Breaking News: French Fighter Downs Libyan Warplane, reports

French fighter jets have reportedly shot down a Libyan jet that tried to violate the country's UN-sanctioned no-fly zone Thursday. ABC News reported the attack happened in the skies over the embattled rebel city of Misurata. This is the first challenge of the allies aerial supremacy and it comes after five days of bombing runs against pro-Al Qathfi positions. Earlier French military officials said at a press conference in Paris that its fighter jets attacked an air base 240 kilometesinland from the Mediterranean coast overnight. Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Thursday coalition air strikes against Libya had been a "success."

Al Qathafi's Forces Roll On Despite Coalition's Strikes; Government Accuses Allied Forces of Targeting Civilians

Dead bodies of civilians that the Libyan government says were victims of the coalition's airstrikes Despite a fifth night of airstrikes, the Libyan regime's forces kept up their shelling of rebel-held cities by the use of tanks and heavy artillery, particularly at Misurata, Ajdabijah and Zintan, and with Libyan state television accusing the coalition forces of striking at civilians in the capital, Tripoli, and Jaafar, “killing dozens of civilians”. Libyan television reported UN-sponsored forces, calling them “colonialist crusaders”, as attacking military and civilian targets. Eight explosions were reported heard in the east of the capital late night on Wednesday, but US military officials denied any civilians had been killed. Government officials accompanied some journalists to a hospital early Thursday morning showing them 18 charred bodies, which the regime said, were military personnel and civilians killed in the air strikes. State television showed pictures of casualites arriving at a hospital, reportedly injured, or victims of the airstrikes by the coalition forces. At the same time, addressing journalists, the Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim addressing journalists, refused to admit that libyan forces are conducting offensive operations of any sort. “There are no attacks from Libyan forces from the air or from the ground. There are no military operations on the ground in Misurata,” he said. He added that the situation is, only confined to pockets of violence scattered in different areas of Misurata Meanwhile, the US military said it had successfully established a no-fly zone over Libya's coastal areas and had moved on to attack Al Qathafi's rremaining tanks. It has been reported that the coalition forces flew 175 sorties in 24 hours, with the US accounting for 113 of those, according to a US commander. The French defence minister, Gerard Longuet, said that France had destroyed about 10 Libyan armoured vehicles over three days. But these losses to the Al Qathafi forces, and the airstrikes have kept them from pressingg on with their assaults and their efforts to completely take control of the towns of Misurata,Ajdabiyah and Zintan. Under the cover of darkness, the pro-government forces used their tanks to push forward deep into the towns, particularly Misurata, the third largest city in the country around 200km east of Tripoli and home to a major oil refinery. According to reports Thursday, the loyalist troops shelled a residential area close to a hospital Government snipers carried on firing indiscriminately, and tanks were closing in on Misurata hospital, residents told Reuters news agency, while an opposition spokesman was quoted saying the snipers had killed 16 people. Contrary to what a resident in Zintan, 106km southwest of Tripoli told Al Jazeera, that is, that Al Qathafi's forces were bringing up more troops and tanks to bombard the opposition-held town, the Libyan government vehemently denies its army is conducting any offensive operations and says troops are only defending themselves when they come under attack. In the east, at Ajdabiyah, around 160km south of Benghazi, opposition fighters were reportedly pinned down outside the strategic junction after more than three days of trying to recapture the city. Despite coalition air strikes targeting the regime's forces along the road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah, rebel forces have been unable to retake the town.

