Libya Live: coalition enforces no-fly zone on Muammar Gaddafi

 

 

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu has told TRT television that Turkey's demands had been met and Nato will take command of the Libya military operation.

_{Coalition forces have intensified their attacks in Libya but have been unable to prevent Col Muammar Gaddafi's tanks entering the key town of Misurata, it was reported on Thursday evening.}

18.26 Turkish foreign minister quoted as saying Nato will take command of Libya operation, AP reports. A Nato statement is expected.

18.21 Watch a Telegraph video of Gaddafi forces clashing with rebels in Misurata.

18:01 Libyan rebels have killed 30 government snipers in the town of Misrata and government warships and boats that were in the town's port have now gone, Abdulbasset Abu Mzereiq, a rebel spokesman, tells Reuters:

There were clashes today and our fighters managed to find a way to reach the snipers on rooftops and killed thirty of them. They have also managed to make the movement of those left very difficult because they went to the buildings they are positioned on and blew up the stairs of the building so now they are stuck.

The warships and the boats are gone now and the coalition forces have informed the (rebel) council that they will secure a safe passage for ships that are coming from Malta carrying aid.

17:58 A doctor in Misurata has told AFP that at least 109 people in the city have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded in the attacks by Gaddafi-loyalist forces over the last week.

17:52 Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, has warned his US counterpart Barack Obama of the need to avoid civilian casualties in the bombing campaign. A Kremlin statement said:

The Russian president especially noted the need to avoid casualties among the civilian population and the priority of achieving goals set by UN Security Council Resolution 1973.

17:39 More from Richard Spencer:

The government's official spokesman, has just read a short statement saying they had received intelligence that the allies were intending to attack broadcasting and telecommunications facilities. He appealed to the United Nations say it was "immoral" to attack civilian facilities in this way. If it were true, it would mark a significant escalation in hostilities - akin to the bombing of Belgrade in 1999 as well as of Baghdad in 2003.

_{A reconnaisance aircraft taking off from aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle. (EPA)}

17:31 The African Union has invited representatives of Muammar Gaddafi's government, Libyan opposition representatives and others to talks in Addis Ababa this Friday, Reuters reports the union's chairman Jean Ping as saying.

Ping told reporters that Gaddafi may send his prime minister and that officials from the European Union, United Nations Security Council, and neighbouring Arab countries had also been invited to Ethiopia to discuss the Libyan crisis.

17:05 Richard Spencer has emailed from Libya, further to CNN's Tweet earlier (14:54) about funerals, apparently of people killed in coalition bombing raids:

The mass funeral continued at the Martyrs' Cemetery in Souq al-Jouma'a in Tripoli. Officials said 40 people were being buried, but in the end 33 coffins turned up, and about 13-15 of the bodies were buried, taken in shrouds out of the coffins. They were placed in the empty graves I wrote about the other day.

Crowds chanted "The people want revenge for the martyrs", a variant on the theme heard throughout the Middle East this year, which started off with "The people want the downfall of the regime" and transformed here first into "The people want Colonel Gaddafi" which rhymes in Arabic.

One official said the people being buried were all civilians, but as before names were not given and reporters found no relatives at the funerals. They had flags draped over the coffins in military style.

Meanwhile, after minders failed to arrange a trip to Tajoura hospital to visit the civilian casualties said to be there, reporters tried to go on their own. But police at the junction between the hospital and the military base opposite stopped them held them for an hour and turned them back.

16:56 Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, has criticised the Western nations' operation in Libya as a "crusade", and suggested that they are seeking to control the country's mineral wealth, even as his country's parliament has voted to take part in enforcing the arms embargo:

I wish that those who only see oil, gold mines and underground treasures when they look in that direction, would see the region through glasses of conscience from now on.

16:43 UN human rights experts say hundreds of people have disappeared in Libya in recent months, with some vanishing after going to anti-government demonstrations, AP reports. The global body's five-member working group on enforced disappearances says if government forces are found to be carrying out systematic abductions this could amount to a crime against humanity.

16:36 More from the Telegraph's Rob Crilly on the rebels in Ajdabiya apparently offering loyalist forces a chance to surrender:

@robcrilly rebels say they approached Gaddafi forces in Ajdabiya to offer surrender, but were fired upon and withdrew

 

16:22 A bit more on that Libyan aircraft shot down by a French fighter - apparently it was destroyed on the runway with an air-to-ground missile, according to an armed forces spokesman:

The French patrol carried out an air-to-ground strike with an AASM weapon just after the plane had landed at the Misrata air base.

