Libyan Rebels Advance as France, U.K. Say Qaddafi ‘Must Go’ Now

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Libyan Rebels Advance as France, U.K. Say Qaddafi `Must Go' Now

March 28, 2011, 4:20 PM EDT

By Ola Galal and Alaa Shahine

(See EXTRA and MET for more on the situation in the Middle East and North

Africa.)

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Libyan rebel forces advanced westward with support from

NATO air strikes on Sirte, the hometown of Muammar Qaddafi, as leaders of France

and the U.K. declared that the Libyan leader " must go immediately. "

The rebels were fighting within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Sirte, and their

scouts reported that the road ahead was heavily mined, the Associated Press

said. Nine blasts rocked the coastal town today as planes were heard above,

according to an Agence France-Presse reporter in Sirte. In the west of Libya,

government forces continued to bomb Misrata after announcing a cease-fire in the

rebel-held town, Al Jazeera television reported.

The advance on Sirte extends the rebel offensive along the coast, where over the

weekend they recaptured the oil ports of Brega and Ras Lanuf, helped by the

U.S.-led aerial bombardment of government positions in the area. Nate ,

the director of military analysis at the Austin, Texas-based geopolitical

consulting firm Stratfor, said there is " little indication " that Qaddafi's

forces were driven back and " every indication that it was a deliberate, coherent

withdrawal. "

" By all appearances it looks like the rebels merely moved westward into a vacuum

created by that withdrawal, rather than fought their way west or achieved their

way by conquest, " he said in a telephone interview from Washington.

Oil Slides

Crude oil fell for a third day in New York on speculation that the rebels'

territorial gains may hasten a resolution to the crisis. Crude for May delivery

declined $1.42, or 1.35 percent, to settle at $103.98 a barrel on the New York

Mercantile Exchange.

NATO's intervention comes as unrest spreads throughout the Middle East, with

deadly clashes between protesters and regime supporters in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain

and Jordan, following the ouster of oppressive regimes by popular movements in

Egypt and Tunisia.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said yesterday that it is taking over

military control of the operation, which has been led by the U.S. The United

Nations mandate calls for establishing a no-fly zone, protecting civilians and

enforcing an arms embargo, while Western political leaders also want to bring

about regime change.

Qaddafi's regime has " completely lost its legitimacy " and Libyans should start

organizing a transition process in anticipation of a new government coming to

power, said U.K. Prime Minister Cameron and French President Nicolas

Sarkozy.

`Must Go'

Qaddafi " must go immediately, " the two leaders said today in a joint letter

released in advance of tomorrow's international conference on Libya in London.

" We call all of his followers to leave him before it is too late. We call on all

Libyans who believe Qaddafi is leading Libya into a disaster to take the

initiative now to organize a transition process. "

The opposition's leadership, the Interim Transitional National Council,

anticipates putting Qaddafi on trial, according to Al Arabiya television.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said allied strikes on Qaddafi's troops

are an intervention in a civil war and violate the UN resolution that authorized

use of force, RIA Novosti reported today.

" Russia and other countries skeptical that at least some members of the

coalition intend to enforce regime change rather than merely a no-fly zone will

continue to object from the sidelines, " Hartwell, an analyst in London

with Lexington, Massachusetts-based IHS Global Insight, wrote in a research note

today. " With opposition territorial gains set to continue against this backdrop,

the issue of what happens if and when the rebels reach Tripoli is beginning to

loom large, with Qaddafi appearing to have few options beyond fighting or

fleeing. "

French Strikes

The coalition has been seeking to push Qaddafi's forces out of Misrata and other

cities. French fighter aircraft struck the Qaddafi forces' armored vehicles and

weapons near Misrata and Zintan yesterday, according to France's Defense

Ministry website. Misrata has been besieged by pro-Qaddafi forces for several

weeks. Today, British Tornado GR4 jets fired Brimstone missiles that destroyed

two tanks and two armored vehicles in the same area, according to a statement

from Major General Lorimer, spokesman for the Chief of the Defence Staff.

The city of Sebha, south of Tripoli, was bombed today and several homes were

destroyed, said the official Libyan news agency, JANA.

