Explosions heard on outskirts of Tripoli
By the CNN Wire Staff
March 25, 2011 -- Updated 0951 GMT (1751 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Anti-aircraft fire lights up early morning sky
* All 28 NATO allies authorized a plan that includes civilian protection
* The transition to NATO command to be complete by Sunday night, sources say
* Questions on rules of engagement remain to be worked out
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Warplanes roared through the skies over the Libya
capital, Tripoli, early Friday, dropping bombs on the outskirts of the city
where military bases are located.
Anti-aircraft fire quickly punctuated the darkness, and then fell silent again.
In Ajdabiya, about 430 miles (700 km) south-southeast of the capital, the
British Ministry of Defense on Friday reported airstrikes on "Libyan armoured
vehicles which were threatening the civilian population."
The latest military action marks a sixth consecutive night of pounding by
coalition jets and came after NATO members agreed to take over enforcement of
the no-fly zone over Libya.
The attack "is an indication ... of how the coalition feels that it now
dominates the skies here," CNN's Nic Robertson reported from Tripoli.
Under the agreement, NATO forces will be able to close air space to all flights
except for humanitarian ones and will be able to use force in self-defense.
That mandate is not being interpreted as a license to attack Libyan government
troops who may be threatening unarmed civilians.
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But that could change.
NATO also has sent a directive to its military chain of command asking for a
plan on how to execute an expanded role for enforcement of U.N. Resolution
1973, according to NATO sources. Under what some officials were calling "no-fly
plus," NATO would be given more robust rules of engagement to ensure that
civilians are protected, the sources said.
And, in an effort to ease concerns from Turkey -- the organization's sole
Muslim country -- coalition forces would be allowed to withdraw from certain
missions, such as those involving attacking Libyan soldiers, the sources said.
As for the prospect of a more robust mandate, one that the U.S.-led coalition
has followed so far, "That decision has not been made yet," NATO
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said from the organization's
headquarters in Brussels.
He added that NATO will have outside help in whatever mission it opts to
pursue. "It's of utmost importance to stress that this is not primarily a NATO
operation," he said. "It is a broad international effort in which we will
include partners from the region that have pledged to contribute to this
protection of civilians in Libya."
Michael Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, said he expects the defense
alliance to take over command of the entire operation in a few days to keep
pressure on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
"The no-flight zone alone can not protect the civilians of Libya," Burns said
on CNN's "AC360" Thursday night "Gadhafi is still attacking ... He is still on
the move in some places."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he has seen no signs of the
cease-fire called for under U.N. Resolution 1973, which was hurriedly passed
March 17 as Libyan forces were closing in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
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RELATED TOPICS
* Libya
* NATO
* United Nations
"To the contrary, fierce battles continue in and around the cities of"
Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zinan," Ban said, adding his envoy told Libyan
authorities that if the government did not comply with the cease-fire
resolution, "the Security Council was prepared to take additional measures."
Ban sent envoy to Friday's African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at
which representatives of the Gadhafi government and the opposition were
expected to attend. "Their aim: to reach a cease-fire and political solution."
But there was no sign that any such solution was near. The battle for Misrata,
Libya's third-largest city, has been ongoing for more than a week.
So far, U.S. forces have shouldered the bulk of the mission, according to
figures provided by the Pentagon. Of the 175 Tomahawk missiles fired, 168 were
from the United States and seven from Great Britain, the only two countries to
possess them, while U.S. planes have flown almost two-thirds of the sorties and
U.S. ships comprise more than two-thirds of the total involved.
Thursday's flurry of diplomatic activity came as the battle for control of
Libya was continuing to unfold.
Libyans gathered at a seaside cemetery in Tripoli on Thursday for the funerals
of 33 people Gadhafi's government said were victims of an airstrike.
State television said the dead were victims of the "crusader colonial
aggression." Earlier, a Libyan government official said coalition planes struck
the suburb of Tajura and state TV showed images of fires, smoldering vehicles
and the charred bodies of the dead.
At the cemetery, anger trumped grief and Gadhafi's message was loud and clear:
innocent people were wrongly killed and the Libyan people will fight back.
CNN could not independently verify the circumstances of the deaths or who the
victims were. In Tripoli, CNN reporters go on government-organized tours in an
effort to do their own reporting; Libyan authorities forbid independent
movement by international journalists in Tripoli.
The reports of civilian deaths were given little credence by coalition forces,
which launched airstrikes Thursday near Tripoli, Misrata and Ajdabiya in Libya.
"The only civilian casualties we know are for certain are the ones that the
Libyan government itself has caused," U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.
The coalition has established a no-fly zone that spans from east to west along
Libya's coast. French jets fired air-to-ground missiles on a Libyan combat
aircraft Thursday that was in violation of the no-fly mandate, destroying it,
the French Defense Ministry said. The plane was struck as it was landing in a
Misrata airfield.
The civil war was sparked in February by protests demanding an end to Gadhafi's
nearly 42-year rule. The Libyan strongman responded with force against
civilians, prompting the international community to take action beginning last
weekend.
Though the rebels' position may have improved since then, a U.S. official said
Gadhafi's forces still have the upper hand. They remain capable of carrying out
attacks on the opposition, are relatively well-organized and continue to fight
effectively, the official said.
CNN's Arwa Damon, Elise Labott, Paula Newton and Jim Bittermann contributed to
this repo
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