_{French Navy Rafale jet fighters on the deck of Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean sea. (AP)}

16:13 The New York Times has called on President Sarkozy and the French government to take a back seat over the Libya conflict:

Many people were taken aback when France emerged as one of the most pugnacious advocates of military action in Libya, especially Americans who were accustomed to French criticism over Iraq and French foot-dragging over Afghanistan. Without President Nicolas Sarkozy’s early and constant pressure for a United Nations-endorsed no-flight zone, military intervention might have come too late to save Benghazi’s people from the murderous threats of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

Now, Mr. Sarkozy needs to step back and let NATO take the lead.

16:05 The Turkish parliament has approved its government's decision to participate in the naval arms blockade off Libya, according to Reuters.

15.42 The Telegraph's Rob Crilly has tweeted:

@robcrilly rebels outside Ajdabiya reckon they are offering Gaddafi forces inside a chance to surrender

15.29 Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said in Tel Aviv that the Arab uprisings will prove positive in the "long-run".

15.27

^{A Libyan rebel stands guard at the last check point on the road between Ajdabiya and Benghazi, Eastern Libya}

15.26 An unnamed US official tells AP news agency a French fighter jet which reportedly shot down a Libyan plane may have been a military trainer aircraft. He says the Libyan plane may have been landing at the time of the attack.

15.15 Damien McElroy is on a government run "peace tour of Libya" to show journalists that the regime really isn't that bad and that the majority of Libyans are backing Gaddafi. However, he has been in touch to see that there hasn't been much fanfare to speak of so far. He said:

We are travelling in a convoy of 12 buses, most of which are empty. We are going past many civilians but none of them are smiling or waving flags [in support of Gaddafi]. We have also passed Tripoli International Airport and I can say that it hasn't been hit. There were 12 planes sitting on the tarmac.

14.54 CNN's Nic Robertson has tweeted:

Govt officials taking journalists to funerals for 16 people they claim were killed in coalition bombing raids, driving towards east Tripoli

14.52 Syria will make "important decisions" to meet the wishes of the population, Buthaina Shaaban, media advisor to President Bashar al-Assad, has claimed. She said:

Syria will witness important decisions to fulfil the aspirations of its people. The people will participate in decisions and in decision-making.

14.46 A US official has confirmed that a French jet has attacked and destroyed a Libyan aeroplane. Reports say that the plane, described as a "Galeb," was shot down over the city of Misrata, about 150 miles east of Tripoli. The SOKO G-2 Galeb (Seagull) is an older plane produced by the former country of Yugoslavia from the 1960s to the 1980s, it was reported.

14.42 Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has warned that Israel will not tolerate "terrorist" attacks, a day after a bombing in Jerusalem left one dead and more than 30 wounded.

14.29 Syria promises "important decisions to fulfil aspirations of people", AFP has reported.

14.16 At least two Grad rockets fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza slammed into the port city of Ashdod and just north of it, police and the Israeli army said. Medics said no one was injured in the strikes, which came a day after Gaza's Hamas rulers vowed to rein in recalcitrant militant groups who had vowed to hit ever-deeper into Israel.

13.54 Pro-Gaddafi snipers are in Misurata, a resident has said.

13.47 The International Criminal Court prosecutor says he is "100 percent" certain that his investigation will lead to charges of crimes against humanity against the Libyan regime. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that his team was looking into six incidents of violence against civilians and trying to identify those who participated in and ordered the attacks. He hopes to present his findings to the UN in May.

13.46 A Tripoli resident has told BBC's Newshour:

I'm not exaggerating if I say tens of thousands of young people are arrested. Look, we cannot even now stay close to each other, three four people, for a couple of minutes talking or chatting, I mean it's very danger[ous].

13.42 Jordan - Hundreds of Jordanian students started a protest camp on Thursday in central Amman, demanding "regime" reforms and "trial of the corrupt." Around 500 young people from different movements, including the powerful Islamist opposition, braved rain and cold weather to camp out adjacent to the Interior Circle, or Gamal Abdel Nasser Square, in the capital.

13.02 ABC News has reported that a French fighter has shot down a Libyan air force jet which was violating the no-fly zone. More to come soon.

12.57

^{Libyan rebels keep watch atop a vehicle for any signs of pro-Gaddafi fighters, on the road between Ajdabiya and Benghazi, Eastern Libya}

12.53 Mr Hague also said he wanted to see Nato take control of operations. He told parliament:

"The case for this action remains utterly compelling, appalling violence against Libyan citizens continues to take place exposing the regime's claims to have ordered a ceasefire to be an utter sham.

"These coalition operations are currently under United States command, but we want them to transition to NATO command and control as quickly as possible."