Rebels Advance

Some Sirte tribes that are traditionally loyal to Qaddafi declared that they

were siding with the rebel fighters, who met with little resistance as they

approached the outskirts of the city, Arish Saeed, a journalist in Sirte, told

Al Arabiya television. The information couldn't be independently verified

because telephone lines in Libya were down.

Rebels advancing from the east have taken control of the town of Nawfaliyah,

about 100 kilometers from Sirte, the Benghazi-based Brnieq newspaper reported,

citing its correspondent.

NATO's supreme allied commander, U.S. Navy Admiral Stavridis, is taking

charge of the coalition mission in Libya, and decisions on what targets to hit

will be determined by the council's military leaders, a U.S. official said

yesterday. Allied strikes yesterday targeted the capital, Tripoli, as well as

Sirte, the AP said, following attacks on government tanks, artillery and

soldiers that enabled the rebels to continue their westward advance and enter

Brega and Ras Lanuf.

" Transition from coalition to NATO forces has been and will be a seamless

handover, with no gap in the effort to do what it takes to protect the people of

Libya, " Canadian Air Force General Bouchard, in command of the allied

effort, told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels today via a video link

from his command center in Naples, Italy.

No-Fly Zone

In Washington yesterday, U.S. Defense Secretary Gates told ABC's " This

Week " that implementation of the no-fly zone over Libya was complete and had

" eliminated " Qaddafi's ability to strike back at rebel-held cities. Now the

no-fly zone can be " sustained with a lot less effort, " Gates said.

Libyan state-run television accused the allied attacks of causing a " massacre "

among civilians in Ajdabiya as their warplanes sought to provide air cover for

the rebels. Gates said coalition forces have been " extremely careful " and cited

U.S. intelligence reports that Qaddafi was taking the bodies of people he had

killed and putting them at sites attacked by the alliance forces.

U.S. President Barack Obama will give an address late today about the American

and allied military action in Libya.

Talks Under Way

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the U.K.- based Guardian

newspaper that his country is prepared to act as a mediator to pursue an early

cease-fire in Libya, and he said talks are under way with Qaddafi's government

and the Interim Transitional National Council.

Qatar today recognized the council as the legitimate government of Libya, the

official Qatar News Agency reported. France announced similar recognition

earlier this month.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Syrian President Bashar Al- Assad's government

denied reports that its security forces fired on protesters in Daraa as they

demonstrated against emergency rule, state television said. Violence erupted

around the country after a clampdown on protesters in the southern city.

In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh said no compromise had been reached on

his future in talks with Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, Al Arabiya

reported. Al-Qirbi said earlier that he had hoped to reach an agreement on

Saleh's departure following months of anti-government demonstrations and the

defection of ministers, generals and diplomats from his regime.

`Time Bomb'

In an interview with Al Arabiya television, Saleh described Yemen as a " time

bomb " that could disintegrate into civil war, and in a speech to officials from

his party yesterday the president said he will make " no more concessions. "

Saleh, a U.S. ally against al-Qaeda militants based in his country, dismissed

Mohammed Ali Mohsen, a military commander for the country's eastern region who

defected to join the protesters a week ago, the Defense Ministry said on its

website today. Al- Qaeda was blamed by the Yemeni government for an explosion

that killed dozens of people today at an ammunition factory, the official Saba

news agency said, citing an unidentified official.

In Egypt, the army council that has been in charge of the country since the fall

of Hosni Mubarak last month announced today that parliamentary elections will be

held in September. The council will remain in power until a presidential

election, which hasn't yet been scheduled.

Saudi Arabia, where activists have campaigned online for more democracy and

civil rights without taking to the streets in mass protests, said today that it

will hold municipal elections on Sept. 22, the first nationwide voting in the

kingdom since 2005.

--With assistance from Kaitlin Brower in New York, Zaid Sabah Abd Alhamid and

Nadeem Hamid in Washington, Hutton and Caroline in London,

Vivian Salama, Maher Chmaytelli and Lina Ibrahim in Dubai, Viscusi in

Paris, Neuger in Brussels, Henry Meyer in Moscow and M. Freedman

in Geneva. Editors: Terry Atlas, Hoffecker