NATO pounded Tripoli yesterday hours after Britain’s top diplomat met rebel chiefs in Libya and Russia voiced concerns the alliance’s military operation was sliding toward a land campaign.
Warplanes launched intensive air raids on the Libyan capital and its eastern suburbs, where several explosions were heard, as NATO kept up its pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
British Foreign Minister William Hague on Saturday met leaders of rebels who have been fighting to oust Qaddafi after NATO deployed attack helicopters for the first time.
“We are here today for one principal reason — to show our support for the Libyan people and for the National Transitional Council, the legitimate representative of the Libyan people,” Hague said in a statement.
Hague, accompanied by -British International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, held talks with the head of the rebel National Transitional Council Mustafa al-Jalil.
He also toured Benghazi’s landmark seafront as well as a medical center treating war wounded.
“Qaddafi should leave immediately,” Hague said.
He told reporters Britain would also support demining efforts in Misrata, the main rebel-held city in western Libya, and deliver “more equipment, uniforms, bullet-proof jackets” to rebel fighters.
“We have no combat troops in Libya,” he added.
However, Britain, he said, would stand with the Libyan people “for as long as it takes.”
“We could not and did not turn a blind eye when Qaddafi turned his forces against innocent civilians. For as long as Qaddafi continues to abuse his people, we will continue and intensify our efforts to stop him,” Hague said.
Hours after Hague’s trip to the rebel capital, a series of NATO air strikes targeted Tripoli.
Four blasts shook Tripoli at around 2:30am yesterday after two powerful, but distant explosions were felt in the center of the capital at about 6:30pm on Saturday, followed by several others within a few minutes.
Witnesses said the explosions came from Tajura, a suburb that has often been targeted by NATO since an international coalition began military operations against Libya on March 31 to stop Qaddafi attacking civilians.
On Saturday, Britain and France said they deployed attack helicopters against Qaddafi’s forces for the first time as part the NATO campaign to protect civilians in line with a UN resolution that barred ground troops.
Britain’s defense ministry said Apaches on Friday night attacked a radar station and a checkpoint operated by Qaddafi’s forces in the strategic oil town of Brega in eastern Libya.
A spokesman for France’s military chiefs, Thierry Brukhard, said the copters destroyed about 20 targets and drew light arms fire from forces on the ground, but were not damaged.
Moscow, which is calling for a negotiated solution to the conflict, expressed alarm as the NATO campaign entered a new phase.
“We consider that what is going on is either consciously or unconsciously sliding towards a land operation,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“That would be very deplorable,” Lavrov, quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, added in reference to France and Britain’s decision to deploy military helicopters in the Libya conflict.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
RSS