Breaking: Gaddafi Compound Hit By NATO Air Strike

A damaged car in Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli. Photograph: Reuters

Just a day after some U.S. politicians called for Moammar Gaddafi to be assassinated a NATO air strike has his Gaddafi's compound - an office building in the compound was hit but the whereabouts of Gaddafi is not currently known.

From the article at the Guardian:

An office building inside Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound has been destroyed early as Nato air strikes hit close to the base from where the Libyan leader is believed to be directing government strategy in the civil war.

At least two large missiles or bombs struck a multistorey building in Bab al-Aziziya, the sprawling complex in the centre of Tripoli, shortly after midnight. Another building, a ceremonial reception area where Gaddafi hosted a delegation from the African Union two weeks ago, was badly damaged.

The roof of the office building, which also housed a library in which Gaddafi liked to read according to an official, caved under the impact. The ground over a wide area was covered in shattered masonry, broken glass and metal, with pools of water forming between piles of rubble. Three hours after the blast, thick dust was still in the air when the foreign media was taken to the site.

Reports of light injuries from the blasts varied from none to 45. The Libyan leader's location was not known.

Gaddafi's supporters, who gather at Bab al-Aziziya nightly to act as human shields against Nato air strikes, climbed on the shattered building as chunks of masonry still fell. They waved loyalist green flags and chanted pro-Gaddafi and anti-Nato slogans.

I guess the signal is pretty clear to Gaddafi at this point - your days are numbered. At the same time, Gaddafi has to have been expecting this for weeks so I'd guess he's either way underground at the moment or he has changed locations. It will be interesting to see if the normally defiant leader emerges to shake his fist at NATO or if he stays underground or on the move.

Gaddafi compound hit in Nato attack


An office building inside Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound has been destroyed early as Nato air strikes hit close to the base from where the Libyan leader is believed to be directing government strategy in the civil war.

At least two large missiles or bombs struck a multistorey building in Bab al-Aziziya, the sprawling complex in the centre of Tripoli, shortly after midnight. Another building, a ceremonial reception area where Gaddafi hosted a delegation from the African Union two weeks ago, was badly damaged.

The roof of the office building, which also housed a library in which Gaddafi liked to read according to an official, caved under the impact. The ground over a wide area was covered in shattered masonry, broken glass and metal, with pools of water forming between piles of rubble. Three hours after the blast, thick dust was still in the air when the foreign media was taken to the site.

Reports of light injuries from the blasts varied from none to 45. The Libyan leader's location was not known.

Gaddafi's supporters, who gather at Bab al-Aziziya nightly to act as human shields against Nato air strikes, climbed on the shattered building as chunks of masonry still fell. They waved loyalist green flags and chanted pro-Gaddafi and anti-Nato slogans.

Inside the second building, furniture, picture frames and chandeliers lay amid rubble and covered with dust. The South African president, Jacob Zuma, along with two other Africa presidents, held talks here with Gaddafi earlier this month on a peace proposal.

It was the second time Nato had struck inside the compound since its military campaign started. A missile hit another administrative building in the early days of the strikes, causing extensive damage.

In the early hours of Saturday, two missiles hit a site a few hundred metres from Bab al-Aziziya. Nato appeared to have targeted an underground bunker, which was visible from the craters caused by the missiles.

Three members of the US Senate armed service committee called on Sunday for more military intervention in Libya. Republican Lindsey Graham told CNN that Gaddafi "needs to wake up every day wondering: will this be my last?'"

Monday's strike on Gaddafi's compound followed two days of heavy assault on the besieged city of Misrata by government forces. Despite the Libyan government's claims that troops had pulled back from the city, forces on the ground stepped up shelling and rocket fire following gains made on the ground by rebels.

The Libyan Mess: NATO Ground Troops, Civilians Killed In Airstrikes, Journalists Dead

Let's face it...everything Barack Hussein Obama touches, turns to crap. We've often joked in the world of sport in America that if Obama picks your team to win a game or championship, you're sunk. Well, when Barack Hussein Obama decided to throw America into an ill-conceived military action against Libya, most of us should have shuddered at the impending disaster. Well, those worries have been substantiated as the conflict continues to this day with little progress being made and in fact, things are getting worse by the minute.

It's amazing to me that in just one news article one can find so many things gone bad in the Libyan operation by NATO. Here's are just some of the lowlights from the story at Breitbart:

Seven civilians were killed and 18 wounded in a NATO air raid that targeted the southwestern Tripoli suburb of Khellat Al-Ferjan, official Jana news agency reported.

