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Western warplanes, missiles hit Libyan targets
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By Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - 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.
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Seen through night-vision lenses aboard amphibious transport dock USS Ponce (LPD 15), guided missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) fires Tomahawk cruise missiles in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn in the Mediterranean Sea on March 19, 2011 and released to Reuters on Saturday.
Credit: Reuters/Nathanael Miller/U.S. Navy photo/Handout
By Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy
TRIPOLI |
Sun Mar 20, 2011 2:36am EDT
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - 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.
Libyan state television said 48 people had been killed and 150 wounded in the allied air strikes. It also said there had been a fresh wave of strikes on Tripoli early on Sunday.
There was no way to independently verify the claims.
CBS News on its website said on Sunday that three U.S. B-2 stealth bombers had dropped 40 bombs on a "major Libyan airfield" that was not further identified. A Pentagon spokesman said he had no information about such an attack.
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 armored vehicles in the region of the rebels' eastern stronghold, Benghazi.
Hours later, U.S. and British warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles against air defenses around the capital Tripoli and the western city of Misrata, which has been besieged by Gaddafi's forces, U.S. military officials said.
They said U.S. forces and planes were working with Britain, France, Canada and Italy in operation "Odyssey Dawn."
Gaddafi called it "colonial, crusader" aggression.
"It is now necessary to open the stores and arm all the masses with all types of weapons to defend the independence, unity and honor of Libya," he said in an audio message broadcast on state television hours after the strikes began.
China and Russia, which abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote last week endorsing intervention, expressed regret at the military action. China's Foreign Ministry said it hoped the conflict would not lead to a greater loss of civilian life.
Explosions and heavy anti-aircraft fire rattled Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday. The shooting was followed by defiant shouts of "Allahu Akbar" that echoed around the city center.
Libyan state television showed footage from an unidentified hospital of what it called victims of the "colonial enemy." Ten bodies were wrapped up in white and blue bed sheets, and several people were wounded, one of them badly, the television said.
Tripoli residents said they had heard an explosion near the eastern Tajoura district, while in Misrata they said strikes had targeted an airbase used by Gaddafi's forces.
A Reuters witness in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi reported loud explosions and anti-aircraft fire, but it was unclear which side was shooting.
The intervention, after weeks of diplomatic wrangling, was welcomed in Benghazi with a mix of apprehension and relief.
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Comments (4)
fredricwilliams wrote:
Peace Prize Winner Obama sends cruise missiles into Libya: “War is Peace” was Big Brother’s slogan in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four. And the goal is to do what? Change the government — the traditional purpose of WAR.
The excuse “to protect civilians” is a novel one. I’ll give the imperial powers credit for that. My guess is civilians will get killed and a civil war prolonged.
But why are Europe and the US so anxious to overturn Gadhafi after more than 40 years? And were they behind the rebellion to begin with? That was the case in Afghanistan in 1978, when Carter armed and financed the rebellion that led to Russian intervention and a million deaths.
I notice that when Israeli aircraft and missiles are used against civilians in Lebanon or Gaza, I don’t see the West threatening anything at all — no embargo, nothing to prevent Israel from flying and bombing, and surely no attack on tanks or armored vehicles used to kill civilians. How many? More than 20,000 civilians in many such attacks going back to 1978.
The definition of a bully is “one who uses strength or power to intimidate or harm others.” Looks like the West, Gadhafi, and Israel have a lot in common.
Mar 19, 2011 12:54am EDT -- Report as abuse
Greenspan2 wrote:
As in every other tragedy and including this one, those who have had their homes and families destroyed do not care about geopolitical opinions.
Mar 20, 2011 1:24am EDT -- Report as abuse
anonym0us wrote:
And the rebels yelled… “Freedom”? Nope. “Democracy”? No, wrong again. It was “Allah akbar!” Putting al Qaeda in charge of Libya at the expense of US taxpayers – that’s some foreign policy! Oh my, I’m missing Bush! He was dumb, but never so dumb! Or maybe not, maybe Obama is not dumb, and playing into the hands of Islamic militants is a part of his master plan of building relations with Islam.
Mar 20, 2011 1:54am EDT -- Report as abuse
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