NATO to enforce ‘no-fly’ zone over Libya

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Magnussen has announced that NATO countries have agreed to implement the no-fly zone over Libya but insisted this would work alongside the U.S. led military alliance, not instead of: “At this moment, there will still be a coalition operation and a NATO operation.”

The decision comes after six days of discussions amongst NATO members. Earlier the Turkish parliament voted in favour of their government’s intention to agree to the NATO led no-fly zone. Turkey, the only Muslim member state of NATO, insisted that it would not be part of any offensive action in Libya.

Warplanes were targeting the Tajoura district of Tripoli, Muammar Gaddafi‘s stronghold, on Thursday afternoon, following a fifth consecutive night of airstrikes, and Internet videos suggest parts of the capital have been badly damaged.

Libyan officials took journalists to a Tripoli hospital early on Thursday to see what they said were the charred bodies of 18 military personnel and civilians killed by Western warplanes or missiles overnight.

However, there are conflicting reports emanating out of Libya’s third city of Misrata, currently the epicentre of the fiercest fighting between pro-Gaddafi forces and rebels.

Allied forces struck in and around Misrata for 12 hours on Wednesday night, but there are contradictory reports about whether Gaddafi’s forces have been repelled or whether they have actually re-captured the city.

Some reports suggest that airstrikes did not hit pro-Gaddafi tanks inside the city – presumably to avoid civilian casualties – and eyewitnesses say regime forces have seized control of the city’s port. Thousands of foreign workers seeking evacuation at Misrata port are believed to be stranded there.

Reports suggest Gaddafi’s tanks were silenced in daylight hours by western airstrikes, but residents and rebels said they re-entered Misrata under the cover of darkness and began shelling the area near the main hospital.

Earlier reports, however, had suggested quite the opposite; that opposition rebels had secured Misrata and the remains of Gaddafi’s forces stationed there had retreated.

An internet video shot inside the city shows the children’s hospital there has suffered serious damage by what appears to be heavy artillery fire.

Allied military leaders are saying that Gaddafi’s forces in Misrata indiscriminately fired on civilians, with plainclothed snipers killing 16 people; while Libya’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Khalid Kaim, alleged that the allied airstrikes on the city had killed scores of innocent civilians.

Read more: strike against Gaddafi 

“The air strikes as what happened today, they did not differentiate between the civilians or the armed personnel. To start up the national dialogue and get back life back to normal, the air strikes should stop immediately,” he said.

In Ajdabiya, government tanks are reportedly positioned at the eastern and western entrances of the city, with heavy clashes with rebels expected.