France and Italy joined Britain on Wednesday in sending military advisers to insurgent-held eastern Libya, as Tripoli warned that a foreign troop deployment would only prolong the conflict.

In the besieged city of Misrata, Tim Hetherington, an Oscar-nominated British film director and war photographer, was killed and three colleagues were wounded by mortar fire, the local hospital said.

Now, the Presidential election is coming up in 2012 and if you recall, in the time of the 2008 Presidential election, Barack Hussein Obama went on the offensive during his campaign and pointed out that the only action the U.S. was doing in Afghanistan was bombing villages and killing civilians. I guess what goes around comes around as in 2012, a GOP candidate could apparently say that the only action the U.S. is involved in regarding Libya is the bombing of Tripoli and killing civilians.

Right?

Civilians killed as Tripoli suburb targeted in NATO air raid


Seven civilians were killed and 18 wounded in a NATO air raid that targeted the southwestern Tripoli suburb of Khellat Al-Ferjan, official Jana news agency reported.

An earlier report by the state Allibiya television said the Khellat Al-Ferjan area where three explosions could be heard was the "target of barbarian crusaders' raids that left martyrs and wounded among the residents and destroyed their homes".

NATO warplanes carried out air raids earlier Wednesday at Bir Al-Ghanam, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of the Libyan capital, that left four people dead among the civilian population, according to Jana.

France and Italy joined Britain on Wednesday in sending military advisers to insurgent-held eastern Libya, as Tripoli warned that a foreign troop deployment would only prolong the conflict.

In the besieged city of Misrata, Tim Hetherington, an Oscar-nominated British film director and war photographer, was killed and three colleagues were wounded by mortar fire, the local hospital said.

Vanity Fair, for which Hetherington was working, confirmed the death of the 41-year-old from Liverpool, the second journalist killed covering Libya's two-month-old conflict.

A colleague seriously wounded in the same incident was named as US national Chris Hondros of photo agency Getty.

In Geneva, meanwhile, the UN human rights chief slammed the Libyan regime for the alleged use of cluster bombs in the city of Misrata, saying such attacks on densely populated urban areas could be international crimes.

Rebel leaders in Misrata desperately pleaded for foreign soldiers to help them battle Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's forces, who have been pounding the city for more than six weeks in fighting a doctor said had claimed at least 1,000 lives.

But the three European nations committing handfuls of troops to east Libya stressed they were being sent merely to advise the rebels on technical, logistical and organisational matters and not to fight.

In Paris, France's foreign ministry spokeswoman said: "France has placed a small number of liaison officers alongside our special envoy to Benghazi who are carrying out a liaison mission with the TNC.

"The precise objective is to give the TNC essentially technical, logistical and organisational advice to reinforce the protection of civilians and to improve the distribution of humanitarian and medical aid," she said.

She was referring to the rebel Transitional National Council, which so far has publicly rejected any suggestion of foreign troops on the ground as NATO warplanes enforce a US-mandated no-fly zone designed to protect civilians.

Government spokesman Francois Baroin said "fewer than 10" officers are involved, and repeated France's position: "We are not envisaging troops on the ground, in any shape or form."

The announcement came the day after France's main ally in the drive to help rebels, Britain, said it would send advisers to help organise the stalled rebellion.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said London would send 12 military advisers to eastern Libya, but that they would not be involved in training or arming the rebels, or help in planning operations.

Italy's Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa, meanwhile, said his country would also send 10 army advisers to aid the rebels. "There is a clear understanding that the rebels have to be trained," La Russa said.

TNC head Mustafa Abdel Jalil, after meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, said Libyan rebels expect "major strikes by the coalition" against forces loyal to Kadhafi.

"We are sure that Kadhafi will be overthrown sooner or later, but we want it to be as soon as possible," he told French television.

Asked whether the conflict would be won by force or negotiation, Jalil told France 24: "We expect there to be major strikes by the coalition, then Libyans can reach a solution."

In Washington, meanwhile, President Barack Obama's spokesman said he supports the decision by allies to send military advisers to aid Libyan rebels but has no plans to put US "boots on the ground."

A senior American diplomat, meanwhile, told lawmakers in a letter obtained by AFP on Wednesday, that Obama plans to provide the rebels with up to $25 million in urgent, non-lethal aid.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelati Laabidi told the BCC that the presence of any foreign troops in Libya would prolong the conflict.

"We think any military presence is a step backwards, and we are sure that if this bombing stopped and there is a real ceasefire we could have a dialogue among all Libyans about what they want -- democracy, political reform, constitution, election," Laabidi said.

