WASHINGTON, March 19, (Agencies): US and British forces have fired at least 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya against Muammar Gaddafi’s air defense sites, a top US military officer said Saturday.
French air raids and US Tomahawk missiles pounded targets in Libya on Saturday, in an international campaign to prevent Muammar Gaddafi from crushing a month-old uprising against his rule.
A US warship fired Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya, targeting Gaddafi’s air defence sites, a senior US military official said.
Two days after a UN Security Council resolution authorised military action, French planes carried out an initial four air strikes, destroying several armoured vehicles of Gaddafi’s forces, the French military said.
President Barack Obama authorized limited military action against Libya on Saturday, saying Muammar Gaddafi’s continued assault on his own people left the US and its international partners with no other choice. The Pentagon said it fired 110 cruise missiles at 20 targets.
Obama said military action was not his first choice.
“This is not an outcome the US or any of our partners sought,” Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. “We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy.”

Libyan media said Western warplanes bombed civilian targets in Tripoli, causing casualties, shortly after France’s launch of the multinational air campaign against Gaddafi.
State television said hundreds of people had gathered at Bab al-Aziziyah, Gaddafi’s Tripoli headquarters, and at the capital’s international airport, ahead of the widely anticipated air strikes.
“Crowds are forming around the targets identified by France,” the television reported, showing pictures of flag-waving people gathering to serve as human shields.
Last week, a highly placed French source referred to Bab al-Aziziya, a military air base in Sirte, east of the capital, and another in Sebha in the south as likely targets of a strike.
Britain also said its forces were in action on Saturday, as Russia’s foreign ministry expressed regret over the armed intervention under UN Resolution 1973 “which was adopted in haste.”
According to France’s army chief, a first French air strike took place around 1645 GMT against “a Libyan vehicle clearly identified as belonging to pro-Gaddafi forces”.
Within the next hour, French Rafale and Mirage 2000 fighter jets conducted three other strikes, destroying armoured vehicles of the Libyan forces in the eastern region of Benghazi, the rebels’ stronghold, the military said.

The operations are to continue through the night, the military said.
In the rebel camp, celebratory gunfire and honking of car horns broke out in Al-Marj, 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Benghazi, to welcome the start of military operations against Gaddafi, correspondents said.
As thousands fled Benghazi amid an assault by Gaddafi loyalists earlier on Saturday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a summit of world leaders in Paris that his country’s fighters were poised to attack.
But Sarkozy said Gaddafi could still avoid the worst if he complied with the Security Council resolution by implementing a ceasefire to allow the diplomatic door to reopen.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon, however, said he was troubled by a telephone call from the Libyan prime minister on Friday night.
“He told me that the Libyan government was fully abiding by the Security Council resolution and there will be an immediate ceasefire,” said the secretary general.
“But at the same time and overnight they were attacking Benghazi. It is very troubling; whatever they say must be verified.”

Since Friday, the Libyan government has insisted it was observing a self-declared ceasefire, shortly after the Security Council voted to authorise the use of force against Gaddafi’s troops to spare civilians.
The regime said its armed forces were under attack west of Benghazi, including by rebel aircraft, and had responded in self-defence.
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Mussa Kussa said Tripoli had met all its obligations under the UN resolution and asked Ban to send observers to monitor the ceasefire.
But the rebels, who have been trying to overthrow the Libyan leader for more than a month, said government troops had continued to bombard cities, violating the ceasefire continuously.
British Prime Minister David Cameron held Gaddafi responsible for the continued violence and said that “the time for action” had come.
“Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen. He has lied to the international community, he has promised a ceasefire, he has broken that ceasefire. He continues to brutalise his own people,” Cameron told British television.
“And so the time for action has come. It needs to be urgent. We have to enforce the will of the United Nations and we cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue.”

