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.
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