"This could not be done with what is going on now," he said, adding that if the bombing stopped, after six months there could be a UN supervised election that would cover "whatever issue is raised by Libyans."

Seif al-Islam, a son of Kadhafi, said he was confident the rebellion would fail.

"I am very optimistic and we will win ... The situation changes every day in our favour," the leader's son said on his country's Allibya state television before a group of about 50 people.

Seif vowed the regime would "not seek revenge" against the rebels fighting to oust Kadhafi.

But he warned that "the use of weapons and force will only be met by force and those who cross the four red lines, set in 2007 (Kadhafi, Islam, state security and national unity) will have to bear the consequences".

The bombardment of Misrata continued on Wednesday, with loud explosions heard mid-afternoon following a night of heavy fighting.

Two French Mirage fighter jets believed to be involved in operations against Libya were forced to make emergency landings in Malta on Wednesday after running out of fuel, civil aviation sources said.

On Tuesday evening, Nuri Abdullah Abdullati, a senior member of Misrata's governing council, pleaded for help to break the nearly two-month-old Kadhafi siege of the Mediterranean port city.

Previously, he said, "we did not accept any foreign soldiers in our country, but now, as we face these crimes of Kadhafi, we are asking on the basis of humanitarian and Islamic principles for someone to come and stop the killing."

"Before we were asking for no foreign interference, but that was before Kadhafi used Grad rockets and planes. Now it's a life or death situation."

In Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned the reported repeated use of cluster munitions and heavy weaponry by government forces in the siege of Misrata.

"Using imprecise weaponry such as cluster munitions, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, and other forms of heavy weaponry, in crowded urban areas will inevitably lead to civilian casualties," Pillay said.

She warned regime forces that "their orders and actions will be subject to intense scrutiny."

Western Photojournalist Tim Hetherington Killed in Libya

Fox News

Tim Hetherington was nominated for an Oscar for his work in the Afghan War documentary, 'Restrepo.'

MISRATA, Libya –  A western photojournalist was killed and several others were seriously injured in Libya Wednesday while covering battles between Muammar al-Qaddafi's forces and anti-government rebels, Human Rights Watch confirmed to Fox News.

Tim Hetherington -- who was nominated for an Oscar this year with co-director Sebastian Junger for "Restrepo," a documentary about U.S. troops in Afghanistan -- was reportedly killed in the volatile city of Misrata.

Three other photographers -- including Chris Hondros, a New York-based photographer for the Getty agency -- were seriously injured, said a doctor in Misrata who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of government reprisals.

On Tuesday, Hetherington tweeted, "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO."

Andre Liohn, a fellow photographer also announced the news of Hetherington's death on his Facebook page.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/04/20/journalists-reportedly-killed-libya/#ixzz1K6fKyTv1

Libya = Pentagon Vs China

China's interests in Libya, which supplies 3-5% of its oil, also act as a gateway to its tens of billions of dollars worth of investments across Africa in mining, infrastructure development and oil & gas.

Asia Time's Pepe Escobar :

"The Muslim Brotherhood is a weaponised, ideological arm of Saudi Arabia."

"The problem is there are different Washington agendas, White House, national security agencies, the CIA, the Pentagon."

"The next domino to fall, if we follow the agenda established by the Pentagon is Syria....The Pentagon is basically the Africa agenda, they want to win the war in Libya, install a Africa base in Africa....then there are the dominoes, Libya, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Somalia. So these are the next dominoes to fall, according to the Africa Pentagon agenda. Then later on the big dominoes would the countries where China has substantial interests. Example, Angola, Algeria, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea...."

"China...their counter strategy, if they see they're foundering in Africa....they would renew their ties with South America and Central Asia..."

Obama's Libyan Operation Showcases His Incompetence In Leadership

It would take me 20 some pages to go through President Obama's lame excuses for sending U.S. military forces into the Libyan conflict but the fact of the matter is this at the moment - Barack Hussein Obama approved military action in Libya, then he got up in front of the American people and made his case for that decision...depicting a hopeless scenario for the Libyan people against Moammar Ghadaffi and then....well, as Obama does on every other issue in his Presidency, he walked away. And today, the fighting in Libya continues to go the way of Ghadaffi....and the President of the United States apparently didn't mean a word of trying to protect the Libyan people.

Look at this from the latest report from Libya at DAWN:

Regime forces bombarded rebels west of Ajdabiya, forcing hundreds of residents and some fighters to flee the key crossroads town, as a refugee rescue operation in the besieged city of Misrata loomed.

The intense pounding of Ajdabiya Sunday came a day after at least eight people were killed and 27 wounded as the forces loyal to Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi fired rockets at rebel positions there, hospital officials said.