12.44 Mr Hague adds that there has been "universal condemnation of what the Libyan regime is doing", from the UN, Arab League, African Union and EU. He says:

The regime's action is strengthening our resolve to continue our current operations and our support for the work of the International Criminal Court. Our action is saving lives and is protecting hundreds of thousands of civilians in Benghazi and Misrata from the fate that otherwise awaited them.

12.41 "Appalling violence against Libyan civilians continues to take place, exposing the regime's claim to have ordered a ceasefire to be an utter sham," William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, has told the Commons.

12.38 The leader of Yemen's largest tribe has sided with opponents of the embattled president, calling for Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down immediately and refrain from further violence against protesters. The decision by the widely respected Sheik Sinan Abu Lohoum, 80, was announced in a statement issued from the United States, AP said.

 

12.27

^{Libyan rebels perform a prayer on the road between Ajdabiya and Benghazi, Eastern Libya}

12.24 Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, has said that the time is not right for mediation in Libya. He said:

The cessation of hostilities by the colonel is the necessary condition for any mediation, after which we can open the diplomatic phase. The coalition is intervening to defend the civilian population. Italy is not at war and does not want to be.

12.23 The International Labour Organisation has estimated that 800,000 foreign workers still in Libya.

12.12 Western air strikes have again hit a target in the Tajoura district of the Libyan capital that was struck overnight, a Libyan military source told Reuters.

12.10 Libya is short of fuel and needs imports, a Libyan energy official has told Reuters. He added that a ship was en route to Libya with fuel supplies but that claimed that it may be stopped or even bombed by the Western coalition.

11.59 A video posted on social media websites purports to show Syrian forces opening fire on hundreds of anti-government protesters in Deraa, near the Jordanian border.

11.57

^{A Yemeni army officer is lifted by anti-government protestors gestures as he joins them in a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sana'a,Yemen}

11.56 The international coaltion carried out an intensive air raid overnight on Gaddafi's southern stronghold of Sebha, a local resident has told AFP .

11.47 Syria - 20,000 people have gathered in the city of Deraa for the burial of victims shot dead on Wednesday, a rights activist told AFP. The crowd were support for the anti-regime movement, the source said. It came as reports emerged that more than 100 people were killed by police on Wednesday.

11.46 French fighter jets attacked a Libyan air base 150 miles inland from the Mediterranean coast overnight, French military officials have said.

11.42 Videos have been posted online by a Libyan freedom group, showing violence in Misurata.

11.31 More just in from Richard Spencer, who is in Tripoli. He says:

In the early hours of this morning - about 4am - a Reuters photographer was taken to the hospital in Tajoura, the town on Tripoli's eastern borders whose military base has seen the heaviest allied bombardment. There she was shown and allowed to photograph eighteen charred corpses just brought, she was told. She was told they belonged to both military and civilian casualties, though she was given no other details (name, age etc) that would help verify this.

A colleague points out that the government stresses repeatedly that all Libyans are armed and notionally part of the People's Armed Forces - "volunteers" as I wrote in a piece the other day are being given AK47s and joining checkpoints and engaging in other quasi-military activities, along with the militia, another quasi-military force. So the civilian-military distinction is deliberately unclear.

11.17 freedom4libya has tweeted:

Reports of coalition planes flying over Gaddafi troops outside city of Zintan. Gaddafi military installations hit hard last night in Sebha. No civilians were hurt.

11.16 David Cameron has said it is important not to exceed the remit of the UN resolution in Libya. He made the comment in response to a question asking if Gaddafi was a legitimate target.

11.12 The first female RAF Typhoon pilot was poised for another mission today after her successful sortie to Libya. Flight Lieutenant Helen Seymour flew into action yesterday, taking part in a seven-hour round-trip to patrol the no-fly zone over the north African country. She returned last night to the southern Italian airbase of Gioia del Colle, where the RAF pilots involved in the operation are staying. After being debriefed and taking some rest, the pilots can be expected to fly two days in a row. But it was not confirmed whether Flt Lt Seymour - the only woman flying the fighter jet for the air force - would be jetting off today. A military told PA she was focused on the job and did not want any special attention just because she is female.

10.55 Yemen - Britain is withdrawing embassy officials from the country with "immediate effect", the Foreign Office said. The department said only a "small core" of staff will remain in the country, and it urged other British nationals to leave. A spokesman said:

"In light of the rapid deterioration in the security situation in Yemen and the high risk of increased tension in Sana'a and likely protests on Friday 25 March which might result in violent clashes, part of the British Embassy team in Sana'a is being temporarily withdrawn, leaving a small core staff in place. This will take immediate effect.

