US launches missiles on Libya

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US launches missiles on Libya

Last updated 09:20 20/03/2011

A US warship launched cruise missiles against Libya as part of the international

effort against leader Muammar Gaddafi, CNN reported.

Earlier, the French air force destroyed Libyan tanks and armored vehicles in the

first shots fired in a UN mandated military intervention to protect civilians

from attacks by Moammar Gaddafi's forces.

A French defense ministry official said " a number of tanks and armored vehicles "

were destroyed in the region of Benghazi, with initial action focusing on

stopping Gaddafi's forces from advancing on the rebels' eastern stronghold.

American warplanes, ships and submarines had prepared to launch a furious

assault on Libya's limited air defenses, clearing the way for European and other

planes to enforce a no-fly zone designed to ground Moammar Gadahfi's air force

and cripple his ability to inflict further violence on rebels, US officials

said.

Hours after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attended an international

conference in Paris that endorsed military action against Gadhafi, the US was

poised to kick off its attacks on Libyan air defense missile and radar sites

along the Mediterranean coast to protect no-fly zone pilots from the threat of

getting shot down.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive

military operations, said the Obama administration intended to limit its

involvement - at least in the initial stages - to helping protect French and

other air missions.

British forces are also in action over Libya as part of international efforts to

prevent Muammar Gaddafi from attacking his own people, UK Prime Minister

Cameron said.

" Tonight, British forces are in action over Libya, " he said.

" We have all seen the appalling brutality that Colonel Gaddafi has meted out

against his own people. And far from introducing the ceasefire he spoke about,

he has actually stepped up the attacks, " Cameron said.

Cameron said the UN-backed military action was " necessary, legal and right " .

Gaddafi's troops pushed into the outskirts of Benghazi overnight (NZT) after a

unilateral ceasefire declared by his government failed to materialize, prompting

leaders meeting in Paris to announce the start of military intervention.

" Those taking part agreed to put in place all necessary means, especially

military, to enforce the decisions of the United Nations Security Council, "

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting Western and Arab leaders.

Sarkozy said an operation supported by France, Britain, the United States and

Canada, and backed by Arab nations, would continue unless the Libyan leader

ceased fire.

Ad Feedback " Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen, " British Prime Minister

Cameron told reporters after the meeting. " We cannot allow the slaughter of

civilians to continue. "

Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention,

fearing western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite their

current insistence they have no plans to send ground troops to Libya.

Canadian Prime Minister Harper suggested that outside powers hoped their

intervention would be enough to turn the tide against Gaddafi and allow Libyans

to force him out.

" It is our belief that if Mr. Gaddafi loses the capacity to enforce his will

through vastly superior armed forces, he simply will not be able to sustain his

grip on the country. "

US INTERVENTION BEGINS

France and Britain have taken a lead role in pushing for international

intervention in Libya and the United States - after embarking on wars in

Afghanistan and Iraq - has been at pains to stress it is supporting, not leading

the operation..

At a news conference in Paris, Clinton said Gadhafi had left the world no choice

but to intervene urgently and forcefully to protect further loss of civilian

life.

" We have every reason to fear that left unchecked Gadhafi would commit

unspeakable atrocities, " she told reporters. Clinton said there was no evidence

that Gadhafi's forces were respecting an alleged cease-fire they proclaimed and

the time for action was now.

" Our assessment is that the aggressive action by Gadhafi's forces continues in

many parts of the country, " she said. " We have seen no real effort on the part

of the Gadhafi forces to abide by a cease-fire. "

President Barack Obama announced on Saturday that he had given the go-ahead for

US forces to participate in operations designed to enforce the provisions of a

UN Security Council resolution demanding that Gadhafi cease firing on civilians.

At the outset of a visit to Brazil on Saturday, he spoke briefly about Libya,

noting the Paris talks.

" Our consensus was strong and our resolve is clear, " Obama said. " The people of

Libya must be protected and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence

against civilians our coalition is prepared to act and to act with urgency. "

Among the US Navy ships in the Mediterranean were two guided-missile destroyers,

the USS Barry and USS Stout, as well as two amphibious warships, the USS

Kearsarge and USS Ponce, and a command-and-control ship, the USS Mount Whitney.

The submarine USS Providence was also in the Mediterranean.

SUPPORTERS FORM HUMAN SHIELD AT GADDAFI COMPOUND

Thousands of Libyans packed into Muammar Gaddafi's heavily fortified Tripoli

compound to form a human shield against possible air strikes by allied forces.

Fireworks erupted into the night sky and people fired defiant shots into the air

at the compound after allied warplanes went into action in eastern Libya to stop

the Libyan leader's forces attacking the rebel-held city of Benghazi.

