Airstrikes target supply sites for Gadhafi's forces
Source: Agencies |
March 24, 2011, Thursday
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COALITION forces launched airstrikes over Libya for a fifth day yesterday, targeting sites that support or supply Moammar Gadhafi's military around the capital and other cities, United States defense officials said.
Attacks overnight on Tuesday and early yesterday included strikes on air defenses near Tripoli and an ammunition depot outside the besieged city of Misrata.
Residents in Misrata said the coalition attacks forced government troops to withdraw their tanks.
Meanwhile, diplomats were nearing an agreement to let NATO assume responsibility for the no-fly zone and its warships began patrolling off Libya's Mediterranean coast.
Canada's Brigadier General Pierre St Amand said naval operation Unified Protector "is now under way" with six vessels involved during the first day of patrols.
NATO had already received offers for up to 16 ships to patrol the Mediterranean off Libya, he said.
Gadhafi made his first public appearance in a week on Tuesday night, hours after explosions sounded in Tripoli. State TV said he spoke from his Bab Al-Aziziya residential compound, the one hit by a cruise missile on Sunday night.
"In the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them," he said.
The withdrawal of tanks from Misrata was a rare success for the rebels. The disorganized opposition holds much of the east but has struggled to take advantage of the gains from the international air campaign, which appears to have hobbled Gadhafi's air defenses and artillery.
Pro-Gadhafi troops who have besieged Ajdabiya attacked a few hundred rebels on the outskirts yesterday.
The rebels fired back with Katyusha rockets but have found themselves outgunned.
Plumes of smoke rose over the city, which is 150 kilometers south of the de-facto rebel capital of Benghazi.
Heavy anti-aircraft fire and loud explosions sounded in Tripoli after nightfall. Two explosions were heard in the city before daybreak yesterday.
Libyan state TV showed footage of a house that was demolished and burning. Weeping women slapped their faces and heads in grief while men carried a girl covered in blood on a stretcher to an ambulance. A man screamed: "A whole family was killed."
TV labeled the footage as "crusader imperialism bombs civilians."
Attacks overnight on Tuesday and early yesterday included strikes on air defenses near Tripoli and an ammunition depot outside the besieged city of Misrata.
Residents in Misrata said the coalition attacks forced government troops to withdraw their tanks.
Meanwhile, diplomats were nearing an agreement to let NATO assume responsibility for the no-fly zone and its warships began patrolling off Libya's Mediterranean coast.
Canada's Brigadier General Pierre St Amand said naval operation Unified Protector "is now under way" with six vessels involved during the first day of patrols.
NATO had already received offers for up to 16 ships to patrol the Mediterranean off Libya, he said.
Gadhafi made his first public appearance in a week on Tuesday night, hours after explosions sounded in Tripoli. State TV said he spoke from his Bab Al-Aziziya residential compound, the one hit by a cruise missile on Sunday night.
"In the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them," he said.
The withdrawal of tanks from Misrata was a rare success for the rebels. The disorganized opposition holds much of the east but has struggled to take advantage of the gains from the international air campaign, which appears to have hobbled Gadhafi's air defenses and artillery.
Pro-Gadhafi troops who have besieged Ajdabiya attacked a few hundred rebels on the outskirts yesterday.
The rebels fired back with Katyusha rockets but have found themselves outgunned.
Plumes of smoke rose over the city, which is 150 kilometers south of the de-facto rebel capital of Benghazi.
Heavy anti-aircraft fire and loud explosions sounded in Tripoli after nightfall. Two explosions were heard in the city before daybreak yesterday.
Libyan state TV showed footage of a house that was demolished and burning. Weeping women slapped their faces and heads in grief while men carried a girl covered in blood on a stretcher to an ambulance. A man screamed: "A whole family was killed."
TV labeled the footage as "crusader imperialism bombs civilians."
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