Western military assault on Libya's Gaddafi
(Reuters) – Below is a synopsis of military action in Libya in the past day.
THURSDAY, March 24
* Coalition forces enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya hammered Muammar Gaddafi's military with Tomahawk cruise missiles and air strikes as it pressed its demand for his supporters to stop fighting and halt attacks on civilians, U.S. Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said Thursday.
Gortney said the coalition had fired 14 Tomahawk missiles overnight and flown 130 sorties. In addition to policing the no-fly zone, they targeted an air defense site near Tripoli, a Scud missile battery in the south and Gaddafi's troops maneuvering near Misrata and Ajdabiya, he said.
* The Western attacks failed to prevent tanks from reentering the western town of Misrata overnight and besieging its main hospital.
* Libyan state television said western air strikes hit residential and military targets in the capital Tripoli.
* A French warplane destroyed a Libyan military aircraft with an air-to-ground missile as it was landing at Misrata air base in western Libya Thursday, France's armed forces said.
An armed forces spokesman said a patrol of Rafale fighters -- part of the Western coalition force carrying out a U.N.-mandated intervention to protect civilians caught in a counter-offensive by Muammar Gaddafi's troops against rebels -- spotted the Libyan plane breaching a no-fly order.
* Turkey's parliament approves a government decision to join a NATO naval operation to enforce a U.N.-sanctioned arms embargo off Libya, Turkish television news channels reported. Turkey, a Muslim member of the Western alliance, has agreed to send four frigates, a submarine and a support vessel.
* Turkey cast new suspicion on the motives of Western intervention in Libya as NATO states tried again to resolve differences over the command and aims of the military action.
* U.S.-led coalition launched 14 Tomahawk cruise missiles and dropped bombs on targets in Libya overnight, the U.S. military said
* Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague calls for NATO to take over control of Libyan operations as soon as possible, and condemns "appalling violence" by its rulers against civilians.
* French warplanes strike an air base in central Libya in a fifth night of bombardments by Western powers against Gaddafi's military, France's armed forces spokesman says.
Fifteen French planes were deployed Wednesday and a dozen overnight, leading to missile strikes on an air base some 155 miles inland from Libya's Mediterranean coast.
* Its defenses battered by coalition air power, Libya is fighting back with a propaganda campaign designed to present it as an innocent victim of "colonial crusader" aggression
* Western warplanes struck the town of Sabha in southern Libya Thursday, Al Arabiya television reports
* Western air strikes again hit a target in the Tajoura district of the Libyan capital which was struck overnight, a Libyan military official says.
* NATO will enforce the arms and mercenaries blockade on Libya "robustly," with force if needed, and hopes more nations will join those who have committed ships, planes and submarines, the operation head says.
POSITIONING OF FORCES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
-- NATO says allies have offered 16 ships to implement an arms embargo on Libya, including a command-and-control ship from Italy; 10 frigates -- including four from Turkey and one each from Britain, Spain, Greece, Italy, Canada and the United States; submarines from Spain, Italy and Turkey and auxiliary ships from Italy and Turkey.
-- The United States positioned 11 ships and submarines in the Mediterranean to support Libya operations, according to U.S. figures. That includes three submarines, two amphibious assault ships and two guided-missile destroyers.
-- There are no U.S. aircraft carriers stationed close to Libya. French carrier Charles de Gaulle arrived Tuesday.
-- Britain has two frigates off the Libyan coast. Government sources have also said destroyers could be deployed.
-- Canada has sent one warship to the Mediterranean, officials say, along with six CF-18 bombers deployed to Europe.
-- Italy, which the United States said had 11 ships supporting the Libya operations in the Mediterranean, has assigned one aircraft carrier and one destroyer to reinforce air defense and surveillance.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom)