Libyans from all walks of life streamed into the Bab Al-Aziziyah compound,

shouting slogans and holding portraits of Gaddafi. Loudspeakers boomed songs

praising the leader.

" My mother and father told me that they (Western warplanes) would attack the

compound so I came here to protect our leader, " said one 10-year-old boy,

Mahmoud.

About 1,000 kilometres to the east, French fighter jets were destroying tanks

and armoured vehicles to halt Gaddafi's advance on rebel forces around their

stronghold of Benghazi.

The huge Tripoli complex, which includes military barracks, was the target of a

1986 US bombing of Libya. Then US President Reagan said it was in

retaliation for what he called Libyan complicity in the bombing of a Berlin

night club.

The government took foreign reporters to the normally closed site on a rare

visit to showcase people's support for Gaddafi.

Inside the compound's high olive-green walls, people danced to a song setting an

oft-repeated phrase from a recent Gaddafi speeches - " house by house, alley by

alley " - to a melody.

Nearby, a man watched the crowd from the back of a pick-up truck equipped with

an anti-aircraft gun.

An image of a hand crushing an F-16 fighter was superimposed on the window of a

house gutted in the 1986 attack. Men with AK-47 rifles stood nearby. Soldiers

looked on from watch towers.

Gaddafi's daughter Aisha paid an unexpected visit and stood on a vehicle as

flag-waving supporters cheered her.

The gates of the compound, the heart of Gaddafi's powerful security apparatus

which is usually off-limits to the general public, were wide open, and people

continued to stream into it throughout the evening.

" We are here. We are ready to die for our leader, " said Om Abdel Qadir, an

Arabic language teacher. She said her six sons had all volunteered to fight for

Gaddafi.

" Even if we do not have weapons, people will do everything they can to fight.

You will see people on every street, pouring hot oil on the enemy. " Mahmoud

el-Mansouri, a farmer, said people were angry.

" There are 5,000 tribesmen who are preparing to come here to fight with our

leader. They had better not try to attack our country, " he said.

" We will open up Libya's deserts and allow Africans to flood to Europe to blow

themselves up as suicide bombers. ... We are ready to attack embassies abroad. "

Mustafa Abdelgadir, a 27-year-old man, added: " Everyone has weapons training and

we are all prepared to fight. "

Gaddafi has said Western powers had no right to intervene.

" This is injustice, this is clear aggression, " government spokesman Mussa

Ibrahim quoted Gaddafi as saying in a letter to France, Britain and the United

Nations. " You will regret it if you take a step toward interfering in our

internal affairs. "

The Libyan government blamed the rebels, who it says are members of al Qaeda,

for breaking a ceasefire around Benghazi.

THOUSANDS FLEE BENGHAZI

A large plume of black smoke rose from the edge of Benghazi mid-afternoon, live

television pictures showed, but it was not clear what was causing the fire.

Residents set up make-shift barricades with furniture, benches, road signs and

even a barbecue in one case at intervals along main streets. Each barricade was

manned by half a dozen rebels, but only about half of those were armed.

Hundreds of cars full of refugees fled Benghazi toward the Egyptian border after

the city came under a bombardment overnight. One family of 13 women from a

grandmother to small children, rested at a roadside hotel.

" I'm here because when the bombing started last night my children were vomiting

from fear, " said one of them, a doctor. " All I want to do is get my family to a

safe place and then get back to Benghazi to help. My husband is still there. "

In the besieged western city of Misrata, residents said government forces

shelled the rebel town again on Saturday and they were facing a humanitarian

crisis as water supplies had been cut off for a third day.

" I am telling you, we are scared and we are alone, " a Misrata resident, called

Saadoun, told Reuters by telephone.

As explosions shook Benghazi on Saturday morning, rebels said they were forced

to retreat from the outskirts of the city, but later claimed victory after

holding back the advance.

" We revolutionaries have taken control of four tanks inside Benghazi. Rebel

forces have pushed Gaddafi's forces out of Benghazi, " said Nasr al-Kikili, a

lawyer who works for the rebel media center in Benghazi, as crowds celebrated by

firing guns in the air and parading on top of a tank.

A warplane was shot down over Benghazi. Opposition activist Azeldin al-Sharif

said rebel forces had brought their own plane down by mistake.

Al Jazeera said there were 26 dead and more than 40 wounded in Jala hospital in

Benghazi, without giving further details.

U.S. President Barack Obama has made clear any military action would aim to

change conditions across Libya, rather than just in the rebel-held east, by

calling on Gaddafi's forces to pull back from the western cities of Zawiyah and

Misrata as well as from the east.

" Gaddafi must stop his troops from advancing on Benghazi, pull them back from

Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zawiyah, and establish water, electricity and gas supplies

to all areas. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach the people of

Libya, " Obama said on Friday.

- With AP

- Reuters