19:16 Al Jazeera English Qatar has marketed a million barrels of crude oil on behalf of Libya’s Transitional National Council – including two shipments from Tobruk – and has delivered four shipments of petroleum products – including diesel, gasoline and LPG Butane, to the eastern port of Benghazi.
An official at Qatar’s Ministry of Energy and Industry said the shipments to Benghai were delivered swiftly through the seaport “after intensive deliberations with concerned consumers, to provide quick assistance to the Libyan people”.
Qatar will continue to offer support to to the Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) in marketing and selling Libyan oil, the official told Qatar News Agency.
19:14 Al Manara Eyewitnesses say that around noon today, NATO aircraft bombed the Hamza Battalion in Misrata. There was another bombardment around 17:45 which damaged more tanks.
18:05 AFP Ali Al Asawi, speaking for the National Transitional Council, has told reporters at an EU meeting in Luxembourg that Gaddafi forces have killed 10,000 people and injured 30,000 with some 7,000 of those in serious conditions since the start of the conflict in February. Another 20,000 he said are missing. He expressed that they want more efforts regarding the protection of civilians.
16:56 Reuters There are reports of heavy fighting in Misrata right now, but the opposition fighters have managed to repel government attacks in two locations.16:35 Reuters NATO expects “hit and run” tactics from Gaddafi after NATO strikes destroyed much of his heavy weaponry. “We know we are having an effect,” Brigadier-General van Uhm told a news briefing. “Pro-Gaddafi forces cannot fight where they want, they cannot fight how they want, and they cannot use the weapons they want. Nothing indicates, however, that Gaddafi has any intention of disengaging from operations.” Van Uhm said NATO expected instead to see a change in tactics.
16:15 Al Jazeera English Opposition fighters have taken Zintan’s western gate from Gaddafi’s forces.16:00 Al Jazeera English Doctors in Misurata tell Al Jazeera that shelling in the western Libyan city “was very bad yesterday: ten dead, including two children, with 40 injured.”13:55 Reuters Gaddafi forces have bombarded the western entrance to Ajdabiya, a witness reported. Eight blasts, apparently from artillery, were heard by the witness.
13:29 The Guardian Moussa Koussa, former Libyan foreign minister, is leaving the UK after being questioned by Scottish police for his involvement in the Lockerbie affair. He is expected to travel to Doha, Qatar, to meet with Arab officials. An international conference on the future of Libya is being held in Doha with representatives from the Benghazi-based opposition.Koussa is said to be seeking to establish whether he has a role to play in the rebel movement along with other senior defectors from the Gaddafi regime – perhaps by brokering a deal between Tripoli and Benghazi.
It is believed he has links with some of the leading rebel figures, including the opposition leader Mahmoud Jibril.
12:29 Al Jazeera English Captured opposition fighters in Libya found shot in the head with their hands tied behind their backs, Amnesty International has said, adding it has strong evidence of other human rights abuses. Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have also deliberately killed unarmed protesters and attacked civilians fleeing fighting, Amnesty says, citing evidence gathered by its delegates in eastern Libya over the past six weeks.
12:00 BBC NATO is not doing enough to destroy heavy weaponry used by Gaddafi’s forces, the French and British foreign ministers say. Libyan civilians remain at risk, France’s Alain Juppe said, despite the ongoing Nato-led bombing campaign. The UK’s William Hague urged Nato allies to intensify military operations against the Libyan regime and called on Col Gaddafi to step down.11:50 Reuters Libyan rebels took position 40 km (25 miles) west of the strategic town of Ajdabiyah on Tuesday after clashes with Muammar Gaddafi’s forces that left at least three dead, rebel fighters said.The bodies of three rebels were brought to the hospital in Ajdabiyah on Tuesday morning, a Reuters correspondent said.
Alaa Abdeljalil, a 35-year-old rebel fighter, said they were killed by a Gaddafi rocket between Ajdabiyah and the oil town of Brega on Monday evening but their bodies could be retrieved only the following morning.
11:48 Reuters The International Organization for Migration is sending a ship to Misrata to pick up stranded migrant workers. The ship can carry 1000 people. Initially it plans to make two rotations between Benghazi and Misrata, but eventually the IOM hopes to evacuate 7,000 and 8,000 people eventually.10:20 The Guardian‘s Harriet Sherwood has been told by Gaddafi’s finance minister that the regime fears it may run out of funds within months if there is no quick resolution. “Abdulhafid Zlitni said the government would double interest rates in the next week in an attempt to encourage citizens to stop hoarding money at home and deposit their cash in banks.” Read more here.8:55 Al Jazeera In his first public statement since he fled Tripoli and arrived in Britain, ex-foreign minister Moussa Koussa called on Gaddafi and the country’s opposition to show restraint. “I ask everybody, all the parties, to work to avoid taking Libya into a civil war. This will lead to bloodshed and make Libya a new Somalia.”Koussa has spent almost two weeks at an undisclosed location in interviews with British intelligence officers and diplomats. He also strongly rejects any division of the country. “The unity of Libya is essential to any solution and any settlement in Libya.”
The US already said they could’nt hold a long term intervention in libya, either in fear of depleting their capacities to react to another crisis, or for political reasons (already in Irak and Afganistan), but could agree to mobilize their massive airpower if the situation deteriored.