Attempts to crush rebels fail as strikes halt Gaddafi's army

THE remains of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's attempt to smash the rebels' resistance lay smouldering in a scrub field outside Benghazi.

The carcasses of at least 10 tanks lay blackened and twisted as the sun rose yesterday morning. An armoured gun turret had been thrown 30 yards through the air by the impact of air strikes delivered at dusk by French warplanes. It had gouged a deep wound in the soft soil and lay broken and useless.

Transporters -- one still carrying a tank -- and armoured personnel carriers were burning all around, sending up black plumes of acrid smoke. Dozens of pickups had been destroyed.

And in the distance, a vehicle erupted in a blinding, white fireball, sending up the fizz and pop of exploding ammunition.

The smoking hardware stretched far into the distance. It was an awesome and impressive sight. A day earlier, the same tanks had bulldozered their way into the city as thousands of refugees fled before the devastating assault. The fall of Benghazi seemed inevitable.

Now, rebel leaders hope the arrival of air strikes will herald a new phase in their uprising, sending mutiny through the ranks of Col Gaddafi's demoralised army and prompting a fresh wave of popular protests, even in his strongholds of Tripoli and Sirte.

"They will run away now," said one rebel fighter, who had come to celebrate the carnage. "They cannot fight this. We thank the French and their planes."

Closer to Benghazi, a one-storey home had been used as an impromptu government morgue and some of the bodies had borne the signs of execution, said witnesses.

"There were two with single gunshots to the head, like they were executed. Others had shrapnel wounds," said a French photographer who had seen the bodies piled one atop the other on Saturday night.

He pointed to where blood had soaked into the ground before a wall which was riddled with bullet marks, as if the men had been lined up in front of a firing squad.

The rebels are convinced that Col Gaddafi is making his final stand and has sent young, demoralised soldiers to fight while handcuffed to tanks or in planes without parachutes.

"We found 13 men wearing the military uniform of Gaddafi," Khaled al-Sayeh, a spokesman for the rebels, said. "Some were handcuffed and we believe they were executed possibly for defying orders."

Frustration

All Saturday the fighters had waited for the air strikes. With a growing sense of anger and frustration they wondered whether the UN resolution -- passed on Thursday night -- had any teeth. All morning Col Gaddafi's forces sent a deadly barrage of artillery into the city, edging closer and closer to the centre.

By 10am the tanks were inside the streets, drawing fire from rebel armoured vehicles as they raced to cut off the advance.

Trees along the road were shredded, their leaves and branches scythed down by sharp-edged shrapnel. Street lights were bent in two by the force of explosions.

Hundreds of men ran to the front line without weapons to see if they could help defend the city.

"We could see them right up close. There were just columns and columns of men walking behind the tanks," said Tamer Backr (33). "We hid behind the wall until we could run back."

By yesterday morning it was all over, hastened by the warplanes that witnesses said had plunged out of dark cloud as the sun dropped and returned in the early morning.

The wreckage of burnt-out vehicles -- pickups, civilian cars and three buses used to ferry members of Libya's special forces Khamis brigade to the fighting -- littered the south-western approach to Benghazi.

Jubilant rebels fired their rifles in the air as they paraded a captured Gaddafi tank through the streets on the back of a transporter. Cars tooted their horns in salute.

Revolution

The immediate threat to Benghazi was gone, with Col Gaddafi's forces reportedly pushed back 40 miles from the city by air strikes.

Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the rebels' governing council, said the revolution had started with peaceful protests and he hoped they could now return to a peaceful struggle with more defections and demonstrations undermining Col Gaddafi's hold on power.

"The sight of warplanes in the air will have a huge psychological effect on his own people," he said.

The past week has shown that rebels cannot advance on the capital Tripoli from their eastern strongholds without help. They will need towns and cities in the path to switch allegiance from government to rebel and for more military units to defect to the revolutionary cause. (? Daily Telegraph, London)

- Rob Crilly in Benghazi

Irish Independent

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Jets deployed for Libya air strikes

COLONEL GADDAFI was last night warned he must surrender large swathes of Libya or face military action from Britain, France and other western countries this weekend.