Libya Mission Uncertain, Clouded by Confusion

United States President Barack Obama said he was setting clear and unmistakable terms for the U.S. role in Libya: It would be limited, lasting days, not weeks, and its purpose was to protect Libyan citizens. However, analysing the current situation, news agency Associated Press says that's not the way it's turning out. Less than a week later, the mission has been clouded by confusion and questions about who's in charge and who's doing what - all while the killing of civilians is going on, it said. AP goes on to say that the Pentagon claims success in establishing an effective no-fly zone over much of Libya that has grounded Col. Muammar Al Qathafi's ageing air force. But the Libyan leader's tanks and troops are still targeting civilians on the ground. Yet the administration seeks to minimise current disputes over the reins of leadership, suggesting everything will fall in place quickly, ideally by this weekend. It quotes Aaron David Miller, a former top State Department Mideast negotiator in Republican and Democratic administrations and now with the Woodrow Wilson Centre, a foreign-policy think tank saying that, “ it could still all come around very quickly in our favour. But if that's to happen, we will have to apply much more intensive military power in an effort to make this succeed." He goes on to say: "But it doesn't appear to me, given the constraints acting upon us and our own reservations, that we're prepared to do that. Right now, it appears to be settling into a stalemate which isn't terribly hurting on the Al Qathafi side." Meanwhile, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he couldn't predict when the international military enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya might end - but suggested the U.S. could turn over control of the operation as soon as Saturday. Gates said no one thought the assault would last only two or three weeks, but he could not say how the coalition operation might be resolved. For now, at least, the U.S. remains the ad hoc boss of the operation, now in its fifth day, with no certainty about who will take over or when. Talks are continuing in Brussels, headquarters of the North American Treaty Organisation, AP reports. The U.S. wants NATO to take the command and control lead in overseeing coalition forces. U.S., European, Arab and African officials have been invited to a meeting in London next Tuesday to discuss outstanding political and logistical issues. On his part, Richard Downie, an Africa expert at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the United States' lead role in the operation was lasting longer than he'd expected. Obama has ruled out U.S. troops on the ground, and did so again Wednesday in an interview with the Spanish-language network Univision. Wrapping up a Latin American trip, Obama said a land invasion of Libya was "absolutely" out of the question.

Libyan minister claims Gaddafi is powerless and the ceasefire is 'solid'

Libyan minister claims Gaddafi is powerless and the ceasefire is 'solid'
One of Libya’s most senior politicians risked ridicule by claiming that a ceasefire was being respected and Colonel Gaddafi holds no power in the country.

Khaled Kaim, the country’s deputy foreign minister, tried to argue that the Libyan leader has been no more than a symbolic figurehead for the last 35 years.

In an interview with Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday, he also insisted that there was a “real, credible and solid” ceasefire even though reports were coming through as he spoke of heavy fighting in the rebel-held city of Benghazi.

Libya: it's the coalition of the willing – but can it hold?

As he strode into the Elysée Palace in a dark blue suit and regally purple tie, David Cameron could rightly take pride in his key role in the formation of a powerful coalition ready and willing to take military action against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan regime

In the words of a British Government source, the phone lines out of Whitehall were “red hot” for the past fortnight as the Prime Minister and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, led a diplomatic drive whose prize was the unexpectedly strong and united Resolution 1973, passed by the United Nations Security Council, which authorised “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan citizens.

For the first time in more than a decade, Britain and France were singing from the same diplomatic hymn sheet while the strength of opposition to Gaddafi among Arab nations was crucial in providing the necessary regional support for action.

Libya: Sarkozy and Gadaffi before they fell out

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, met world leaders in Paris at exactly the same place he had welcomed Colonel Gaddafi more than three years ago.

What a difference the passing of time can make.

Just over three years ago, in December 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy was welcoming Gadaffi to Paris and insisting to a French newspaper: “Gaddafi is not perceived as a dictator in the Arab world.”

“He is the longest serving head of state in the region,” Mr Sarkozy explained as he rolled out the red carpet.

“And in the Arab world, that counts,”

As Gadaffi was allowed to pitch his Bedouin tent in the elegant gardens of an official guest residence near the Elysee Palace, Mr Sarkozy denounced “those who excessively and irresponsibly criticised the Libyan leader’s visit”.

“If we don’t welcome those who take the road to respectability, then what do we say to those who take the opposite road?”
True, the French president conceded “he has his personality, his temperament”.
Sarkozy’s closest aide, the Elysee Palace secretary-general Claude Gueant, said the six-day visit had produced sales of fighter jets and Airbuses worth 10 billion euros, “which means 30,000 jobs in France”.
The figure was later revised to 3 billion euros and officials admitted that it was mainly “memorandums of intent to negotiate” that had been signed.

Libya: top quotes from around the world

David Cameron, the Prime Minister

“What is absolutely clear is that Gaddafi has broken his word, broken the ceasefire and continues to slaughter his own civilians. This has to stop. We have to make it stop.”

Barack Obama, US president

“Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians, our coalition is prepared to act and act with urgency.”

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State
“If the international community is to have credibility … then action must take place.”

Libya: US admiral brings the fight to Gadaffi

The Pentagon said that 110 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) fired by British and US forces were supported by a French air strike on tanks and armoured vehicles in what has been described as the “kinetic” phase of the operation – bombing to take out Libya’s anti-aircraft defences.

Further attacks by British Tornado GR4 ground attack aircraft, based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, were expected over the night. RAF Marham is home to 9 and 31 Squadrons, which are equipped with air-launched anti-radiation missiles, which home in on the radiation emitted by enemy radar, and Storm Shadow missiles, used to target command and control bunkers and radar stations.