France sent weapons to Libya’s rebel fighters

FRANCE has sent weapons to Libyan civilians besieged by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, a military spokesman has said.

It is the first NATO country to publicly announce it has armed rebel fighters.

Col Thierry Burkhard said in Paris the deliveries took place in early June in the western Nafusa mountains when civilians were encircled by Gaddafi’s forces and his government refused to allow a humanitarian aid corridor there.

Burkhard said the weapons were parachuted in by air and included “self-defence assets” like assault weapons, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and munitions.

France provided weapons, munitions and food to Libyan rebels in the Western Mountains in early June to prevent troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from overrunning the region.

France parachuted “large amounts” of weapons, including rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles into the Jebel Nafusa region.

France and Britain, backed by the US, have been the main powers behind a months-long NATO-led air campaign to protect civilians from assaults by Gaddafi’s forces.