THE DOMINO EFFECT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Libya air force 'unable to fight'

Air Vice Marshall Greg Bagwell: "Their air force no longer exists as a fighting force"Continue reading the main story
Libya Crisis

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's air force "no longer exists as a fighting force", the commander of British aircraft operating over Libya has said.

Air Vice Marshal Greg Bagwell said the allies could now operate "with near impunity" over the skies of Libya.

He said they were now applying unrelenting pressure on the Libyan armed forces.

Latest reports say government tanks are shelling the hospital in the rebel-held western city of Misrata.

Witnesses had earlier said the tanks encircling the city had pulled back from their positions under air assault from international forces.

And there are also reports of fierce fighting between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces in the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiya. Residents fleeing the town described shelling, gunfire and houses on fire.

Wednesday night also saw reports of a huge explosion at a military base in the Tajura region 32km (20 miles) east of the Libyan capital Tripoli.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has again urged Col Gaddafi to step down and leave Libya.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged all sides in Libya to cease hostilities. "All those who violate international humanitarian and human rights law will be held fully accountable," his spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

AVM Bagwell was speaking during a visit to RAF aircrew based at Gioia del Colle in southern Italy.

Ian Pannell,
BBC News, Benghazi
Thousands of people gathered on the streets of Benghazi, Libya's second city and the rebels' stronghold, to thank Britain, France, America and others for what they see as their support for the revolution of the east and the protection of civilians from attacks by government forces.

There was condemnation of Russia and China for their abstention from the UN vote and their criticism of alleged civilian casualties.

A separate march by women joined the protest to show solidarity with the people of Misrata, the last city in the west to hold out against constant bombardment by Colonel Gaddafi's troops.

Fighting has continued in both Misrata and Ajdabiya in the east, and people here are calling for more targeted bombing of government troops.

The new authority in Benghazi is struggling to find its feet and their rebel forces are finding it hard to advance against government troops. They may welcome the support of the international community, but they've yet to use it to gain a major advantage against the government that's ruled them for the last four decades.

"We are watching over the innocent people of Libya and ensuring that we protect them from attack," he said.

"We have the Libyan ground forces under constant observation and we attack them whenever they threaten civilians or attack population centres."

His comments come as Nato members debate who should lead the intervention, with the US keen to hand over to Nato.

They were echoed by Rear Admiral Gerard Hueber, US chief of staff for the Libya mission, who said: "We are putting pressure on Gaddafi's ground forces that are threatening cities." Asked if that meant air strikes, he replied: "Yes."

Speaking to reporters by phone from the command ship USS Mount Whitney, in the Mediterranean, he insisted there had been no reports of civilian casualties caused by allied action.

"Our mission here is to protect the civilian populace and we choose our targets and plan our actions with that as a top priority."

He said allied aircraft had flown 175 sorties in the last 24 hours - 113 of them by US aircraft.

Naval blockade
Meanwhile, ships from Nato nations have started patrolling off the Libyan coast to enforce a UN arms embargo against Col Gaddafi's regime.

A spokesman for the Western military alliance, Canadian Brig Gen Pierre St Amand, said six vessels were taking part in the first day of patrols.

They aim to intercept and board ships suspected of ferrying arms to the Libyan government.


The BBC's Ben Brown says several thousand people in Benghazi held a pro-coalition rally
"If, after inspection, doubts remain as to the legitimacy of the cargo, the vessel will be diverted to a designated port for further inspection," said Gen St Amand.

Nato members have been holding talks about assuming responsibility for the no-fly zone over Libya, so far without agreement.

Turkey is an integral part of the naval blockade but expressed concern about the alliance taking over command of the no-fly zone from the US.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has arrived in the Egyptian capital Cairo for talks on both Libya and Egypt's hoped-for transition to democracy following the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

He was previously in Moscow, where President Dmitry Medvedev criticised what he called the "indiscriminate use of force" by coalition aircraft in Libya.

Mr Gates rejected the criticism of the air strikes, saying Col Gaddafi was lying about civilian casualties.

Russia abstained from last week's UN Security Council resolution that authorised armed intervention in Libya to protect civilians.

2257: Omer, in Tripoli, writes: "I strongly agree with the suggestion to somehow disable Gaddafi's radio and TV stations, because they are fuelling hatred."

2256: Omer, in Tripoli, writes: "I strongly agree with the suggestion to somehow disable Gaddafi's radio and TV stations, because they are fuelling hatred."

2251: Walid Shaari Libya tweets: "#Zintan is in dire need for relief, water, food, fuel&medicine.#prayforlibya #Libya"

2247: Stay with us for the latest updates - reports from our correspondents on the ground, expert analysis, and your reaction from around the world. You can contact us via email, text or twitter. We'll publish what we can.

2242: Libya New Media tweets: "Demonstrations began with firing from Gaddafi forces. The wounded began arriving to the hospital in Zawiyah street."

Libya: Allied air strikes secure Misrata for rebels
Siege ends in key town as bombs destroy Gaddafi's tanks and artillery but regime continue to hold Ajdabiya despite air raids

Chris McGreal in Benghazi, Ewen MacAskill in Washington, and Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Thursday 24 March 2011
Article history

Civilian refugees flee the eastern Libyan town of Ajdabiya as fierce fighting continues between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian
Nearly 12 hours of allied air strikes have broken the Libyan regime's five-day bloody assault on the key rebel-held town of Misrata.