10.24 Western air strikes have hit government tanks on the outskirts of Libya's rebel-held Misurata but tanks inside the city remain there and have not been hit, a resident has told Reuters.

10.20 The Telegraph's Rob Crilly, has reported on the violent way the rebels are running Benghazi as they try to fight off government loyalists. He writes:

It wasn't supposed to be like this in free Benghazi. After throwing off the shackles of Gaddafi's brutal rule, Libya's young opposition movement is rounding up suspected opponents and delivering its own brutal form of justice in a city living in fear that they have been penetrated by a fifth column of government loyalists.

10.17

^{Tires burn during anti-government protests on the streets of Daraa, Syria where dozens have been killed by security forces}

10.10 Pro-Gaddafi forces have seized control of Misurata port, Reuters has reported. Thousands of foreign workers are stranded there and are seeking evacuation, the agency said.

10.07

^{Western warplanes have hit Libya for a fifth night in succession, causing major destruction to a military base.}

10.04 William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, is to make a statement on Libya at around 12.30, it has just been revealed.

09.59 Syria's Deraa national hospital has received at least 25 bodies of protesters who died in confrontations with security forces, a hospital official has told Retuers. More on this as soon as we get it.

09.50

^{Ground crew work on an RAF Typhoon jet fighter at the Italian Airforce base of Gioia del Colle near Bari in southern Italy}

09.35 Syria - human rights groups have said that more than 90 people, including a 15-year-old blogger, have been arrested in Syria this month for online activities. The claim came after Syrian forces were accused of killing up to 16 people outside a mosque in Deraa on Tuesday night.

09.27 An article in Time magazine wonders if Bahrain is targeting Shiite doctors and medical workers. The piece quotes family members of hospital staff saying that they have been targeted by government thugs for helping injured protesters.

09.23 Embassy officials have confirmed that the British woman killed in a bombing in central Jerusalem on Wednesday was a tourist. The woman was critically injured in the blast and died on the way to hospital. Her next of kin have been informed but her name has not been released.

09.21 France has urged Syria to open up to dialogue and democratic change, after Syrian forces killed six people in an attack on protesters and opened fire on hundreds of youths marching in solidarity. In all, 14 civilians have been killed by Syrian forces in six days of demonstrations for political freedom and an end to corruption, in a protest movement spreading across the Arab world since a popular uprising in Tunisia late last year. Alain Juppe, the foreign minister, said:

We urge Syria to listen to the voice of dialogue and of democracy. A great change is under way. For a long time, France's Arab policy aimed for stability. Today, Arab policy is to listen to the aspirations of the people and that applies to Syria, which must take on board this widespread movement.

09.11 NATO has drawn up a plan for a command structure to run military operations in Libya from an Italian base, a diplomat told AFP. The day-to-day operational command would be located at NATO's base in Naples, with sub-commands for naval operations in the same location and for the no-fly zone at Poggio Renatico in northern Italy, the diplomat added.

NATO's strategic headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Power Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium, would oversee the overall operations. The aerial mission would be overseen at Izmir, Turkey, but the day-to-day tactical operations would be run out of Poggio Renatico

09.09

^{Libyan rebels unload a government tank near the key city of Ajdabiya, Libya}

09.05 Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft struck targets in the Palestinian territory again on Thursday as fears were raised of a new round of tit-for-tat violence. Israeli bombs killed four Palestinian civilians earlier this week while a bombing in Jerusalem killed a British woman yesterday.

09.03 Reports are coming in that Gaddafi forces have resumed bombarding the rebel-held city of Misurata. Residents told the BBC that they've run out of medical supplies, hospitals are overflowing with casualties, there is no food, and people drinking rainwater.

09.00 Nancy Soderberg, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, has told the BBC World Service that the international coalition "is not falling apart, but it needs to be strengthened". She said:

It was quite impressive that the European powers and the United States secured UN Security Council resolution for really the first purely humanitarian military operation in our history. The disagreements that existed before and after that vote are now showing themselves. It doesn't mean it will fall apart, but it is very much a fluid situation and dependant very much on how difficult it gets on the ground in Libya.

8.51

^{A man buries a rebel killed by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Ajdabiyah, Libya}

08.48 Israel - a British woman was the only victim killed in a bomb blast near a Jerusalem bus station on Wednesday, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

08.45 The Telegraph's Rob Crilly has tweeted:

Grey morning here. Lots of people headed up road to Ajdabiya to see whether rebel positions have moved forward

08.42 America doesn't even want to be in Libya, and the Germans are just getting in the way, so can Britain and France really run this conflict? Con Coughlin has written:

We've only been at war for four days, but already serious divisions have appeared within the coalition leadership over how to prosecute the campaign. It is easy to understand Barack Obama's reluctance to play a lead role in a conflict he didn't want in the first place. This was one war that America didn't want.