British and French fighter jets were last night poised to participate in bombing raids against tanks and other targets after Barack Obama issued a final ultimatum to the Libyan leader.

In a statement last night, the US president warned Col Gaddafi that he must withdraw troops from previously rebel-held towns including Misrata and Zawiya.

The regime should also immediately stop its advance on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, he said, and basic services including water and electricity should be returned to the areas.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the "final result" of international action against Libya must be Gaddafi's departure from power.

World leaders hope that by protecting rebel areas and civilians, Libyans will force the peaceful removal of the dictator and prevent massacres of his own citizens.

However, the countdown to war was dramatically halted yesterday afternoon after the Libyan Government announced a ceasefire which it claimed could be monitored by international observers.

There were conflicting reports over whether the ceasefire was being observed by Libyan troops and western leaders said they were waiting for "action rather than words" from the regime.

"Let us understand the particular nature of the Libyan situation," British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a speech last night. "This is happening now right in front of us.

"A dictator no longer wanted by his people, but determined to play out in real time a bloody slaughter, and it is a slaughter that we now have the power, the demand and the legal basis to stop. That is why what we are doing is right," he said.

Consequences

"Now once more Muammar Gaddafi has a choice," Mr Obama said. "Let me be clear: these terms are not negotiable, these terms are not subject to negotiation. If Gaddafi does not comply with the resolution, the international community will impose consequences and the resolution will be enforced."

Meanwhile, Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Eamon Gilmore yesterday backed the UN-mandated bombing of Libya.

"I believe Colonel Gaddafi has lost all legitimacy to rule and should be urged to leave the stage. We hope that the adoption of resolution 1973 will bring an end to that violence, protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access," he said.

The Tanaiste was speaking after a meeting with Ms Clinton in the wake of the UN resolution to enforce the no-fly zone over the troubled country.

- Robert Winnett, Andrew Porter and James Kirkup

Irish Independent

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Qatar and UAE 'part of Libya strikes', says key Gulf figure

The head of the Gulf's main political group has revealed that Qatar and the United Arab Emirates remain part of the coalition which is striking Libya, but stressed the mission seeks only to protect civilians.

The underlining of the Gulf states' backing for the multinational force follows criticism by Arab League chief Amr Moussa over the heavy missile barrages by US and European forces against Libyan air defences, tanks and other targets.

"What is happening now is not an intervention. It is about protecting the people from bloodshed," said Abdul Rahman bin Hamad al-Attiyah, secretary general of the Gulf Co-operation Council, which consists of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

But he did not clarify the role of Qatar or the UAE in the Libyan operations or whether they have taken part in missions so far.

The statement came as US, British and French planes targeted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's anti-aircraft sites for a second night and also destroyed a line of his tanks moving onto the rebel capital in eastern Libya.

On Sunday, Mr Moussa raised questions about Arab participation in the coalition after saying the attacks go beyond the mandate to impose a no-fly zone to halt Libyan air raids on rebel strongholds. Libya has claimed dozens of civilians have been killed in the strikes by the US and European forces.

Meanwhile, the UAE and Qatar also have joined Saudi-led forces in Bahrain to support the nation's embattled Sunni leadership after more than a month of anti-government protests led by the country's Shiite majority.

Mr al-Attiyah said there was no timeline on the presence of the more than 1,500 Gulf troops in Bahrain - which has come under sharp criticism from Iran and its Shiite allies around the Middle East.

"The arrival of forces is not an act of repression," he claimed.

Press Association

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IDF strikes Gaza terror targets in response to rockets

The IDF Spokesman unit on Saturday confirmed that IAF aircraft attacked two terrorist targets in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Specific targets were hit and all IAF planes returned safely to their base.

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