JOIN USLibya warplane strikes oil town
The United Nations said more than one million people fleeing Libya and inside the country needed humanitarian aid, and conditions in rebel-held Misrata town were particularly worrying following attacks on it by forces loyal to Muammar Gadhafi.
Offering a potential olive branch to rebels seeking to end Gadhafi’s long rule, one of his associates appealed to opposition chiefs for dialogue, in a sign the ageing autocrat may be ready to compromise with the unprecedented revolt.
The offer, rapidly dismissed by rebels, coincided with a renewed publicity drive by Gadhafi that warned European nations to the north of the Mediterranean that if he fell “you will have immigration, thousands of people from Libya will invade Europe”.
A warplane launched an air strike on the eastern outskirts of the rebel-held oil terminal town of Ras Lanuf 600 km east of the capital Tripoli on Monday, witnesses said.
“There was an aircraft and it fired two rockets there were no deaths,” Mokhtar Dobrug, a rebel fighter who witnessed the strike, told Reuters. The attack took place at one of two checkpoints in the city.
The attack fitted the pattern of much of the recent fighting, which has been desultory and erratic, with small groups engaging each other, guerrilla-style, in hit and run raids. Air attacks have been fitful and the bombing often inaccurate.
In some areas, advantage on the ground has swung back and forth without conclusive result.
Prolonged bloodshed
But the resilience of Gadhafi’s troops in the face of protests which started in mid-February and their ability to launch a counter-attack has raised the prospect that the country is heading for prolonged bloodshed.
“It’s clear the government feels a sense of momentum on its side,” said military analyst Shashank Joshi, an associate fellow at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.
“Government forces have more mobility than the rebels thanks to airlift and a decent amount of road transport.
“That’s blunted by the fact that we are seeing extremely poor fighting skills by government forces, and reasonably competent fighting by the rebels.” The United Nations and the European Union are dispatching fact-finding missions to the north African nation, where reports by residents of attacks on civilians by security forces have triggered a war crimes probe and provoked global outrage. Tens of thousands have fled across the border to Tunisia since the uprising prompted a violent crackdown by security forces.
In Geneva, UN aid coordinator Valerie Amos said more than one million people fleeing Libya and inside the country need humanitarian aid.
Amos made clear that her first priority was Misrata, a town of 300,000 which residents said had been attacked at the weekend by government forces with tanks and missiles.
“Humanitarian organisations need urgent access now,” said Amos, who was in areas of Tunisia along the Libyan border at the weekend. “People are injured and dying and need help immediately.”
The rebels have called for UN-backed air strikes against what they say are African soldiers-for-hire used by Gadhafi to crush the uprising against his 41-year-old incumbency. The government says it is fighting against al-Qaeda terrorists and maintains that its security forces have targeted only armed individuals attacking state institutions and depots.