Intervention
Gaddafi’s troops on Saturday morning pushed into the outskirts of Benghazi, a city of 670,000 people, in an apparent attempt to pre-empt military intervention expected after a meeting of Western and Arab leaders in Paris.
But as the meeting ended, Sarkozy announced that allied air forces had already gone into action.
“Those taking part agreed to put in place all necessary means, especially military, to enforce the decisions of the United Nations Security Council,” he said.
Sarkozy said an operation supported by France, Britain, the United States and Canada, and backed by Arab nations, was halting air attacks by Gaddafi’s forces and would continue unless the Libyan leader ceased fire.
A French military source said France had five warplanes operating over Libya, including an AWACS reconnaissance plane and four attack aircraft, two Rafales and two Mirages.
Military action could be halted at any time if Gaddafi stopped his forces attacking, Sarkozy said.
“Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the meeting. “He has lied to the international community, he has promised a ceasefire, he has broken that ceasefire ... We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue.”

Violence
With American military forces poised for action, President Barack Obama said Saturday that the United States and its allies are prepared to act with urgency to end violence against civilians in Libya.
The president spoke as French warplanes began the first sorties to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi’s bloody attacks on rebels continued.
“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 to act with urgency,” Obama said in Brasilia, Brazil, on the first day of a three-country Latin American tour.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Paris on Saturday that the United States would bring its “unique capabilities” to bear to help its European and Canadian allies in enforcing a UN resolution on Libya.

“If the international community is to have credibility ... then action must take place,” Clinton told a news conference.
She added that Washington had yet to decide whether to follow France in formally recognising the rebel government in Benghazi.
Qatar and several European nations, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, on Saturday confirmed their will to take part in UN-sanctioned military intervention in Libya, a diplomat said.
France and Britain have been leading calls and plans for attacks on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces to prevent attacks on rebels. Canada has also said it will send several fighter jets to take part.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero said Spain would help set up the UN-sanctioned no-fly zone by providing an airborne refuelling plane and four F-18 fighters that would leave on Saturday for an Italian air base.
Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said: “Belgium will make available F-16s currently in southern Greece.”
Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirmed that Italian bases would be available to help enforce the no-fly zone over its former colony, adding that further Italian participation could follow.
Operational command “will probably be carried out from the Nato base in Naples,” Berlusconi said, without specifying if he was referring to overall operations or the no-fly zone.

Bahrain
Bahrain’s king pledged to bring reforms and another demonstrator was on Saturday confirmed to have died in a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, as international calls mounted for restraint.
“I shall not allow a stop in the reform process which I began when I took the reins of power,” King Hamad said in a statement on the official BNA news agency.
“The door is open to all subjects that are in the interest of all the citizens,” he said.
The body of protester Issa Abdali Radhi, who had been missing since Tuesday clashes in the Shiite village of Sitra, south of Manama, was found in the morgue of Salmaniya hospital in the capital, his brother Jalil told AFP on Saturday.

“My other brother went and confirmed that it is him,” he said, adding that the medical report said Radhi, 47, was “killed by gunfire,” without adding details.
The funeral for Ahmed Abdullah, who was shot at a protest on Wednesday that took place west of Manama, was held on Friday, opposition MP Mattar Mattar said.
Mattar added that Abdullah was taken to a private medical centre that did not have the necessary equipment treat him, and that security forces prevented him from being taken to the main Salmaniya hospital.
Bahrain faces mounting international pressure to exercise restraint and ensure the safety of jailed opposition leaders.
Overnight, the United States said it was “deeply troubled” by the arrest of several opposition figures and activists in the Gulf kingdom, urging authorities to ensure transparent judicial proceedings.
“We call on the government of Bahrain to ensure the security of... all arrestees and to abide by its commitment to transparent judicial proceedings conducted in full accordance with Bahraini law and Bahrain’s international legal obligations,” said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

Washington also called on Bahraini “security forces to cease violence, especially on medical personnel and facilities,” he said, urging “maximum restraint” by the Bahraini government and that protesters also “engage peacefully and responsibly.”
Toner expressed particular concern over the arrests of Ibrahim Sharif, leader of Wa’ad, a recognised political society, and Ali al-Ekri, a doctor who was arrested after criticising conditions at Manama’ main Salmaniya hospital.
The government has launched a bloody crackdown to stop Shiite-led protests, declaring martial law and rounding up dissidents at gunpoint in midnight raids.
And on Saturday, BNA reported that Bahrain Defence Forces have until further notice banned maritime activity in various areas of the Gulf archipelago’s waters from 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) to 6:00 am (0300 GMT).

