NATO blitz sinks Libyan warships
Source: Agencies |
May 21, 2011, Saturday
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NATO has sunk eight Libyan warships and intercepted a fuel tanker it believed was heading for the military, the alliance said yesterday, in a marked escalation of a Western-led bombing campaign.
The Western alliance, working under a UN mandate to protect civilians from government forces, says military and political pressure is weakening Moammar Gadhafi's hold on power and should eventually dislodge him.
US President Barack Obama on Thursday said the Libyan leader's downfall was "inevitable" and that it would be the only way for a transition to democracy to take place.
Three months into an uprising against Gadhafi's four-decade rule, rebels control the east and pockets in the west but the conflict has reached a stalemate as rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli have stalled.
NATO said its aircraft had sunk eight warships in overnight strikes on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, and hit a dockyard facility for launching the fast inflatable boats that Libyan forces have used for attacks around rebel-held Misrata.
"The destruction last night of the facility and a significant stockpile of the boats will reduce the regime's ability to sustain such tactics," Britain's Major General John Lorimer said.
NATO says its strikes on command-and-control centers have limited Gadhafi's ability to control his forces as well as relieving sieges of rebel-held towns such as Misrata. NATO also intercepted the oil tanker Jupiter yesterday, saying it believed the fuel would be used for military purposes.
"NATO naval forces can deny access to vessels entering or leaving Libyan ports if there is reliable information to suggest that the vessel or its cargo will be used to support attacks or threats on civilians, either directly or indirectly," spokeswoman Carmen Romero said in Brussels.
She said there was a sense at a meeting of NATO ambassadors this week that the mission was making "steady and tangible progress" nearly two months after NATO took command. "NATO nations and partners agree we have taken the initiative; we have the momentum," she said.
Libyan officials took journalists to Tripoli's port, where a small ship spewed smoke and flames, and cast doubt on whether boats targeted by NATO had been involved in fighting.
Mohammad Ahmad Rashed, general manager of the port, said six boats had been hit by missiles.
He said the boats, five belonging to the coastguard and one larger navy vessel, had been undergoing maintenance since before the start of the fighting, adding that the port was still functioning and capable of handling commercial traffic.
The government dismissed Obama's speech, an address prompted by the "Arab Spring" uprisings that have ousted authoritarian rulers in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired the Libyan revolt.
The Western alliance, working under a UN mandate to protect civilians from government forces, says military and political pressure is weakening Moammar Gadhafi's hold on power and should eventually dislodge him.
US President Barack Obama on Thursday said the Libyan leader's downfall was "inevitable" and that it would be the only way for a transition to democracy to take place.
Three months into an uprising against Gadhafi's four-decade rule, rebels control the east and pockets in the west but the conflict has reached a stalemate as rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli have stalled.
NATO said its aircraft had sunk eight warships in overnight strikes on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, and hit a dockyard facility for launching the fast inflatable boats that Libyan forces have used for attacks around rebel-held Misrata.
"The destruction last night of the facility and a significant stockpile of the boats will reduce the regime's ability to sustain such tactics," Britain's Major General John Lorimer said.
NATO says its strikes on command-and-control centers have limited Gadhafi's ability to control his forces as well as relieving sieges of rebel-held towns such as Misrata. NATO also intercepted the oil tanker Jupiter yesterday, saying it believed the fuel would be used for military purposes.
"NATO naval forces can deny access to vessels entering or leaving Libyan ports if there is reliable information to suggest that the vessel or its cargo will be used to support attacks or threats on civilians, either directly or indirectly," spokeswoman Carmen Romero said in Brussels.
She said there was a sense at a meeting of NATO ambassadors this week that the mission was making "steady and tangible progress" nearly two months after NATO took command. "NATO nations and partners agree we have taken the initiative; we have the momentum," she said.
Libyan officials took journalists to Tripoli's port, where a small ship spewed smoke and flames, and cast doubt on whether boats targeted by NATO had been involved in fighting.
Mohammad Ahmad Rashed, general manager of the port, said six boats had been hit by missiles.
He said the boats, five belonging to the coastguard and one larger navy vessel, had been undergoing maintenance since before the start of the fighting, adding that the port was still functioning and capable of handling commercial traffic.
The government dismissed Obama's speech, an address prompted by the "Arab Spring" uprisings that have ousted authoritarian rulers in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired the Libyan revolt.
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