08.40 Nato still remains split over the command of the Libyan mission, with little evidence of an agreement soon, The Telegraph has reported.

08.38 Sixty percent of Americans support the US and allied military action in Libya to impose a no-fly zone to protect civilians from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, a Reuters/Ipsos poll has found. 79 percent said they thought Gaddafi should be removed.

08.34 Libya's neighbour Tunisia has frozen assets belonging to the family of Gaddafi, a Tunisian government source has told Reuters.

08.32 President Obama may be under attack from all quarters over Libya, but he knows what he’s doing, Alex Spillius, Washington Correspondent, has argued. He said:

His plan is consistent with his approach to date of restoring US standing after the Bush era, promoting US economic interests given the nation’s shrinking share of the global pie, and avoiding conflict without looking weak – hence his decision to redouble efforts in Afghanistan. This may be too nuanced, or too vague, to be called an Obama doctrine. But as long as he sits in the White House, US allies will have to get used to the fact that while they can turn to America in a crisis, they may not receive the response they expect, especially when they themselves are in hawkish mood on any given issue.

08.30 Richard Spencer, The Telegraph's Middle East Correspondent, has been in touch to provide interesting detail about the woman in the picture below and to describe what it was like to go on the government's guided tour. He said:

The woman in the picture is Nuriah Muftah, who identified herself as the aunt of the "martyr" whose family we were taken to see in the town of Beni Walid 100 miles south of Tripoli yesterday. We had been promised - as we have been for several days - victims of the allied bombing campaign, which we are told has killed many civilians. In fact, Fatih Issa Ibrahim was an infantryman killed when the French air force struck a line of tanks outside Benghazi on Saturday evening. His uncle talked reasonably and coherently and apparently with genuine sadness about the family's loss.

But once again, if the visit was intended to win sympathy, it backfired, largely because of the screaming loyalist gangs who are brought in at every opportunity to shout at us. Nuriah Muftah also began to speak about her nephew - her sister's son - but the government minders had allowed the gangs into the family's compound, and whether feeling under pressure, giving vent to her genuine feelings, or just struck by hysterical contagion - or a mixture all three - she lapsed into the same chants as the women surrounding her, seizing the weapon given to Fatih's younger brother last week as part of Gaddafi's arm-the-people campaign. The episode ended in some disarray when the menfolk of the family started to try to wrestle the gun out of her grip. Eventually a compromise was reached and she was allowed to fire two shots in the air for the cameras before handing it over.

At another point, the weapon was seized by a woman in niqab - full face-veil - who also brandished it, ululating. I cannot imagine there could be a worse image for the western media of what the regime stands for than a woman in niqab brandishing an AK47.

08.28 The Libyan rebel movement could legally be supplied with weapons from abroad in a move that would rapidly bring the conflict to an end, defence experts have told Thomas Harding, The Telegraph's Defence Correspondent.

08.26

^{Libyans loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi shout slogans as they gather during a government guided tour for journalists in Bani Walid, Libya}

08.23 US warplanes conducted strafing runs during an operation to rescue a downed fighter pilot, a military source has told Nick Squires. The cannon fire could explain the fact that several civilians were injured by bullets fired during the mission near the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, The Telegraph's correspondent on board the USS Kearsarge reports.

08.19 Col Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound was targeted by coalition air strikes on Wednesday night as a senior British commander said the Libyan air force had been destroyed. Five loud blasts were reported at Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound, where he had made an address on Tuesday night and which had been first attacked on Sunday night.There were eight further large explosions heard in the east of the capital and at a military base in Tajura, 20 miles to the east of the city. State television reported “a large number of civilians” had been killed.

08.16 There have been reports that civlians were targeted over night by Alain Juppe, France's foreign minister, has denied this. He told RTL radio that the strikes were "only targeting military sites and nothing else, and added that they were a "success" and would "continue as long as necessary."

08.15 British forces launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles during a fifth night of coalition strikes, the Ministry of Defence has said. Chief of Defence Staff's Strategic Communication Officer Major General John Lorimer said:

British Armed Forces have again participated in a co-ordinated strike against Libyan Air Defence systems in support of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973. The UK launched guided Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) from a Trafalgar Class submarine at Air Defence targets as part of the coalition plan to enforce the resolution.

08.10 GMT Welcome back to The Telegraph's live blog, following developments minute-by-minute in Libya and across the rest of the region.