Libya Live Blog - March 21

Libya Live Blog - March 21

• Timestamp: 

  10:40pm

  The UN Security Council held closed-door consultations on Monday on how to respond to a Libyan request for a formal meeting to discuss Western air strikes on the country, diplomats said.
  
  Diplomats said China, this month's council president, had called the consultations after receiving a letter over the weekend from Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa requesting the council debate the "military aggression" against Libya.
  
  A British diplomat said:

  We see this as a very helpful opportunity to be transparent with other council members on what action the UK and others acting in the coalition have taken so far, how we have been trying to implement resolution 1973, particularly its protection of civilians mandate.

• Timestamp: 

  10:30pm

  Al Arabiya television reported on Monday that the western Libyan city of Misurata was now controlled by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.
  
  The channel was quoting a spokesman for Gaddafi's forces. There were no further details. Due to a lack of communications, the report has yet to be confirmed.

• Timestamp: 

  10:12pm

  Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister  has said that NATO should take command of international military operations in Libya.

  Italian news agencies quoted Berlusconi as saying: "We want command of the operations to go to NATO and that there be a different coordination to the one that currently exists."
  
  Berlusconi also said that Italian planes "are not firing and will not fire", and are limited to patrolling to ensure a no-fly zone imposed by the United Nations.

• Timestamp: 

  10:00pm

  Mussa Ibrahim, a Libyan government spokesman, has said foreign attacks had killed many people by bombing ports and Sirte airport.

  Ibrahim told a news conference:

  You saw that place (Sirte airport). It's a civilian airport. It was bombarded and many people were killed. Harbours were also bombarded.

• Timestamp: 

  9:38pm

  Loud explosions and barrages of anti-aircraft fire were heard near the Tripoli compound of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday night, an AFP correspondent said.
  
  The volleys erupted at around 1900GMT near the Bab el-Aziziya barracks in the south of Tripoli, the correspondent said.

• Timestamp: 

  9:20pm

  Obama says the United States expects to transfer the lead military role in Libya to other allies in a matter of days.

  NATO will be involved in helping to coordinate the next phase of action in Libya, the US president said.

• Timestamp: 

  9:10pm

  Barack Obama, the US president, says he wants to see Muammar Gaddafi step down from power in Libya but that US military action is limited to protecting civilians and preventing a humanitarian crisis from taking place.
  
  Obama says Gaddafi has been very clear about showing "no mercy" to those who opposed him.

• Timestamp: 

  8:59pm

  As the coalition strikes target Gaddafi areas, rebel fighters rest in the shade of a vehicle outside the northeastern Libyan town of Ajdabiyah on March 21, 2011.[Photo by Reuters]

  

• Timestamp: 

  8:53pm

  Italy warns that it will review the use of its bases by coalition forces for strikes against Libya if the mission doesn't pass to NATO's command.

• Timestamp: 

  8:37pm

  Human Rights body Amnesty International has called on the Libyan authorities to release four Al Jazeera journalists held incommunicado since they were detained two weeks ago.

• Timestamp: 

  8:34pm

  NATO could soon take a planning role in international military operations in Libya now being led by the United States, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.
  
  Juppe said France hoped Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan government would collapse from within from the pressure of the action by world powers to enforce a U.N. Security Council resolution to halt attacks on rebels that are killing civilians.

  Juppe said:

  Today the United States is coordinating the interventions in close coordination with France and Britain. In a few days, if the United States pulls back from the operation, NATO is ready to come in with its support.

• Timestamp: 

  8:26pm

  British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday there was no legal authority for regime change in Libya despite suggestions by ministers that air strikes could target Muammar Gaddafi.
  
  "Our view is clear - there is no decent future for Libya with Colonel Gaddafi remaining in power," Cameron told the House of Commons during its first debate since international forces launched air and sea strikes in Libya.

• Timestamp: 

  8:25pm

  The United States will soon reduce its participation in the coalition operation in Libya, Russia's Interfax news agency cited US Defence Secretary Robert Gates as saying on Monday.
  
  Gates also said it would be a mistake for the coalition to set for itself the goal of killing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the news agency reported.

• Timestamp: 

  7:40pm

  Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi "pulled back" from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and two other towns after UN-authorised airstrikes, a US national security official said on Monday.
  
  The official, who declined to be identified, said advances by Gaddafi's forces against Benghazi, Ajdabiya and Misrata had "stalled" as a consequence of the military action by US and European forces that began on Saturday.

• Timestamp: 

  7:20pm

  The UN-approved no-fly zone over Libya is expanding and will soon cover a 1,000-km area as aircraft from additional coalition countries arrive in the region, the head of US Africa Command said on Monday.

