TRIPOLI – Nato has sunk eight Libyan warships and intercepted a fuel tanker it believed was heading for the military, the alliance said yesterday, in a marked escalation of a western-led bombing campaign.
The western alliance, working under a UN mandate to protect civilians from government forces, says military and political pressure is weakening Muammar Gadafy’s hold on power and should eventually dislodge him.
US president Barack Obama on Thursday said the Libyan leader’s downfall was “inevitable” and that it would be the only way for a transition to democracy to take place.
Three months into an uprising against Gadafy’s four-decade rule, rebels control the east and pockets in the west, but the conflict has reached a stalemate as rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli have stalled.
Nato said its aircraft had sunk eight warships in overnight strikes on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, and hit a dockyard facility for launching the fast inflatable boats that Libyan forces have used for attacks around rebel-held Misurata.
“The destruction last night of the facility and a significant stockpile of the boats will reduce the regime’s ability to sustain such tactics,” Britain’s Maj Gen John Lorimer said.
Russia has stepped up its criticism of the Nato-led air operation, calling yesterday for increased UN and African Union peace-making efforts to stem the violence. Foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Russia believed the air strikes were killing civilians. Nato says it strikes only military targets. “It is completely clear that the actions undertaken by the coalition are going far beyond the aims” of a UN Security Council resolution that authorised military intervention to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians, he said. – (Reuters)