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Libyan LiveBlog – "Wave of 110+ US & UK Cruise Missiles Takes Out Kaddafi Air Defense "

Intervention in Libya begins. French warplanes have now begun to take out Kadaffi’s assets on the ground.

Image Popa Matumula

French warplanes have hit four tanks used by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi on the outskirts of the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, on a day when opposition fighters in the city reported coming under constant artillery and mortar fire.

The action marks the first international military move against the Libyan leader, and it comes a day after the UN Security Council authorised a no-fly zone over the North African country.

A spokesman for the French military had confirmed that his country’s fighter jets have attacked another vehicle belonging to Gaddafi’s forces.

“The vehicle was clearly identified as being enemy,” army spokesman Colonel Thierry Burckhard said after the first UN-mandated air strike, describing the target as “a vehicle that was threatening the civilian population”.

* Editor’s note: The live blog takes place in the comment section.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 190 Comments

190 comments

  2. HappyinVT

    to be seen as the “regime change” portion of the program because that would really seem like overreaching Western intervention.  Instead the administration wants to give the rebels time to regroup and get forces (particularly officers) a chance to desert Gaddafi.  The last seems to be the key because I believe Juan Cole mentioned that the generals coalescing around Gaddafi is likely what changed in the last week or so.  If they realize it is in their best interests to look out for themselves and they turn on Gaddafi then the no-fly zone will have been worth it and effective.

    Lastly, Clinton listed the countries that presumably are onboard with some kind of support of 1973.  It is quite impressive:

    “We reviewed the latest reports from the ground, and discussed how we can work together most effectively in the hours and days ahead, and how we would work very cooperatively with our other partners, including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey as well as others that are not in that long list.”

    Notably, UAE and Qatar are not on the list but that may simply be oversight or they are keeping it on the “down low” for now.

  3. fogiv

    8:28pm

    Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, says he is now postponing a trip to Russia in order to monitor developments in Libya.

    8:27pm

    Russia says that it “regrets this military action”, according to Alexander Lukashevich, a foreign ministry spokesman.

    http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liv…

  5. John Allen

    9:46pm

    A US warship has launched cruise missiles against Libya, CNN reports.

    That report might have something to do with this:

    9:31pm

    AFP reports that loud blasts have been heard east of the Tripoli, according to witnesses. It is not immediately clear what caused the blasts.

  6. John Allen

    9:48pm

    Libyan state television reports that civilian targets in Tripoli have been hit by “crusaders’ warplanes”.

    Meanwhile, David Cameron, the British prime minister, confirms that British forces are in action over Libya.

  7. John Allen

    9:53pm

    Al Jazeera’s correspondent Kimberly Halkett was present at a Pentagon briefing on operations in Libya. She reports that the US is targetting Integrated Missile Defence Systems along the Libyan coast.

    Those strikes are the first wave, where the US is in the lead of coalition efforts which involve France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada.

    The US will be in control for an unspecified period of time, but then will transfer control to coalition forces. Currently operations of the Joint Task Force are being run from the USS Mt Whitney. There are about 25 ships and submarines present in Mediterranean that will be taking part in operations.

  10. DTOzone

    to bring the President’s statement, so there’s goes the “bully pulpit”

    This occurred not long after they asked if the President has been upfront enough about Libya.  

  12. John Allen

    Off the coast of Libya, there are: 11 vessels from Italy, 11 from the US (including three submarines, each with 100 missiles on board), one from the UK, one from France and one from Canada.

    No word on which submarines might be there, but they are almost surely all attack subs carrying cruise missiles. There’s no reason for a ballistic sub to be in the area. The attack subs could be Virginia class or, more likely given the numbers in service, Los Angeles class. The Virginia class are the newest subs and are intended to replace the aging Los Angeles class over the next decade or so. They have gotten the cost down to a mere $1.8 billion per sub compared to the larger Seawolf class that cost $2.8 billion.

  15. John Allen

    or propaganda?

    10:46pm

    AFP reports that Libyan state television reports that a French aircraft has been shot down over Libya. There is no independent confirmation of this claim yet.

  17. Shaun Appleby

    Reported in Tripoli area:


    BREAKING: Miteega Air Base in east Tripoli has been air struck by coalition fighter jets

  19. Chris Blask

    Father, mother and son (9) in the hospital all shot in the head and chest. Kaddafi sent hundreds of troops into the city on a rampage to kill as many as possible.

    The boy will likely survive, the father and mother are not expected to.

    It was time.

  20. Chris Blask

    to “witness the hundreds of volunteers who have come voluntarily to act as human shields”. The AJE reporter in Tripoli is specifically being very very careful with the words she is using.

  22. HappyinVT

    11:06pm

    Four Al Jazeera journalists have been detained by Libyan authorities in the west of the country.

    Lotfi al-Messaoudi (a Tunisian), Ahmed Vall Ould Addin (a Mauritanian), Ammar al-Hamdan (a Norwegian cameraman) and Kamel Atalua (British) were held while working in the west of the country.

    Al Jazeera says that the Libyan authorities will be held accountable for the safety, security and well-being of the team, who are being held in Tripoli.

    http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liv…

  23. Shaun Appleby

    Allied attacks on Sirt now.  Major airbase and barracks for eastern campaign; if so, guess the assessment of air defence damage is done.

  25. Shaun Appleby


    @StateDept President #Obama: We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy. #Libya @WhiteHouse

    Guess not.