  Carter Ham, the US Army General, told a Pentagon briefing that coalition air forces were continuing to fly missions to sustain the no-fly zone and that Libyan ground forces were moving south from rebel-held areas.

• Timestamp: 

  6:59pm

  No mission to support Libyan opposition ground offensive, says US general.

  The US military knows little about the whereabouts of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi after waves of air and missile
  strikes in the country, a top US general said on Monday.

• Timestamp: 

  6:50pm

  This twitpic was posted by @globalcartoons:

  

• Timestamp: 

  6:43pm

  Meanwhile, around 200 demonstrators staged a protest near the London residence of British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday against military action in Libya.

• Timestamp: 

  6:38pm

  There seems to be some divisions globally on Libya military intervention. Earlier, Russian PM criticised the airstrikes and now Bulgarian prime minister has denounced the airstrikes, saying missions lacks clear goals.
  
  India has urged an immediate halt to the strikes spearheaded by French fighter jets on Saturday, while Germany said it had "good reasons" for abstaining from Thursday's UN Security Council vote on the resolution allowing the action.
  
  The three countries as well as Brazil and China abstained from the vote, which was backed by 10 nations, that allowed use of "all necessary measures" to shield Libyan civilians from a brutal crackdown by Gaddafi forces on a popular revolt.

• Timestamp: 

  6:30pm

  The United Arab Emirates said on Monday that its involvement in Libya is limited to humanitarian assistance, after reports that it would send warplanes to patrol a UN-backed no-fly zone.

• Timestamp: 

  6:15pm

  Libyan rebel envoy has told Associated Press news agency they do not want Muammar Gaddafi killed. After his ouster they would like him to stand trial.

• Timestamp: 

  5:54pm

  Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president,  has slammed prime minister Vladimir Putin's comments on military action against Libya as "unacceptable", in the most public clash yet between Russia's ruling tandem.
  
  Putin earlier Monday denounced the UN resolution allowing military action on Libya as resembling a "medieval call to crusade", in one of his most virulent diatribes against the West in years.

• Timestamp: 

  5:53pm

  Sharp divisions prevented NATO from adopting a plan on Monday for military airstrikes against Libya, as Turkish opposition blocked the alliance from approving a strategy.

• Timestamp: 

  5:52pm

  The six fighter jets Norway promised to the international air campaign to protect civilians in Libya took off on Monday from the Bodoe airbase in the north of the country, television images showed.

• Timestamp: 

  5:50pm

  UK prime minister David Cameron says coalition efforts have helped avert a massacre in Libya.

• Timestamp: 

  5:48pm

  Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said on Monday she was in favour of a Libyan oil embargo.

• Timestamp: 

  5:48pm

  NATO is ready to support the international coalition intervening in Libya within "a few days," Alain Juppe, the French Foreign Minister, said on Monday.

• Timestamp: 

  5:47pm

  Italy's interior minister says some 200 Libyans have arrived by boat in Sicily in the first major influx of Libyan immigrants since the revolt began in the North African country over a month ago.

• Timestamp: 

  5:45pm

  Here's the picture of Four New York Times journalists who have now been released by pro-Gaddafi forces.

  

• Timestamp: 

  5:36pm

  The Arab League got back behind international military strikes against Libya on Monday after comments by its leader had indicated divisions over the campaign against Muammar Gaddafi.

• Timestamp: 

  5:30pm

  French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Monday dubbed the alliance campaign in Libya a "success," saying intervention had saved the people of Benghazi from "a bloodbath."

• Timestamp: 

  5:15pm

  Adel Abdelhafidh Ghoka, the Libyan National Council official, held a press briefing. He says the situation in Misurata is critical as there is no water, fuel or electricity.
  
  Ghoka said sleeping cells in Benghazi have been given till tomorrow afternoon to hand themselves over. They will be given amnesty, if not they will face the rebels and will be treated as enemy of the revolution.
  
  He says there is also an uprising in Tripoli but that media black out there and suppression is making things hard.

• Timestamp: 

  5:02pm

  The leader of Al-Qaeda's North Africa branch has urged Libyan rebels not to trust America and the US role in the international coalition bombing Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

• Timestamp: 

  4:58pm

  The UN Security Council will probably hold a close door meeting on Libya later on Monday, a diplomat said.

• Timestamp: 

  4:54pm

  Germany on Monday defended its decision not to back Western-led air strikes against Gaddafi, but backed EU in tightening sanctions against the Libyan government, Reuters reported.

