Gaddafi pledges ‘long war’ as air strikes continue

In a first assessment from Washington,Admiral Mike Mullen,the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,said the first day of “operations yesterday went very well”,news reports said. Speaking to NBC,he said a no-fly zone over Libya to ground Gaddafi’s warplanes — a prime goal of the attacks — was “effectively” in place and that a loyalist advance on the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi had been halted.

Despite those major setbacks,Gaddafi said his forces on the ground would win in the end. And he repeated an assertion made on Saturday that he had opened military depots to his supporters and the Libyan people were now fully armed. Instead of an image of the Libyan leader,state television showed a statue of a golden fist clutching a crumpled American fighter plane,a monument to an American strike on his compound in 1986.

Speaking of a “long war”,Gaddafi said: “We will not leave our land and we will liberate it.”

“We will fight you if you continue your attacks on us,” he said. “Those who are on the land will win the battle,” he declared,warning without explanation that “oil will not be left to the US,France and Britain.”

In a report whose accuracy could not be verified,Libyan state TV on Sunday morning quoted the armed forces command as saying 48 people had been killed and 150 injured in Operation Odyssey Dawn,as the allied assault has been dubbed.

The mission to impose a UN-sanctioned no-fly zone was portrayed by Pentagon and NATO officials as under French and British leadership. But the Pentagon said that American forces took the lead in the initial campaign to knock out Libya’s air defence systems,firing volley after volley of Tomahawk missiles from nearby ships against missile,radar and communications centers around Tripoli,Misurata and Surt.

Early on Sunday,the sound of anti-aircraft fire and screaming fighter jets echoed across Tripoli,punctuated by heavy explosions. Muhammad Zweid,secretary of the Libyan Parliament,said the intervention had “caused some real harm against civilians and buildings”. But he declined to specify which civilian buildings or locations were hit. And other officials took pains on Saturday to show reporters a group of civilians they portrayed as volunteers who had flocked to Gaddafi’s compound to shield him from the attacks.

In the rebel-held east,Benghazi seemed quiet after fighting on Saturday that inspired a panicky exodus by thousands of residents.

Earlier,US President Barack Obama,speaking during a visit to Brazil,reiterated promises that no American ground forces would be used. “I am deeply aware of the risks of any military action,no matter what limits we place on it,” he said. “I want the American people to know that the use of force is not our first choice,and it’s not a choice that I make lightly. But we can’t stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy.”

As a build-up of western air-power continued at bases in the Mediterranean on Sunday,French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said,“The operations will continue in the days to come,until the Libyan regime accepts the UN resolution.” Asked if the military operation was meant to remove Gaddafi from power,he said: “No. The plan is to help Libyans choose their future.”DAVID D KIRKPATRICK,STEVEN ERLANGER & ELISABETH BUMILLER