Friday, March 18, 2011

The U.N. Security Council voted Thursday to authorize a no-fly zone over Libya and “all necessary measures” – code for airstrikes – to protect civilians hours after Moammar Gadhafi warned the rebel stronghold of Benghazi he would storm the city in the night showing no mercy.
“We will come, zenga, zenga [alley by alley]. House by house, room by room,” Gadhafi said in a radio address to the eastern city.

Residential areas of Ajdabiya, a strategic town on the coast road to Benghazi, were the scene of heavy fighting Thursday and around 30 people were killed, Al-Arabiya reported.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said earlier if the resolution was approved, France would support military action against Gadhafi within hours. The U.S. said it was preparing for action, which could also include between two and five Arab countries.

The Arab League’s U.N. representative Yahya Mahmassani said that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar would “maybe” be among those participating. A U.S. congressional official said Jordan is among possible participants.

Al-Jazeera television showed thousands of Benghazi residents in a central square celebrating the U.N. vote, waving anti-Gadhafi tricolor flags and chanting defiance of the man who has ruled for four decades. Fireworks burst over the city. Celebrations were also shown in the city of Tobruk, further east. In Tunisia, Libyan expats took to the streets to celebrate the vote.

The vote in the 15-member council was 10-0 with five abstentions, including Russia and China.
The text of the Security Council resolution calls on nations to “establish a ban on all flights in the airspace of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in order to help protect civilians.”

It also authorizes U.N. member states to take “all necessary measures … to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.” 

It calls for freezing the assets of the Libyan National Oil Corp. and the central bank because of links to Gadhafi.
Italy said Thursday it was ready to make its military bases available to enforce the no-fly zone. 

By ruling out any “occupation force” the resolution gives a nod both to Arab sensitivities and to Western capitals such as London and Washington already chastened by involvement in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Gadhafi said in an interview broadcast earlier Thursday on Portuguese public broadcaster Radiotelevisao Portuguesa that he rejected any U.N. threats of action. “The U.N. Security Council has no mandate,” Gadhafi said. “We don’t acknowledge their resolutions.”
He warned that any military action would be construed as “colonization without any justification” and would have “grave repercussions.”

Addressing the Security Council, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the world had to act to support Libya. “The world is living one of its great revolutions that changes the course of history. In North Africa, the Persian Gulf, the Arab people are calling to breathe democracy,” he said.

“In Libya, alas, for a number of weeks the people’s will has been shot down to its feet by Colonel Gadhafi.”
“… We have very little time left. It is a matter of days. Perhaps it is a matter of hours,” Juppe said. “We should not arrive too late.”

In a sharp shift in Washington’s tone, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier said that a U.N. no-fly zone over Libya would require action to protect the planes and pilots, “including bombing targets like the Libyan defense systems.”

But time was running short for Benghazi, which has been the heart of Libya’s revolution. Residents said the Libyan air force unleashed three air raids on the city of 670,000 Thursday and there has been fierce fighting along the Mediterranean coastal road as Gadhafi moves to crush the month-old insurrection.
Gadhafi had warned that only those who lay down their arms would be spared vengeance to be exacted on “rats and dogs.”

“It’s over. The issue has been decided,” Gadhafi said, offering pardon to those who lay down their arms. “We are coming tonight … We will have no mercy and no pity with them.” 

By late evening, telephone lines to Benghazi and internet connections appeared to be cut. Rebel National Council head Mustafa Abdel-Jalil told Al-Jazeera television air strikes were essential to stop Gadhafi.
“We stand on firm ground. We will not be intimidated by these lies and claims … We will not settle for anything but liberation from this regime.”
Gadhafi’s Defense Ministry warned of swift retaliation if the Security Council triggered military action.

“Any foreign military act against Libya will expose all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea to danger and civilian and military [facilities] will become targets of Libya’s counter-attack,” it said in a statement.
Libyan state television said government troops had taken Zueitina, an oil port on the coastal highway 130 kilometers from Benghazi, but the rebels said they had surrounded the pro-Gadhafi units on the approaches to the town.

On the approaches to Ajdabiya, burned-out cars lay by the roadside while Libyan government forces showed the foreign media artillery, tanks and mobile rocket launchers – much heavier weapons than those used by the rebels. – Agencies