Residents said the aerial bombardment destroyed tanks and artillery and sent many of Muammar Gaddafi's forces fleeing from Misrata, ending a siege and attack by the regime that cost nearly 100 lives from random shelling, snipers and bitter street fighting.

Mohammed Ali, an IT engineer at Misrata's main hospital, said that waves of air strikes began shortly after midnight on Wednesday.

"They bombed a lot of sites of the Gaddafi army. There is a former hospital where his tanks were based. All the tanks and the hospital were destroyed. A column of tanks was destroyed on the edge of the city," he said. "After that there was no shelling. We are very relieved. We are very grateful. We want to thank the world. The Gaddafi forces are scattered around. All that is left is the snipers and our fighters can take care of them."

Ali said people in Misrata wanted the coalition to keep up the air strikes until all Gaddafi's forces were driven away from the town to ensure that those who were able to escape with armoured vehicles and guns did not return.

A doctor in the town, who did not want to be named, said snipers were continuing to sow fear by targeting not only rebels but civilians.

"The sniper problem is a big one. A lot of people are still afraid to leave their homes," he said.

The apparent breaking of the siege will be a blow to the Libyan ruler's attempts to reassert control over the entire west of the country.

It may also serve as a further deterrent, along with the destruction of Gaddafi's tanks, artillery and soldiers that were attacking Benghazi, to those still fighting for the dictator.

But it did not stop the regime's forces from continuing to put up stiff resistance around the strategic town of Ajdabiya in the east, despite repeated coalition bombing raids.

Ali described the past five days of attack on Misrata as "hell".

"It was crazy in the last five days. The hospital was overwhelmed. Ninety four people were killed. Sixty of them were civilians. Whole families were wiped out driving in their cars," he said. "The injured were more than 1,300. About 115 serious cases were kept in hospital. Everyone without life threatening injures was sent home. I've seen people who've just had a leg amputated sent home."

Ali said that the town has had no water or electricity for nine days. The medical centre is running on a generator.

The air strikes in and around Misrata suggest that what appears to be a tactic of Gaddafi's forces to shelter in residential areas, in response to the destruction of tanks and guns on the open desert road near Benghazi, has not provided protection. Residents of the town said that the coalition aircraft managed to destroy the regime's armour without any known civilian casualties.

The revolutionary leadership has said that even if there are civilian casualties, they will be a necessary price to prevent even greater loss of life if Gaddafi's forces had continued their assault on Misrata and exacted revenge against the residents for their support of the uprising.

The US military said that its intelligence showed Gaddafi's forces remained a threat to Misrata as well as remaining entrenched around Ajdabiya, where the regime's fighters have put up sustained resistance for three days despite several air attacks by coalition planes.

Rear Admiral Gerard Hueber, chief of staff of operation Odyssey Dawn, said the coalition would continue its attacks on Gaddafi's ground forces in both places as well as other cities under assault by the regime. Hueber said the air attacks were aimed at preventing the regime's army from entering rebel-held cities as well as cutting supply and communication lines. But he admitted that Gaddafi's forces were making incursions into some cities and targeting civilians.

People fleeing Ajdabiya said that civilians continued to be killed in the town even though most of the residents have left.

Hamad Abdul Rahim drove along a desert track with his mother, wife and children, including two young daughters, crammed into a car to escape the town on Wednesday.

"There was a lot of shelling last night. There are hundreds of Gaddafi men there. Many of them are not from Libya. They are African people. We saw them," he said. "Many people have died. Some were shot on the street by Gaddafi's men."

The regime's army continued to keep the rebels at bay just outside the town with periodic shelling of the revolutionaries' front line, some of it intense. An ambulance driver described carrying away two dead rebels who were on the back of a pick-up truck with a mounted machine gun when they took a direct hit from a shell.

The rebels say they are waiting for allied air strikes to destroy the tanks and artillery Gaddafi has around Ajdabiya before they attempt to take the town.

Gaddafi's forces also kept up their bombardment of Zintan in the west.

"The town is completely surrounded. The situation is very bad," the resident, Abdulrahman, told Reuters by telephone from the town. "They are getting reinforcements. Troops backed with tanks and vehicles are coming. We appeal to the allied forces to come and protect civilians."

Hueber found himself in difficulty when questioned about whether the US was co-ordinating its attacks with rebel forces, which might be in breach of the UN mandate.

Initially, he confirmed that US forces were consulting the rebels about their movements but later in the press conference he backtracked, saying: "I mis-stated that".

He said that the US had communication lines to the Gaddafi regime warning them to pull back their forces.

British aircraft flew over Libya yesterday, but for the second day running took no part in attacks, according to defence officials.

The commander of British aircraft operating over Libya has said that Colonel Gaddafi's air force "no longer exists as a fighting force".

Air Vice-Marshal Greg Bagwell said the allies could now operate "with near impunity" over the skies of Libya.

@ksnavarra

#Gaddafi artillery re-start shelling of #Misurata as civilians take cover
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7:38am
The Washington Post has a nice tick-tock piece on how the US treasury department was able to identify and freeze nearly $30 billion in assets connected to the Libyan regime in around 72 hours - an unprecedented feat in the history of sanctions.