French jets destroy Libyan aircraft,target arms flow

The international military operation against Gaddafi’s forces may last days or weeks — but not months,French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said. But the rebels who largely control Libya’s east remain outgunned and disorganised — instead of handing out weapons at a checkpoint,they were distributing sneakers to would-be fighters on Thursday.

The French strikes overnight hit a base about 250 kilometres south of the Libyan coastline,French military spokesman Thierry Burkhard said in Paris on Thursday,without elaborating on the target or possible damage.

France’s joint chiefs of staff,in a statement on their website,said French surveillance aircraft noticed a Libyan combat plane that was flying near Misrata in violation of the UN Security Council resolution. A French Rafale fighter jet fired a guided air-to-ground missile on the Libyan jet after it landed at the Misrata air base.

In Tripoli,Libyan deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said the “military compound at Juffra” was among the targets hit before dawn. Juffra is one of the air bases deep in Libya’s interior,on main routes leading from neighbouring countries in the Sahara region that have supplied arms and fighters to the Gaddafi regime.

Abdel Rahman Barkuli,a Libyan in exile originally from Sabha,said he spoke to residents in Sabha who reported several airstrikes before dawn: two targeted radars and one targeted a military camp.

Coalition bomber planes and ships continued to strike at Gaddafi positions,including artillery,tanks,an ammunition bunker and a small number of helicopters as they sat on an airfield along the coast,a US defence official said Thursday.

More than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from US and British ships in the Mediterranean Sea late Wednesday and early Thursday,their targets including Gaddafi’s air defence missile sites in Tripoli and south of the capital. Other attacks were launched against an ammunition bunker near Misrata and forces south of Benghazi,the official said.

Ajdabiyah has been under siege for more than a week,with the rebels holding the city centre but facing relentless shelling from government troops positioned on the outskirts. Two airstrikes targeted the area early Thursday,a rebel said.

Government troops also continued barraging Misrata on Thursday but were forced to roll back their tanks periodically amid coalition airstrikes.