Misurata pounded by Libyan army despite ''halt to operations'' - IBNLive.com

PTI | 09:04 PM,Apr 24,2011

Intensifying its air attacks on Gaddafi's forces, NATO fired its first Predator drone strike yesterday, destroying a Libyan government multiple rocket launcher near Misurata.The NATO strike came as a big boost to rebels who were coming under fierce attack Gaddafi's forces which were forcing them to retreat with heavy shelling and firing, using human shields.In eastern war zone, NATO pounded the Libyan army on the frontline of Ajdabiya and the strategic oil town of Brega, which has been the scene of seesaw battle between forces loyal to Gaddafi and the opposition fighters.NATO stepped into the Libyan fighting in mid-March, unleashing airstrikes against military targets as part of a UN mandate to protect civilians. It has undertaken over 3,000 sorties since assuming control of the UN-backed mission late last month."We have struck a broad range of targets across the country - tanks and rocket launchers, armoured vehicles and ammunition stores, command and control sites," it said in statement.Amid the fighting, human rights groups have warned of a humanitarian crisis in Misurata. There is severe shortages of food and medical supplies and thousands of foreign migrant workers remained stranded.Human rights groups have expressed fears that more than 1,000 people have been killed in the fighting there amid looming humanitarian crisis in the port city, 215 east of the capital Tripoli.Efforts to evacuate civilians from the besieged western city has continued as an aid vessel carrying more than 500 evacuees, most of them foreign workers, arrived today in Benghazi.The migrants were stranded in makeshift camps near Misurata's port, some of them for weeks, an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross was quoted as saying in the media.Amid warnings that the civil war was "moving towards stalemate", France, Italy and Britain have agreed to send military officers to Libya to train the ragtag rebel forces seeking to end Gaddafi's rule.The European military officers will help advise rebels on technical, logistical and organisational issues.The decision to strengthen the rebel forces to take on the Libyan regime comes as Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US military's joint chiefs of staff, warned that the conflict was "moving towards stalemate".He has admitted that while the NATO air strikes had weakened the Libyan forces, the conflict was moving into "stalemate".Mullen, speaking to US troops in Iraq on Friday, said the fighting in Libya is "moving towards stalemate", even though US and Nato air strikes have destroyed 30-40 person of Gaddaf's ground forces.Even as backing the three European countries to dispatch military advisers to help the rebels, the US has made it clear it will not be sending any military personnel to the war-torn North African state.Appearing in an interview on PBS, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week responded with a "no" when asked if US would follow its allies to send military advisers to the restive country. PTI