• Timestamp: 

  4:50pm

  The international military intervention in Libya is likely to last “a while,” a top French official said on Monday, echoing Moammar Gadhafi's warning of a long war ahead.

• Timestamp: 

  4:31pm

  The following picture was twitted by @Abdallah__B:

  

• Timestamp: 

  4:30pm

  Libyan rebels say pro-Gaddafi troops in Misurata are using a number of civilians from neighbouring towns as human shields.

• Timestamp: 

  4:12pm

  Libyan opposition National Council says eastern gate of Ajdabiya has been recaptured.
  
  Burnt-out vehicles line on the road between Ajdabiya and Benghazi, Al Jazeera correspondent reports.

• Timestamp: 

  4:08pm

  Iran condemns military intervention in Libya, AFP news agency reported Khamenei as saying.

• Timestamp: 

  4:01pm

  There are reports of heavy shelling by pro-Gaddafi troops in western city of Zintan.

• Timestamp: 

  3:45pm

  Jacob Zuma, the South African president, said on Monday that his country does not support "the regime change doctrine" in Libya, and called for restraint from foreign countries enforcing a no-fly zone.
  
  Zuma said:

  As South Africa we say no to the killing of civilians, no to the regime change doctrine and no to the foreign occupation of Libya,", one of five heads of state on a high-level African Union panel on Libya.

• Timestamp: 

  3:30pm

  European Union foreign minister are meeting in Brussels to discuss ongoing situation in Libya.

• Timestamp: 

  3:20pm

  Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, said on Monday a UN resolution authorizing military action in Libya resembled "mediaeval calls for crusades" after Western forces launched a second wave of air strikes.

• Timestamp: 

  3:01pm

  The head of Britain's armed forces has told AFP news agency that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was "absolutely not" a target for military action.
  
  General Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, was speaking after British Foreign Secretary William Hague refused to rule out that air strikes could specifically target Gaddafi.
  
  In an interview with BBC radio earlier, Hague declined to be drawn into the details of military targets.

• Timestamp: 

  2:28pm

  Swiss journalist Gaetan Vannay has been in the western city of Zintan for the past nine days and says the eastern outskirts of the city are currently under fire and have been since yesterday.

• Timestamp: 

  1:20pm

  Namik Tan, the Turkish ambassador to the United States, has written on Twitter that the four New York Times journalists - two reporters and two photographers - "are on their way to leave Libyan border and will be delivered to US officials."

  Since US diplomatic personnel have withdrawn from Libya and the embassy has been shut down, Turkey is serving as the protector of US interests in the country. Tan said they were released this morning after negotiations between Turkey and Libya.

   

• Timestamp: 

  12:41pm

  The Guardian newspaper's Chris McGreal was on the road today near Ajdabiya, around 160km south of Benghazi, where Gaddafi troops are still fighting with rebels. That appears to be the current front line. The rebels, he says, view the coalition airstrikes "as part of their campaign." That's not what the West wants to hear; they're trying to keep themselves from becoming embroiled in a full-scale regime change effort.

• Timestamp: 

  12:30pm

  UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who spoke with Amr Moussa in Cairo today, was mobbed by dozens of pro-Gaddafi demonstrators today, the AFP reports. Ban was going to walk to Tahrir Square, the heart of the Egyptian revolution, but the demonstrators forced his delegation back into the Arab League.

• Timestamp: 

  12:11pm

  Meanwhile, the violence continues inside Libya. Rob Crilly, a correspondent for the Telegraph newspaper, tweets that he was halted during an attempt to get into Ajdabiya - south of Benghazi - because rebels in front of him were caught in an ambush and four were killed. Rebels may still be trapped inside Ajdabiya by pro-Gaddafi troops, he says.

• Timestamp: 

  12:05pm

  Well, the UN-sanctioned air strikes are having an affect, or everyone who was going to flee Libya has already fled; either way, the UN Refugee Agency says it has seen a decrease in the flow of Libyans leaving for Egypt in the past 48 hours.

  Some Libyans in Egypt have also returned to their country, a spokeswoman for the agency said. 

• Timestamp: 

  11:53am

  Iraq's government has expressed support for international efforts to "protect Libyan people," a spokesman said, according to Reuters.

• Timestamp: 

  10:38am

  Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, appeared to backtrack on the League's support for the coalition yesterday, saying the jet and cruise-missile strikes "differ[ed] from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone."

  Moussa and his colleagues had asked the UN Security Council days before to institute a no-fly zone and left it up to the member states as to how it might be carried out, so yesterday's remarks had some observers scratching their heads.

