News / International
Western forces launch attacks on Libya
19 Mar 2011 at 19:27hrs | Views
Benghazi - Western forces hit targets along the Libyan coast on Saturday, using strikes from air and sea to force Muammar Gaddafi's troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians.
French planes fired the first shots in what is the biggest international military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles in the region of the rebels' eastern stronghold, Benghazi.
Hours later, British and US warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles against air defences around the capital Tripoli and the western city of Misrata, which has been besieged by Gaddafi's forces, US military officials said.
Operation Odyssey Dawn
He said US forces and planes would take part in the five-country operation "Odyssey Dawn", along with Britain, France, Canada and Italy.
Some 25 coalition ships, including three US submarines armed with Tomahawk missiles, are stationed in the Mediterranean, a military slide showed.
Libyan state television said the "crusader enemy", a reference to Western forces, bombarded civilian areas of Tripoli and fuel storage tanks that supplied Misrata.
State television also reported that a French warplane was shot down in the Njela district of Tripoli, but French officials denied the report.
Earlier on Saturday Gaddafi's troops pushed into the outskirts of Benghazi after a unilateral ceasefire declared by his government failed to materialise, prompting leaders meeting in Paris to announce the start of military intervention.
Slaughter of civilians
"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 the operation, also backed by Arab nations, would continue unless the Libyan leader ceased fire.
"Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen," British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the meeting. "We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue."
He later appeared on television to say that British forces were in action over Libya.
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 Stephen 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."
No right to intervene
Gaddafi had said Western powers had no right to intervene.
"This is injustice, this is clear aggression," government spokesperson 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 towards 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.
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.
Obama on Friday specifically called on Gaddafi's forces to pull back from the western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata as well from the east, and allow all people in Libya access to water, electricity and humanitarian assistance.
Thousands flee
In Benghazi, 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 towards 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."
"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 centre 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.
French planes fired the first shots in what is the biggest international military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles in the region of the rebels' eastern stronghold, Benghazi.
Hours later, British and US warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles against air defences around the capital Tripoli and the western city of Misrata, which has been besieged by Gaddafi's forces, US military officials said.
Operation Odyssey Dawn
He said US forces and planes would take part in the five-country operation "Odyssey Dawn", along with Britain, France, Canada and Italy.
Some 25 coalition ships, including three US submarines armed with Tomahawk missiles, are stationed in the Mediterranean, a military slide showed.
Libyan state television said the "crusader enemy", a reference to Western forces, bombarded civilian areas of Tripoli and fuel storage tanks that supplied Misrata.
State television also reported that a French warplane was shot down in the Njela district of Tripoli, but French officials denied the report.
Earlier on Saturday Gaddafi's troops pushed into the outskirts of Benghazi after a unilateral ceasefire declared by his government failed to materialise, prompting leaders meeting in Paris to announce the start of military intervention.
Slaughter of civilians
"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 the operation, also backed by Arab nations, would continue unless the Libyan leader ceased fire.
"Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen," British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the meeting. "We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue."
He later appeared on television to say that British forces were in action over Libya.
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 Stephen 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."
No right to intervene
Gaddafi had said Western powers had no right to intervene.
"This is injustice, this is clear aggression," government spokesperson 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 towards 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.
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.
Obama on Friday specifically called on Gaddafi's forces to pull back from the western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata as well from the east, and allow all people in Libya access to water, electricity and humanitarian assistance.
Thousands flee
In Benghazi, 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 towards 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."
"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 centre 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.
Source - Reuters
