NATO air strikes up pressure on Gaddafi

BRITISH jets hit a military barracks in the Libyan capital early yesterday, further intensifying NATO pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to end his 42-year rule.

The air strikes on the barracks — a repeated targets of NATO strikes — followed the alliance’s first use of attack helicopters on Saturday.

By intensifying attacks from the air and using helicopters to target government forces who melt into the civilian population for cover, NATO is providing a major boost to Libyan rebel forces who have seized much of the country’s east and toeholds in the west in the four-month uprising.

For example, emboldened rebels in recent days have forced government troops from three western towns and broke the siege of a fourth.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters, said yesterday’s strikes caused no casualties because the barracks had been abandoned after having come under repeated attack.

A NATO official, however, said Royal Airforce Tornados fired eight missiles into a missile depot in Tripoli. Attacks yesterday also hit military sites in the town of Tajoura, west of Tripoli.

Saturday’s strikes by French and British helicopters pursued Libyan troops, military vehicles and equipment hiding in populated areas — targets unavailable to higher-flying jet fighters.

Until Saturday, NATO had relied on aircraft that typically fly above 15,000 feet. The jets primarily strike government targets but there have been cases where they hit opposition forces by mistake.

Lt Gen Charles Bouchard, commander of the Libya operation, said the engagement “demonstrates the unique capabilities brought to bear by attack helicopters”.

At a regional security conference in Singapore, the Russian deputy foreign minister said NATO was nearing the start of ground operations in Libya.

“Using attack helicopters, in my view, is the last but one step before the land operation,” said Sergei Ivanov.

In Saturday’s attacks, British Apaches hit two targets near the eastern oil town of Brega, according British Maj Gen Nick Pope, and Royal Air Force planes destroyed another military installation near Brega and two ammunition bunkers at the large Waddan depot in central Libya.

French helicopters struck 15 military vehicles and five military command buildings, said Col Thierry Burkhard. All the helicopters returned safely, the French and British said.

In the early days of the uprising against Gaddafi, Brega shifted between rebel and loyalist hands, but later the front line settled to the east of the town and under government control.

Gaddafi has been seen in public less frequently since a NATO air strike on his compound killed one of his sons on April 30, giving rise to speculation about the physical and mental condition of the 69-year-old dictator, who has ruled Libya since 1969.