Head of Arab bloc hits out at West for strikes on civilians

WESTERN forces pounded Libya’s air defences and patrolled its skies yesterday, but their intervention hit a serious diplomatic setback as the head of the Arab League condemned the “bombardment of civilians”.

Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa called for an emergency meeting of the group of 22 states to discuss Libya.

He requested a report into the bombardment which he said had “led to the deaths and injuries of many Libyan civilians”.

“What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians,” Egypt’s official state news agency quoted Mr Moussa as saying.

Arab backing for a no-fly zone was crucial for the passage of the UN Security Council resolution last week that paved the way for Western action to stop Gaddafi killing civilians as he fights an uprising against his rule.

The intervention is the biggest against an Arab country since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Withdrawal of Arab support would make it much harder to pursue what some defence analysts say could in any case be a difficult, open-ended campaign with an uncertain outcome.

A senior US official rebuffed Mr Moussa’s comments.

“The resolution endorsed by Arabs and UNSC (the United Nations Security Council) included ‘all necessary measures’ to protect civilians, which we made very clear includes, but goes beyond, a no-fly zone,” the official told Reuters.

The US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen said he had seen no reports of civilian casualties from the Western strikes.

However, Russia said there had been such casualties and called on Britain, France and the US to halt the “non-selective use of force”.

Aircraft from other countries, including Qatar, were also moving near Libya to participate in the operation, Admiral Mullen said.