“Qadhafi’s forces approached the city, they bombed the western gate. The sound of the guns are coming closer, that’s why many are leaving,” said Omar Salim Mufta, a 27-year-old resident rebel supporter who has not taken up arms.

Another civilian, 48-year-old Milud Ghait, appealed for Nato to launch air strikes on the area as about a dozen pickup trucks carrying rebel fighters left the eastern town.

“Qadhafi’s forces are on the western outskirts of Ajdabiya, but Nato is doing nothing. Where is Nato? What are the French, British and Americans doing?” he asked.

Now, in case you have forgotten about how heartfelt Obama was about saving the Libyan people...I'll remind you what he said about the plight of those people. From Obama's speech:

In the face of the world’s condemnation, Qaddafi chose to escalate his attacks, launching a military campaign against the Libyan people. Innocent people were targeted for killing. Hospitals and ambulances were attacked. Journalists were arrested, sexually assaulted, and killed. Supplies of food and fuel were choked off. Water for hundreds of thousands of people in Misurata was shut off. Cities and towns were shelled, mosques were destroyed, and apartment buildings reduced to rubble. Military jets and helicopter gunships were unleashed upon people who had no means to defend themselves against assaults from the air.

So, have you heard the President utter a peep about Libya since that speech on March 28th other than NATO was taking the lead? Have you heard the Commander-in-chief utter any concern about how the operation is going? Did he even MAKE the speech?

Let's face it - Barack Hussein Obama has never followed through on anything in his life. To put it bluntly, Barack Hussein Obama is a quitter. And as the saying goes, "Winners never quit and quitters never win." Barack Hussein Obama quit his career as an attorney, he quit his career as an educator, he quit his state senate career after becoming bored and after only a few years in the U.S. Senate where he showed up late for most of his meetings and voted "Present" he decided to quit that gig and move on. As President, this man quit on his healthcare initiative and let Nancy Pelosi do the heavy lifting...he quit on his goals of closing Gitmo and his claims to withdraw all troops from Iraq. He has quit on just about every one of his initiatives other than to lower his golf handicap by the time he leaves office.

Qadhafi forces pound Ajdabiya and Misrata


AJDABIYA: Regime forces bombarded rebels west of Ajdabiya, forcing hundreds of residents and some fighters to flee the key crossroads town, as a refugee rescue operation in the besieged city of Misrata loomed.

The intense pounding of Ajdabiya Sunday came a day after at least eight people were killed and 27 wounded as the forces loyal to Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi fired rockets at rebel positions there, hospital officials said.

“Qadhafi’s forces approached the city, they bombed the western gate. The sound of the guns are coming closer, that’s why many are leaving,” said Omar Salim Mufta, a 27-year-old resident rebel supporter who has not taken up arms.

Another civilian, 48-year-old Milud Ghait, appealed for Nato to launch air strikes on the area as about a dozen pickup trucks carrying rebel fighters left the eastern town.

“Qadhafi’s forces are on the western outskirts of Ajdabiya, but Nato is doing nothing. Where is Nato? What are the French, British and Americans doing?” he asked.

Also Sunday, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim claimed al Qaeda is involved in the uprising.

“We believe it’s very dangerous if these people establish themselves in this country, have control of its future, its immense wealth a footstep from Europe,” Ibrahim said.

On the political front, Britain insisted that it would not send ground forces into Libya.

“What we’ve said is there is no question of an invasion or an occupation, this is not about Britain putting boots on the ground, this is not what we are about here,” Prime Minister David Cameron told Sky News.

He stressed international forces would not go beyond the terms set by UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which authorises all necessary means to protect civilians in Libya but rules out a foreign occupation force.

It was not immediately clear if there were casualties from Sunday’s loyalist bombardment of Ajdabiya.

“They are about 20 kilometres away. They are firing at us with Grad rockets,” said Kemal Abdel Mohammed Abdel, 24, a rebel returning from the front.

The ragtag rebel fighters had previously appeared set to move on Brega, 80 kilometres west of Ajdabiya, with some correspondents reporting they were on the outskirts of the strategic oil town.

In the besieged western bastion of Misrata, a chartered Greek ferry arrived off the port as part of an international refugee rescue operation.

“This ship contains 500 tonnes of humanitarian aid, both medical and food, four ambulances and three doctors who are to replace colleagues,” said Jeremy Haslam, IOM operations leader on board.

The IOM was hoping to take on 1,000-plus refugees packed around the port.

