France Air Strikes Continued In Libya

French air raids and US Tomahawk missiles pounded targets in Libya on Saturday, in an international campaign to prevent Moamer Gaddafi from crushing a month-old uprising against his rule.
A US warship fired Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya on Saturday, targeting Moamer Gaddafi’s air defense sites, a senior US military official said.
The US engaged with “command and control logistics (and) cruise missiles” in its first strikes near Libya’s coast, “because that’s where the integrated missile defense systems are and of course the other air defense related facilities,” notably around Tripoli and Misrata, the official said.
The US operation — named “Odyssey Dawn” — followed initial missions by French warplanes.
Two US Navy destroyers and three US submarines were positioned in the Meditteranean near Libya, all of which are equipped with Tomahawk missiles.
US and British forces have fired at least 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya against Moamer Gaddafi’s air defense sites, a top US military officer said Saturday.
Admiral William Gortney told reporters that “earlier this afternoon over 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from both US and British ships and submarines struck more than 20 integrated air defense systems and other air defense facilities ashore.” A US official said over 20 sites targeted in coalition strikes
No US ground troops will be sent into Libya, US President Barack Obama said Saturday after announcing he authorized the cruise missile strikes launched minutes earlier against strongman Moamer Gaddafi’s forces. Several loud blasts were heard east of the Libyan capital Tripoli Saturday evening and balls of fire could be seen on the horizon, witnesses told AFP.
Western forces bombed fuel tanks feeding the rebel-held city of Misrata, east of Tripoli, on Saturday, a Libyan army spokesman said on state television. “The ‘Crusader enemy’ has bombed fuel tanks feeding the city of Misrata and the surrounding regions,” the spokesman said.
Earlier on Saturday, rebels in Misrata, 210 kilometres from the Libyan capital, said they had beaten back an assault by forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moamer Gaddafi. Two days after a UN Security Council resolution which authorised military action, French planes carried out an initial four air strikes, destroying several armoured vehicles of Gaddafi’s forces, the French military said.
Libyan media said Western warplanes bombed civilian targets in Tripoli, causing casualties, shortly after France’s launch of the multinational air campaign against Gaddafi. State television said hundreds of people had gathered at Bab al-Aziziyah, Gaddafi’s Tripoli headquarters, and at the capital’s international airport, ahead of the widely anticipated air strikes.
“Crowds are forming around the targets identified by France,” the television reported, showing pictures of flag-waving people gathering to serve as human shields.
Last week, a highly placed French source referred to Bab al-Aziziya, a military air base in Sirte, east of the capital, and another in Sebha in the south as likely targets of a strike. British forces were on Saturday in action over Libya as part of the UN-sanctioned intervention to stop Moamer Gaddafi’s forces crushing an uprising, Prime Minister David Cameron said.
“Tonight, British forces are in action over Libya. They are part of an international coalition that has come together to enforce the will of the United Nations and to protect the Libyan people,” Cameron said.