  27. HappyinVT

    Aljazeera Arabic interviewed Brigadier Gen. Safwat El Zayat (rtd.), an Egyptian military analyst and supporter of the Egyptian revolution, on the military situation in Libya. He was asked about the report that French fighter jets had taken out 4 Libyan tanks near Benghazi. Zayat said that pro-Qaddafi armor had moved up from Ajdabiya toward Benghazi in two columns, with the intent of breaching the rebel stronghold’s defenses and occupying the city center. The 32nd Special Forces Brigade, supported by tanks and led by Qaddafi’s son, Khamis, attacked on Friday and Saturday from the southwest. Another brigade, supported by tanks and heavy artillery and led by another Qaddafi son, Saadi, attacked from the southeast.

    The French were attempting to deprive these elite brigades of their armored support and so level the playing ground for the rebel defenders of Benghazi. Given this air intervention, Gen. Zayat said, the strategy pursued by Qaddafi’s military in the past week could turn out to have been an enormous error. The pro-Qaddafi forces are stretched out over hundreds of miles, far from their supply lines, and are vulnerable to aerial bombardment because they are exposed in the desert. He said that French Mirage jets could fire infrared-seeking air-to-ground missiles that would detect Libyan armor because its temperature signature differed from its desert surroundings, and so could zero in on it.

    http://www.juancole.com/

  29. Peter Jukes

    By referring to flame wars on another blog. But I hope he’ll forgive me on this one occasion because it’s a very revealing moment.

    To a small (but vocal minority) this is all about Obama (it isn’t), leading to the deranged conclusion that actually ‘Bush was better’

    http://www.dailykos.com/commen…

    Can I just say, as we go into this dark night, with all its risk and dangers of collateral damage, I sense NOTHING of the Neo-con agenda: i.e. US unilateralism, regime change from above, shock and awe and selective support for friendly tyrants.

    However this pans out its actually a tribute to multilateralism, international law, the UN, and three women, Samantha Power, Susan Rice and Hilary Clinton, who finally persuaded Obama that the principles of international realism have a moral humanitarian dimension.

    No wonder Liberty is mainly depicted as a woman.


  31. Shaun Appleby


    iyad_elbaghdadi Guys it seems it’s not a joke. I’m getting reports the Gaddafi suicide attempt story may actually be credible. #Libya

    6 minutes ago

  32. Shaun Appleby

    Al Jazeera corespondent: The coordinators of the local councils in western #Libya join the revolutionaries

    So much for opening the arms depots to the people.

  33. HappyinVT

    …Yet as Georgia Politico’s Dustin Baker notes, one state legislator raised a particularly odd objection to the No Fly Zone on his Facebook page. Reacting to a news article about Western strikes in Libya, Franklin asked, “How would we like it if other countries launched attacks upon these United States because of our regime’s war against the unborn?” – seemingly drawing a moral equivalency between Libya’s Qadaffi dictatorship and legal abortion in the United States

    http://thinkprogress.org/2011/…

  35. Shaun Appleby


    FMCNL Currently 6 USAFE F-15E from 494FS Lakenheath UK entering French coast heading #Libya for Operation Odessy Dawn c/s PANTHER 69

  36. Chris Blask

    Very close to the live AJE reporter.

    Reported seeing AA tracer fire going in random directions. Something in the air, perhaps. Or someone wants us to think there is.

    Now hearing “pro Kaddafi chants”.  

  38. Shaun Appleby

    RAF Tornado GR.4s launched stand-off missiles in support of air defence suppression.  One or two flights of F-16Es in vicinity of Libyan coast, assuming suppression mission taking out remaining threats prior to more conventional ground attack missions.

    Lots of tankers airborne over Mediterranean; getting crowded up there.

  40. John Allen

    04:20 BBC Abdul Karim, a doctor in Libya’s third city of Misrata, tells the BBC: “There has been strong firing from Gaddafi’s tanks from the western side of Misrata, in an area called Guseir. The firing started five hours ago. I can still hear the sounds of explosions. I was heading home when I heard the explosions, so now I have gone to a safer place.”

  41. HappyinVT

    Captive: My rank is brigadier, my name mohammed alaa addeen Ali salem Hnesh. I was captured today in Gar Younes, a number of civilians captured me.

    Guys off camera: Revolutionaries!

    Captive: Revolutionaries yes. What else did you ask me?

    Interviewer: How did you enter?

    Captive: My specialty is land mine clearance and I am part of the national program for mine clearance and land development

    Interviewer: Which battalion do you belong to?

    Captive: I am not part of a battalion, I am with the “People’s rotation” as a basis, but I am assigned to that prgram as well (mine clearance & land development)

    Interviewer: Which battalion? You guys came with a battalion today..

    Captive: No no..

    Man off shot: Which battalion did you come with?

    Captive: No no, I came on my own, I didn’t come with any battalion. This was the instruction I received…

    http://www.libyafeb17.com/

  42. HappyinVT

    into the country to present his credentials) has been sent to Tunis.  No word with whom he was to meet but he is staying at the same hotel that will host Ban Ki-Moon later this coming week.

  43. Shaun Appleby

    CBS reporting three B-2s unloaded over Libyan airfield.  Didn’t see those coming.  Explains all those tankers, that’s a long flight.  They’re based Stateside.

  44. Shaun Appleby

    Brewed up this T-72 overnight, in outskirts of Benghazi:

    May have been at the hands of revolutionaries last night or the French attack just afterwards.  Hard to say.

  45. Shaun Appleby

    Starting to see some daylight missions perhaps:


    AJE: Correspondent in #Benghazi: hearing jets in the air, apparent airstrikes in location where we believe #Gaddafi armor located. #Libya

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