“We hope to target the most vulnerable, West Africans, mostly from Chad and Niger, who are the least looked after by the local population,” Haslam said.

The IOM has identified some 10,000 non-Libyan refugees waiting to leave and who are camping out around Misrata without adequate shelter, clean water or food and no medical care.

That breaks down as 3,000-plus from Egypt, 3,000-plus from Niger, 1,000-plus from Chad, 1,000-plus from Ghana, 800 from Sudan and 75 from Bangladesh.

“This is the humanitarian priority in Libya, the fact that it keeps being shelled is grave,” Haslam said of Misrata.

A source at the city’s Hikma hospital gave the latest toll for that facility alone on Sunday as 16 dead and 71 wounded, with many casualties being brought in late in the day.

Gunfire was reported close to the hospital, and tracer fire was seen in the night sky over the city centre.

Earlier, rebels said they mounted successful raids on Qadhafi’s troops in the city.

Smoke billowed over central Misrata, which a witness said was from a destroyed regime tank, as the rebels claimed to have taken out several pro-Qadhafi snipers along the port’s main avenue, Tripoli Street.

Wailing mourners gathered outside the Hikma hospital as another victim of the fighting was brought in, doctors and mourners carrying the coffin of a man fatally wounded in the fierce fighting that has torn through the town.

As the body was loaded into the back of a pick-up truck and driven away to be buried, gunshots crackled in the air.

The sound of Nato jets could be heard overhead throughout the afternoon as gun battles raged in various districts.

The triage tent outside the hospital had seen a steady stream of victims, including a young boy receiving stitches to his head. Beside him, medics treated a man who had been hit in the head with shrapnel.

In the west, a witness reported that the insurgents hold the road from Zintan to the border with Tunisia, despite efforts by Qadhafi forces to cut the lines of communication of rebel-held towns in the area.

Loyalists were bombarding the area around the town of Nalut, 230 kilometres southwest of Tripoli and a few dozen kilometres from the border, the witness said.

Hundreds of injured people rescued from Libyan violence by Turkish aid ship

• Rebels chant 'The martyrs' blood is not spilled in vain!'
• 12-year-old peppered by shrapnel is among the wounded
• Libya’s deputy foreign minister suggests Gaddafi wants fighting to end
• Scottish prosecutors to meet British Foreign Office over Musa Kusa arrival 

A Turkish cruise ship turned into a makeshift hospital is evacuating more than 250 injured people from Libya after stopping in Misrata and Benghazi.

Ali Davutoglu, the Turkish consul general in Benghazi, said the ship Ankara had brought 230 passengers from Misrata and was picking up another 100 from Benghazi before sailing to the Turkish port of Cesme, where hospitals were preparing to welcome them.

The ship’s rescue mission came as Libyan rebels pushed into the strategic oil town of Brega while a government envoy began a trip to Europe to discuss an end to the fighting.

Rescue: Injured Libyans aboard the Turkish ship the Ankara, after 300 seriously wounded people were evacuated from the besieged Libyan towns of Misrata and Benghazi

Misrata is the only western city still under rebel control, with at least one person killed and several injured after government shelling yesterday.

While the eastern half of Libya fell quickly under rebel control, Misrata, 125 miles southeast of the capital Tripoli, was one of two western cities that rose up early in the revolt against Gaddafi.

His elite forces besieged Misrata for weeks, cutting off food and water supplies and power lines, but the rebels have stood their ground.

The regime has retaken the other city, Zawiya.

The Ankara, shown docking in Benghazi, is to head to the Turkish port of Cesme, where hospitals were preparing to welcome the injured

Wounded: Rebels stood firm in Misrata while hundreds of injured people were rescued from the western town

Dozens of men, many nursing gunshot wounds and missing limbs, lay on thin mats in the hull of the Ankara cruise ship today, speaking of brutal government attacks and young rebels struggling to fend them off.

Mohammed Abu Libous, 37, said he and seven relatives were working in a bakery on the outskirts of Misrata, rebel forces' last major stronghold in western Libya, when about 20 Gadhafi troops entered in three tanks and started harassing local residents.

They entered his shop and told him and his brother to surrender their weapons. When they said they had none, the troops took them out in the street. They shot his brother through the stomach and him once in each thigh, he said.

‘While I was on the ground bleeding, they bound the others and took them away,’ he said, adding that the troops stole all their money, cell phones and rings.

The Turkish government has funded the Ankara’s, and the Turkish Red Crescent and Islamic aid group IHH provided staff and supplies, he said.

