Military strikes by the U.S. and its allies against targets in Libya Saturday have severely “disabled” Libyan leader’s Muammar al-Qaddafi’s air defenses, a U.S. official confirms to Fox News. The official also warns they do not know what Qaddafi will do next following the military strikes.
(FOX)–“It’s too soon to predict what he and his ground forces may do in response to today’s strikes,” the official told Fox News.
Despite the blow, Qaddafi remained defiant as he threatened to attack military and civilian targets in the Mediterranean in retaliation of international coalition strikes on Libya.
“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,” Qaddafi said in a speech broadcast on Libya state television, according to Reuters. He also warns that weapons depots are being opened to arm the Libyan people in defense.
March 19: A rafale jet fighter seen shortly after take off at the military base of Saint Dizier, eastern France.
The Pentagon says 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been launched from U.S. and British ships in the Mediterranean, hitting more than 20 Libyan targets along the Mediterranean coastline.
Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, director of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, told reporters the Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from one British submarine and a number of American destroyers and subs. He said the success of the mission was not immediately clear, adding that additional attacks would commence later.
Gortney said the mission has two goals: prevent further attacks by Libyan forces on rebels and other civilians, and degrade the Libyan military’s ability to contest a no-fly zone.
The U.S. military strikes clear the way for European and other planes to enforce a no-fly zone designed to ground Qaddafi’s air force and cripple his ability to inflict further violence on rebels, U.S. officials said.
President Obama authorized limited military action against Libya Saturday.
“We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy,” Obama said in a statement from Brazil.
The president also reiterated that the U.S. will not be deploying ground forces into Libya.
A senior military official tells Fox News that the U.S. will be targeting air defenses along the Libyan coast in Operation Odyssey Dawn. There are a total of 25 coalition ships in the Mediterranean, with the U.S. contributing 11 warships.
“Some of the key first strikes that we are planning to strike of course would be on the coast because that where the integrated and missile defense systems are and of course the other air defense related facilities that we will be going after. That would open up the environment where we could enforce the no fly zone throughout from east to west of Libya.”
“The U.S. will be at the front end of this,” the official told Fox News.
BBC News reports that coalition planes have bombed targets in the capital of Tripoli. Reuters reports that air strikes by Western forces near Misrata have targeted a military airbase where Qaddafi loyalists are based.
Al-Jazeera is reporting that Libya’s rebel military council was coordinating with the international coalition where Qaddafi forces were present, according to Reuters.
Hours after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attended an international conference in Paris that endorsed military action against Qaddafi, the U.S. kicked off its attacks on Libyan air defense missile and radar sites along the Mediterranean coast to protect no-fly zone pilots from the threat of getting shot down.
“We have every reason to fear that left unchecked, Qaddafi will commit unspeakable atrocities,” Clinton said.
French fighter jets fired the first shots at Qaddafi’s troops, launching the broadest international military effort since the Iraq war in support of an uprising that had seemed on the verge of defeat. The French military says warplanes have carried out four air strikes, destroying several armored vehicles of pro-Qaddafi forces, according to AFP.
British Prime Minister David Cameron also confirmed that British forces are in action over Libya, according to Sky News.
Libyan state television is reporting that “crusader enemies” have bombarded civilian targets in Tripoli, Benghazi, and Misrata, according to Reuters.
In the hours before the no-fly zone over Libya went into effect, Qaddafi sent warplanes, tanks and troops into Benghazi, the rebel capital and first city to fall to the rebellion that began Feb. 15. Then the government attacks appeared to go silent.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after an emergency summit in Paris that French jets were already targeting Qaddafi’s forces. The 22 participants in Saturday’s summit agreed to do everything necessary to make Qaddafi respect a U.N. Security Council resolution Thursday demanding a cease-fire, Sarkozy said.
“Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected, and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians our coalition is prepared to act, and to act with urgency,” President Barack Obama said in Brasilia, Brazil, on the first day of a three-country Latin American tour.
The rebels, who have seen their advances into western Libya turn into a series of defeats, said they had hoped for more, sooner from the international community, after a day when crashing shells shook the buildings of Benghazi and Qaddafi’s tanks rumbled through the university campus.
“People are disappointed, they haven’t seen any action yet. The leadership understands some of the difficulties with procedures but when it comes to procedures versus human lives the choice is clear,” said Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the opposition. “People on the streets are saying where are the international forces? Is the international community waiting for the same crimes to be perpetrated on Benghazi has have been done by Qaddafi in the other cities?”
A doctor said 27 bodies had reached hospitals by midday. As night fell, though, the streets were quiet.
Libyan state television showed Qaddafi supporters converging on the international airport and a military garrison in Tripoli, and the airport in Qaddafi’s hometown of Sirte, in an apparent attempt to deter bombing.
In an open letter, Qaddafi warned: “You will regret it if you dare to intervene in our country.”
Saturday’s emergency meeting involved 22 leaders and top officials, including Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. It was the largest international military action since the beginning of the Iraq war, launched almost exactly eight years ago.
Earlier Saturday, a plane was shot down over the outskirts of Benghazi, sending up a massive black cloud of smoke. An Associated Press reporter saw the plane go down in flames and heard the sound of artillery and crackling gunfire.
Before the plane went down, journalists heard what appeared to be air strikes from it. Rebels cheered and celebrated at the crash, though the government denied a plane had gone down — or that any towns were shelled on Saturday.
The fighting galvanized the people of Benghazi, with young men collecting bottles to make gasoline bombs. Some residents dragged bed frames and metal scraps into the streets to make roadblocks.
“This city is a symbol of the revolution, it’s where it started and where it will end if this city falls,” said Gheriani.
But at Jalaa hospital, where the tile floors and walls were stained with blood, the toll was clear.
“There are more dead than injured,” said Dr. Ahmed Radwan, an Egyptian who had been there helping for three weeks.
Jalaa’s Dr. Gebreil Hewadi, a member of the rebel health committee, said city hospitals had received 27 bodies.
At a news conference in the capital, Tripoli, the government spokesman read letters from Qaddafi to Obama and others involved in the international effort.
“Libya is not yours. Libya is for the Libyans. The Security Council resolution is invalid,” he said in the letter to Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
To Obama, the Libyan leader was slightly more conciliatory: “If you had found them taking over American cities with armed force, tell me what you would do.”
In a joint statement to Qaddafi late Friday, the United States, Britain and France — backed by unspecified Arab countries — called on Qaddafi to end his troops’ advance toward Benghazi and pull them out of the cities of Misrata, Ajdabiya and Zawiya. It also called for the restoration of water, electricity and gas services in all areas. It said Libyans must be able to receive humanitarian aid or the “international community will make him suffer the consequences” with military action.
Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa said that Libyan officials had informed the U.N. and the Security Council that the government was holding to the cease-fire it had announced Friday and called for a team of foreign observers to verify that.
“The nation is respecting all the commitments put on it by the international community,” he said, leaving the podium before answering any questions about Benghazi.
In the course of the rebellion, Libya has gone from a once-promising economy with the largest proven oil reserves in Africa to a country in turmoil. The foreign workers that underpinned the oil industry have fled; production and exports have all but ground to a halt; and its currency is down 30 percent in just two weeks.
