French jet fires on Libyan target
Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 1:48 pm
A French fighter jet fired on a Libyan military vehicle, French officials said Saturday, in the what appeared to be the first salvo in an international military air campaign against forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The airstrike happened at 6:45 p.m. local time in Libya (4:45 p.m GMT), French Defence Ministry spokesman Thierry Burkhard said. While the spokesman did not specify what type of vehicle was attacked, Al Jazeera reported that four Libyan tanks had been destroyed southwest of the rebel capital of Benghazi.
An estimated 20 French aircraft took part in the operation, Reuters reported.
The airstrike came amid reports that forces supporting Gadhafi had entered Benghazi, launching attacks in defiance of a UN no-fly resolution and mounting international pressure to halt the violent crackdown.
As the French military mission got underway, U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday that the Western coalition is prepared to act with urgency.
"Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected," said Obama, speaking in Brazil at the start of a visit to Latin America.
Earlier, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his country's military action is part of an international intervention to protect civilians from the "murderous madness" of Gadhafi's forces.
In a statement following a hastily convened emergency summit in Paris, Sarkozy vowed allied countries backed by the UN would protect the Libyan city's civilian population from the "mortal danger" facing them from pro-Gadhafi forces.
"Today, we are intervening in Libya under the United Nations Security Council mandate, alongside our partners, in particular our Arab partners," Sarkozy said.
"We are doing this in order to protect the civilian populations from the murderous madness of a regime that, by killing its own people, has forfeited all legitimacy."
"The world will not sit idly by," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday, dismissing assurances from the Libyan government that a ceasefire was being observed.
"The reality is on the ground tells a very different story," Clinton said, citing "troubling reports" of fighting.
"Col. Gadhafi continues to defy the world. His attacks on civilians go on," said Clinton who described the situation in Libya as "fluid and fast changing."
Jet shot down
Earlier Saturday, government tanks were seen in Benghazi and the south and coastal areas were coming under attack despite a declared ceasefire, BBC and Al Jazeera reported.
Rebels and government soldiers were also fighting on a university campus on the south side of the city, Bengahzi resident Abdel-Hafez told the Associated Press.
"There is a bombardment by artillery and rockets on all districts of Benghazi," Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the opposition National Libyan Council, told Al Jazeera.
Thousands of Libyans were fleeing shelling on the western side of Benghazi, the CBC's Nahlah Ayed reported from Cairo.
Long lines of traffic were reported heading east on the road from Benghazi to the city of Tobruk, and long waits were also happening at gas stations.
As well, video footage from the city showed a jet being shot down over the city. An Associated Press reporter saw the plane go down in flames and heard the sound of artillery and crackling gunfire.
Libya's government denied there had been any action in Benghazi and blamed rebel elements for trying to spark international military action.
"There are no attacks whatsoever on Benghazi," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told Reuters.
Trying to outmanoeuvre Western military intervention, the Gadhafi government declared a ceasefire on Friday as the rebel uprising faltered against his military.
UN resolution 'invalid': Gadhafi
On Saturday, however, the Libyan ruler said a UN resolution authorizing international military intervention in Libya was "invalid."
'Libyan people must be protected': Obama
Gadhafi also sent a letter to the French and British leaders, and the UN secretary general, saying the resolution violates the UN charter and they would "regret" any intervention.
"Libya is not for you, Libya is for the Libyans," he said.
The rebels want UN intervention immediately and say they don't have enough ammunition or people to fight on their own.
"At the very least, they are saying that the allied forces should come in immediately and provide air cover," Ayed said.
Also Saturday, the International Red Cross said an estimated 150,000 people have left Libya for neighbouring Tunisia in the last month.
The "continued conflict within Libya creates the potential for a significant increase in migrant and refugee flows," the aid agency reported.
With files from The Associated Press
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011 ... mbing.html
The airstrike happened at 6:45 p.m. local time in Libya (4:45 p.m GMT), French Defence Ministry spokesman Thierry Burkhard said. While the spokesman did not specify what type of vehicle was attacked, Al Jazeera reported that four Libyan tanks had been destroyed southwest of the rebel capital of Benghazi.
An estimated 20 French aircraft took part in the operation, Reuters reported.
The airstrike came amid reports that forces supporting Gadhafi had entered Benghazi, launching attacks in defiance of a UN no-fly resolution and mounting international pressure to halt the violent crackdown.
As the French military mission got underway, U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday that the Western coalition is prepared to act with urgency.
"Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected," said Obama, speaking in Brazil at the start of a visit to Latin America.
Earlier, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his country's military action is part of an international intervention to protect civilians from the "murderous madness" of Gadhafi's forces.
In a statement following a hastily convened emergency summit in Paris, Sarkozy vowed allied countries backed by the UN would protect the Libyan city's civilian population from the "mortal danger" facing them from pro-Gadhafi forces.
"Today, we are intervening in Libya under the United Nations Security Council mandate, alongside our partners, in particular our Arab partners," Sarkozy said.
"We are doing this in order to protect the civilian populations from the murderous madness of a regime that, by killing its own people, has forfeited all legitimacy."
"The world will not sit idly by," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday, dismissing assurances from the Libyan government that a ceasefire was being observed.
"The reality is on the ground tells a very different story," Clinton said, citing "troubling reports" of fighting.
"Col. Gadhafi continues to defy the world. His attacks on civilians go on," said Clinton who described the situation in Libya as "fluid and fast changing."
Jet shot down
Earlier Saturday, government tanks were seen in Benghazi and the south and coastal areas were coming under attack despite a declared ceasefire, BBC and Al Jazeera reported.
Rebels and government soldiers were also fighting on a university campus on the south side of the city, Bengahzi resident Abdel-Hafez told the Associated Press.
"There is a bombardment by artillery and rockets on all districts of Benghazi," Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the opposition National Libyan Council, told Al Jazeera.
Thousands of Libyans were fleeing shelling on the western side of Benghazi, the CBC's Nahlah Ayed reported from Cairo.
Long lines of traffic were reported heading east on the road from Benghazi to the city of Tobruk, and long waits were also happening at gas stations.
As well, video footage from the city showed a jet being shot down over the city. An Associated Press reporter saw the plane go down in flames and heard the sound of artillery and crackling gunfire.
Libya's government denied there had been any action in Benghazi and blamed rebel elements for trying to spark international military action.
"There are no attacks whatsoever on Benghazi," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told Reuters.
Trying to outmanoeuvre Western military intervention, the Gadhafi government declared a ceasefire on Friday as the rebel uprising faltered against his military.
UN resolution 'invalid': Gadhafi
On Saturday, however, the Libyan ruler said a UN resolution authorizing international military intervention in Libya was "invalid."
'Libyan people must be protected': Obama
Gadhafi also sent a letter to the French and British leaders, and the UN secretary general, saying the resolution violates the UN charter and they would "regret" any intervention.
"Libya is not for you, Libya is for the Libyans," he said.
The rebels want UN intervention immediately and say they don't have enough ammunition or people to fight on their own.
"At the very least, they are saying that the allied forces should come in immediately and provide air cover," Ayed said.
Also Saturday, the International Red Cross said an estimated 150,000 people have left Libya for neighbouring Tunisia in the last month.
The "continued conflict within Libya creates the potential for a significant increase in migrant and refugee flows," the aid agency reported.
With files from The Associated Press
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011 ... mbing.html