Twelve Turkish jets and a frigate provided protection as the ferry docked at Misrata on Saturday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

People cheer while holding bouquets of flowers as the Ankara arrives at a port in Benghazi

Defiance: The crowd chanted 'The martyrs' blood is not spilled in vain!' as the Ankara rescued the wounded

A few hundred young men gathered on the dock, cheering, chanting and raising their arms and rifles as two tugboats guided the Ankara to port.

Passengers - some with limbs in casts and bandages - appeared on the top deck, waving to the crowd below, which chanted, ‘The martyrs' blood is not spilled in vain!’

Inside, doctors and nurses tended to the wounded in what was once a cruise ship. In one room, a bar had been converted into a pharmacy, with bandages and medicines where bottles and glasses once were. A nurse in a sanitary mask manned the reception desk.

Nearby, a dozen men in their 20s lounged on couches that likely once held tourists. Most had at least one limb in a cast, and all said they had been wounded defending their city.

‘It was my first time holding a gun,’ said Ibrahim Khelif, 25, whose left leg had been shattered by a hand grenade. ‘Anyone who could get one and figure out how to work it would go out in the street and fight.’

 

More...

• Gaddafi sends henchmen to seek an end to conflict... but does this mean he will go?
• Enemies... side by side in hospital: How Gaddafi loyalists and rebels are treated in the same ward
• So where IS Gadaffi? Libyan dictator not seen in public for more than a week as government forces continue to shell rebels
• Special dispatch: Gaddafi's diaspora and the Libyans overwhelming an Italian island who are threatening to come here

Many of the patients onboard have serious injuries, with one man losing his left leg after a mortar attack last month.

Bashir, a 41-year-old prosecutor, said he wanted the international community to intervene and oust Gadhafi.

‘The world has said he is no longer a legitimate ruler,’ he told Reuters. ‘Now it needs to come get rid of him.’

Other injured passengers on the Ankara included a 13-year-old boy who had been shot by a sniper and a 12-year-old whose face and torso had been peppered with shrapnel after a rocket exploded near him.

Rebels now hold much of the country's east, where they have created a provisional government in Benghazi and are working to improve training and coordination of their forces to pursue Gaddafi's ouster by force of arms.

Under instruction: New volunteer rebel fighters receive training on how to use a recoilless rifle at a military camp in Benghazi

A Libyan rebel walks past the charred remains of opposition vehicles, which were allegedly struck by coalition planes, days before the rebels retook Brega

A hospital official still in Misrata said by telephone that two of his cousins were aboard the ship. They and many other men were shot in the legs with ‘bullets that destroy the bones’ after Gadhafi's forces interrogated them, he said.

‘They have to remove their legs,’ said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

As he spoke, he said heavy shelling renewed yesterday evening, with anti-tank fire, mortars and tank shells crashing around the city center for over an hour. He said it was too dangerous to dispatch medics to see if there were any wounded.

Interrogation: Former Libyan foreign minister Musa Kusa is to be questioned by Scottish police about the Lockerbie bombing after arriving in the UK last week

Misrata officials have said in recent days that Gaddafi's troops also were trying to shell and destroy the city's port to take away the rebels' last lifeline to the outside world.

The ship’s journey came as Brega was seized by rebel forces.

An envoy of Moammar Gadhafi told Greece's prime minister Sunday that the Libyan leader was seeking a way out of the crisis.

Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi will travel next to Turkey and Malta in a sign that Gaddafi's regime may be softening its hard line in the face of the sustained attacks.

Meanwhile, Scottish police are to meet with officials from the Foreign Office to discuss the recent arrival of former Libyan foreign minister Musa Kusa in the UK.

Prosecutors have submitted a formal request to meet with Mr Kusa to question him about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the request would be granted, adding yesterday: ‘We want more information about past events.

‘The Crown Office in Scotland want to talk to him about what has happened in the past, such as Lockerbie.

‘My officials are discussing with the Crown Office tomorrow how to go about that.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1373175/Libya-Hundreds-injured-rescued-violence-Turkish-aid-ship.html#ixzz1IYJTlEVD

