NATO sinks eight Libyan ‘warships’

NATO has sunk eight Libyan warships and intercepted a fuel tanker it believed was heading for the military, the alliance said, in a marked escalation of a Western-led bombing campaign.

The Western alliance, working under a UN mandate to protect civilians from government forces, says military and political pressure is weakening Muammar Gaddafi’s hold on power and should eventually dislodge him.

US President Barack Obama on Thursday said the Libyan leader’s downfall was “inevitable” and it would be the only way for a transition to democracy to take place.

Three months into an uprising against Gaddafi’s four-decade rule, rebels control the east and pockets in the west but the conflict has reached a stalemate as rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli have stalled.

NATO said its aircraft had sunk eight warships in overnight strikes on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, and hit a dockyard facility for launching the fast inflatable boats that Libyan forces have used for attacks around rebel-held Misrata.

“The destruction last night of the facility and a significant stockpile of the boats will reduce the regime’s ability to sustain such tactics,” Britain’s Major General John Lorimer said.

NATO also intercepted the oil tanker Jupiter, saying it believed the fuel would be used for military purposes.

“NATO naval forces can deny access to vessels entering or leaving Libyan ports if there is reliable information to suggest that the vessel or its cargo will be used to support attacks or threats on civilians,” spokeswoman Carmen Romero said in Brussels.

She said there was a sense at a meeting of NATO ambassadors this week that the mission was making “steady and tangible progress” nearly two months after NATO took command.

Libyan officials took journalists to Tripoli’s port, where a small ship spewed smoke and flames, and cast doubt on whether boats targeted by NATO had been involved in fighting. Mohammad Ahmad Rashed, general manager of the port, said six boats had been hit by missiles.