immediate transition to a representative government, involving consulting civil society and all relevant political actors.

• The decision should be taken under chapter VII of the UN Charter, recognising that events in Libya are an international threat to international peace and security (there are already refugees flowing out of Libya), and requiring all UN members to comply (this reference also implies the threat of military enforcement action).

I would love to see the council agree a no-fly zone or exclusion zone, to prevent air attacks on civilians. However, unless someone is prepared to enforce such a ban, it is meaningless. Realistically, only the US has this capability and such a call would risk playing into Gaddafi's hands in his specious claim that foreign forces are behind the unrest.

Such a resolution can be drafted and tabled very rapidly. All right-thinking countries should urge its immediate adoption.

 

[Last Hope]

They are actually gonna kill the innocent people?
Oh my god, what is gone wrong with them?

Why dont they just shoot rubber bullets or tear gas or spray frezing water on them?

 

[AstanoshKhan]

Egypt was the first, Libya wont be the last.

Guess what the Saudi king while had been in the US 3 months for treatment upon arrival declared $10.7 billion in pay raises, job creation and loan forgiveness schemes. Well I don't know about the other ME nations but Saudi's turn is last I"m sure.

Saudi king announces new benefits - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

 

[SQ8]

Bahrain is literally an annexe of the house of Saud..
The Saud house will fall.. sooner or later.

 

[blackops]

They are actually gonna kill the innocent people?
Oh my god, what is gone wrong with them?

Why dont they just shoot rubber bullets or tear gas or spray frezing water on them?

because they are living under a stupid leader who placed bomb in a airliner blasted bombs in pubs and is now killing his own people damn such kind of guys

 

[hembo]

I'll not write anything about Bahrain since I'm living here..