Geraldo Rivera Caught In Fire Fight in Libya

Qaddafi Pounds Rebels as Obama "Grounds USA's Warplanes."--Wtf

AP

March 31: Defense Secretary Robert Gates,, left, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen testify on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Armed Services Committee hearing on military operations in Libya.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is about to pull its attack planes out of the international air campaign in Libya, hoping NATO partners can take up the slack.
The announcement Thursday drew incredulous reactions from some in Congress who wondered aloud why the Obama administration would bow out of a key element of the strategy for protecting Libyan civilians and crippling Muammar Qaddafi's army.
"Odd," "troubling" and "unnerving" were among critical comments by senators pressing for an explanation of the announcement by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen that American combat missions will end Saturday.
"Your timing is exquisite," Republican Sen. John McCain said sarcastically, alluding to Qaddafi's military advances this week.
Gates and Mullen, in back-to-back appearances before the House of Representatives and Senate armed services committees, also forcefully argued against putting the U.S. in the role of arming or training Libyan rebel forces, while suggesting it might be a job for Arab or other countries. The White House has said repeatedly that it has not ruled out arming the rebels, who have retreated pell-mell this week under the pressure of a renewed eastern offensive by Qaddafi's better-armed and better-trained ground troops.
"My view would be, if there is going to be that kind of assistance to the opposition, there are plenty of sources for it other than the United States," Gates said.
The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said he saw no contradiction between Gates' remarks and President Obama's statement that "he has not ruled it in or out." As yet, none of Obama's top advisers have publicly advocated a significant expansion of the U.S. role aiding the opposition.
Gates and Mullen were early skeptics of getting involved militarily in Libya, and Gates made clear Thursday that he still worries about the possibility of getting drawn into an open-ended and costly commitment. That explains in part his view that if the rebels are to receive foreign arms, that task -- and the training that would necessarily go with it -- should not be done by Americans.
Gates said no one should be surprised by the U.S. combat air pullback, but he called the timing "unfortunate" in light of Qaddafi's battlefield gains. He noted that the air attacks are a central feature of the overall military strategy; over time they could degrade Qaddafi's firepower to a point that he would be unable to put down a renewed uprising by opposition forces, he said.
Mullen and Gates stressed that even though powerful combat aircraft like the side-firing AC-130 gunship and the A-10 Thunderbolt, used for close air support of friendly ground forces, will stop flying after Saturday, they will be on standby. Mullen said this means that if the rebels' situation become "dire enough," NATO's top commander could request help from the U.S. aircraft. The U.S. also has used Marine AV-8B Harrier attack jets as well as Air Force F-15 fighters and B-2 and B-1 long-range bombers.
As of Sunday, France, Britain and other NATO countries will handle the task of conducting airstrikes on Libyan military targets, Mullen said. The remaining U.S. role will be support missions such as aerial refueling, search and rescue, and aerial reconnaissance. It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. would continue attacks with Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have been fired regularly from Navy ships and submarines in the Mediterranean from the opening moments of the campaign on March 19.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested the pullback might jeopardize congressional support for the Libya mission.
"The idea that the AC-130s and the A-10s and American air power is grounded unless the place goes to hell is just so unnerving that I can't express it adequately," Graham said. "The only thing I would ask is, please reconsider that."
Asked by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen whether he was confident that NATO could sustain airstrikes alone, Gates replied, "They certainly have made that commitment, and we will see."
Many lawmakers were angered by what they said was the administration's lack of candor with Congress ahead of the Libya mission. Several complained that the mission is expensive and ill-defined. Gates defended it, asserting that a potential humanitarian disaster was averted when the U.S.-led intervention stopped Qaddafi's forces as they closed in on Beghazi, the de facto rebel capital in eastern Libya. Qaddafi's forces initially were driven back, but they have since regained their lost ground.
Mullen revealed that a major factor in Qaddafi's ability to drive back the rebels -- essentially eliminating the territorial gains they had made last week with the help of international air strikes -- was bad weather. He said it grounded most combat missions earlier this week.
Obama had made clear that once U.S. air power silenced Qaddafi's air defenses, permitting the establishment of a no-fly zone over the North African country, the U.S. would reduce its role and let NATO take the lead. On Thursday, NATO assumed control of all aspects of the international campaign -- including enforcing the no-fly zone and attacking Qaddafi's military.
The U.S. now finds itself in the unusual position of a back-seat partner in the Libya operation, with no clear path to empowering the rebels. A retired Army general, James Dubick, wrote Thursday in a war commentary that a necessary next step is to place NATO combat air controllers on the ground -- to include Americans -- to precisely direct air power. Trainers also are needed, he wrote.
"Right now, they (the rebels) are more like `guys with guns' than an organized force and they need help," Dubick wrote. He is a former commander of U.S. training mission in Iraq and is now a senior fellow at the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank.
Mullen said Qaddafi's army had lost as much as 25 percent of its firepower, although his ground forces still outnumber the rebels by about 10-to-1.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/01/end-air-combat-role-libya-qaddafi-makes-gains/#ixzz1IHkJXSmY

Libya: The challenges facing allies

By Caroline Wyatt
Defence correspondent, BBC News


The rebels have so far shown little sign of becoming more organised. Continue reading the main story
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Defence sources say forces loyal to Libyan leader Col Gaddafi are starting to feel the pinch on their arms supply as the coalition air campaign "chops the legs" off their already-stretched supply chain.