  Today, UK foreign secretary William Hague attempted a bit of damage control. Hague said he had spoken with Moussa, who still supported the coalition.

  "I think too much was made of Amr Moussa's comments," he said. "I will be talking to him again today."
• Timestamp: 

  10:34am

  UK defence secretary Liam Fox has told BBC Radio 5 that targeting Gaddafi himself - something the United States has thus far denied doing - could "potentially be a possibility" if civilians would not be harmed. 

  Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, responded negatively to Fox's comments. He said expanding the coalition's goals could divide it and that it was "unwise" to set such specific goals that might be unachievable.  

• Timestamp: 

  8:24am

  Twitter user @FMCNL, who has been monitoring some military flight flights and electronic communications in and around Libya, has posted this recording of what is said to be a broadcast coming from an orbiting EC-130J modified Hercules turboprop airplane that is probably being used by the US Air Force for "psychological operations" in Libya.

  The broadcast warns a Libyan ship not to leave port (which port, we don't know) or risk being destroyed.

• Timestamp: 

  7:28am

  We mentioned Mo Nabbous below - a Facebook page has also been set up to remember him.

• Timestamp: 

  7:22am

  It's three days old, but this video from Misrata shows the damage Gaddafi's troops have done in their recent attempts to subdue the western town 211km east of Tripoli, which is also the site of a major oil refinery:

• Timestamp: 

  7:06am

  NBC's Richard Engel draws a distinction between the Libyan rebels and the protesters in Egypt and wonders whether the transitional national council in Benghazi would be recognised by the rest of the country:

   

   

• Timestamp: 

  6:25am

  We just stumbled across this video of Mohammed "Mo" Nabbous, one of the voices from Benghazi known well among Western media, joking around with CNN reporter Ben Wedeman and camerwoman Mary Rogers during the early days of the Libya uprising. Nabbous was killed on Saturday during a final Gaddafi push on Benghazi before coalition planes began their attack.

   

   

• Timestamp: 

  4:21am

  As the uprisings continue across the region, signs of solidarity continue as well. Making the rounds on Twitter is this short video with the following message:

  "Inspired by the uprisings occurring in the Middle East and North Africa, this film is an ode to movements striving to reclaim their dignity and sovereignty from their keepers":

  
  

• Timestamp: 

  4:14am

  The AFP newsagency, quoting the coalition, says Gaddafi's military control centre was the target of strikes on Sunday and was destroyed.

  Libyan officals took journalists to see what they claimed was the damage from a missile attack. Officials said the missiles had struck very near to Gaddafi's tent.

  Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tripoli, said journalists taken to the scene asked officials why there was no smoke or fire. One official said he didn't know because he wasn't a military expert.

• Timestamp: 

  4:06am

  Pro-democracy fighters have been celebrating in the eastern city of Benghazi after French jets demolished Gaddafi's heavy armour that was heading their way.

  Al Jazeera's James Bays visited the site of the attack to file this report:

  
  

• Timestamp: 

  3:00am

  
  Photo: Reuters

• Timestamp: 

  2:50am

   

  Libyan anti-aircraft tracer fire erupted on Sunday night following the second day of bombardment by international forces.

• Timestamp: 

  1:30am

  The Pentagon in a press briefing on March 20 said Gaddafi "isn't the target" and they had "no indication of civilian casualties". Watch the report by Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan.

• Timestamp: 

  1:29am

  British forces have taken part in "another co-ordinated strike against Libyan air defence systems," the military has announced.

  For a second time, the UK has launched guided Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles from a Trafalgar Class submarine in the Mediterranean as part of a coordinated coalition plan to enforce the resolution," Major General John Lorimer said in a statement.

  "We and our international partners are continuing operations in support of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973."

• Timestamp: 

  1:26am

  
  Photo: Reuters

  Libyan anti-aircraft tracer fire erupted in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, as international forces pounded the country's air defences and patrolled its skies.

  Late on Sunday fresh explosions rocked the capital in a second night of air raids by international forces. Read the latest news here.

• Timestamp: 

  1:00am

  Libyan TV showing pictures of what it says are thousands of people gathering in the capital for funerals of people killed in air raids. The government says 64 people died in the attacks which began on March 20.

• Timestamp: 

  12:30am

  Ryanair, the Irish budget carrier, has diverted flights from Trapani airport in Sicily starting Monday to make way for military operations over Libya. The airport at the foot of the Italian peninsula doubles as a military base. It is about 560km from the westernmost point of Libya.

  The move was the first reported direct impact from the Libyan conflict on airline operations outside the country.