A long-range bombing raid by US and British warplanes earlier this week destroyed a major ammunition dump storing small arms and artillery munitions.


Home to some 40 concealed underground bunkers, the coalition believes it could have been used by pro-Gaddafi forces against civilians in areas such as Misrata and Zintan in the north.


"With highly targeted strikes like this we are hitting Gaddafi's forces where it hurts, limiting their supply lines and in turn reducing their capability to kill their own civilians," said UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox.


"Over the last few days UK jets over the skies of Libya have taken out a lot of Gaddafi's military assets, including air defence systems, tanks and armoured personnel carriers, in line with the [UN resolution]."


Military sources say that the coalition's air strikes so far have ensured the regime's forces have been "seriously degraded". However, there are indications that further air strikes on military ammunition dumps or forces attacking towns are likely to continue, as "there is more to do to prevent more loss of life".


Rebel problems


As the fighting in and around key towns in Libya continues, it is also believed that Col Gaddafi's loyalists are still recruiting more foreign fighters or mercenaries from outside Libya, from countries such as Chad, Mali and Niger, and using them mainly to control urban areas.




AdvertisementThe BBC's Orla Guerin came under fire near Ajdabiya
All this seems to indicate that while the coalition's strikes may have successfully removed many of the larger weapons in the pro-Gaddafi forces' armoury, much of their command and control and the majority of air defences, the hope that Col Gaddafi's regime would crumble rapidly from within has not been fulfilled.


Much depends on the rebels themselves, but they have so far shown little sign of becoming more organised. They, too, are starting to run low on ammunition, prompting fierce debate in Washington, London and elsewhere over the possibility of arming them.


Their supply chain - where and if it exists - is much shorter, and they are only lightly armed, but most lack any training, so that giving them weapons of any sophistication would run into immediate difficulties.


It's acknowledged that in military terms, they are no match for Col Gaddafi's forces at a very basic level. And as they are pushed back from some of their earlier gains over the weekend, morale amongst many will be getting shakier.


Although some within the opposition are defectors from the regular forces, most are armed civilians with little experience of the battlefield - and they appear to have little discipline or leadership, or the ability to co-ordinate their movements and aims.


Pressure on Gaddafi


The coalition is now also trying to find out more about who exactly the rebels are, as fears about their composition emerged publicly in Washington on Tuesday when Nato's military commander in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, told a Senate hearing that there were "flickers" in intelligence reports about the presence of al-Qaeda and Hezbollah members among the anti-Gaddafi forces.


He said Nato was "examining very closely the content, composition, the personalities... the leaders of these opposition forces."




AdvertisementThe BBC's Jonathan Beale saw the coalition partnership in action at a French air base in Corsica
The aim of the military campaign is to keep up sustained pressure on the Libyan regime, as command of the coalition is transferred to Nato.


However, the coalition can only do so much from the air and from the sea without putting in ground forces - and defence sources in the UK say they have been clear from the start that there is "no request for, and no intention for ground forces".


So, a lot will depend on the kind of political and diplomatic pressure that can be exerted on Col Gaddafi and his supporters.


The coalition's best hope must remain that his forces and regime will lose heart before the opposition does, as the military mission moves in conjunction with political overtures seeking to encourage the Libyan leader to flee the country - so far, unsuccessfully.


Fragile consensus


However, the coalition's own room for manoeuvre on the military front is itself time-sensitive. Already, countries such as Russia have expressed fears that the operation is over-stepping the UN mandate, while China, Russia and Germany are all against arming the rebels.


The fragile consensus that binds the coalition - and its Arab supporters - together could easily be shattered by any such move.


But unless the coalition does supply arms, or facilitate that, it is becoming harder to see how the rebels can win, or how Libya can avoid the prospect of a lengthy stand-off between the Col Gaddafi loyalists and a disorganised opposition.


Another danger is of reprisals by Libyan forces loyal to Col Gaddafi, and the risk of continuing low-level urban warfare inside populated areas in Libya, which could itself endanger civilian lives as the balance teeters back and forth between the two sides.


A prolonged stalemate is the outcome that the coalition was keen to avoid, along with the prospect of limited military action turning into a longer campaign to enforce the no-fly zone while a weakened but still influential dictator in Tripoli shows the limits of military intervention - not least as western leaders seek to banish the spectre of Iraq.