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday the crackdown might be breaking international law as he expressed “his deepest concern over reports of excessive and indiscriminate use of force.”
Thousands of the Shiite-majority community protested in villages on Friday as riot police and army, backed by a joint Gulf force, kept tight control of the country ruled by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty.
Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa said Friday that the picture was not clear for those outside, insisting that relations with the international community were not in danger.
He also insisted that most of those arrested “do not recognise the political system of Bahrain” and that there was evidence that Sharif, the only Sunni among the detainees, had been in “contact with foreign parties.”
Bahrain’s chief diplomat insisted that an early call by the regime for dialogue was “rejected” by most of those who were rounded up, adding that the “priority is for security and stability.”
“How can we sit for dialogue in such conditions, without security?,” he exclaimed. “Under current tensed conditions, dialogue cannot take place.”

Medical aid
A convoy of Kuwaiti doctors and medical equipment was en route Saturday to Bahrain as Gulf neighbors pour more troops and aid into the violence-torn island kingdom that has become an arena for regional tensions.
Kuwait’s ambassador, Sheik Azzam Mubarak Al-Sabah, said the team is expected to arrive Sunday and includes 53 doctors, 21 ambulances and other vehicles, according to Kuwait’s state-run KUNA news agency.
Kuwait is not contributing troops to the Saudi-led force that entered Bahrain earlier this week to support the nation’s Sunni monarchy, which was reeling after more than a month of protests by majority Shiites seeking to break the dynasty’s grip on power.
Qatar, however, was the latest Gulf nation to announce its soldiers joined the military action in Bahrain.
The Gulf force underscores the deep worries about Bahrain’s stability among the region’s Sunni kings and sheiks. They fear any stumble by Bahrain’s leaders could embolden more challenges to their own regimes and possibly open room for Shiite heavyweight Iran to make political inroads.

But Iranian authorities and their Shiite allies around the Middle East have expressed outrage at the Gulf military support — raising the risks that any serious clash could spark regional unrest along the Sunni-Shiite fault lines.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner urged Friday for “maximum restraint” by Bahrain’s security forces and more than 1,500 troops from the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation bloc that include Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
The US — which counts Bahrain as a centerpiece of its Gulf military framework — has sent top envoys to meet with the embattled monarchy and has been criticized by Shiite opposition groups for not coming to their support. Bahrain hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which is the Pentagon’s main regional counterweight to Iran’s growing military powers.
Bahrain reduced curfew times by four hours on Saturday and said ministries and schools would return to normal working hours after a crackdown on mainly Shiite protesters raised tensions in the oil-producing region.

Bahrain has arrested at least seven opposition leaders and driven pro-democracy demonstrators from the streets after weeks of protests that prompted its king to declare martial law and draw in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia.
The unrest brought Bahrain’s economy to a virtual standstill and schools and universities were closed to prevent sectarian clashes that had begun to erupt daily.
Earlier this week, Bahrain imposed a curfew on large swathes of the capital Manama from 4 pm to 4 am, later reducing those hours in some areas.
The curfew now runs from 8 pm to 4 am from Seef Mall, through the Pearl roundabout and the financial district to the diplomatic area.

Iraqis
Thousands of Iraqis protested in the southern oil hub of Basra on Saturday against the presence of Saudi troops in Bahrain, which has highlighted Iraq’s own sectarian divide after years of war.
Anger has been mounting among Shiites in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran over the movement of troops from Sunni Arab states to help Bahrain’s Sunni royal family stifle pro-democracy demonstrations by majority Shiites.
Bahrain said on Friday more troops were coming from other Gulf states to help restore security. It has swept protesters from a central square and arrested opposition leaders.
Saturday’s protests saw around 7,000 people, including local government officials and clerics, demonstrate in central Basra, Iraq’s second largest city.
“The clock of change is ticking. After Bahrain, the Saudi king is next,” protesters shouted. “Woe to those hostile to Shiites.”

Similar large demonstrations were held in Baghdad and Najaf on Friday. A small demonstration took place in Baghdad on Saturday.
Like Bahrain, Iraq has a Shiite majority that complained for decades of oppression under a Sunni ruling class which is dominant throughout the Arab world.
Since the 2003 US-led invasion which toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and allowed Iraq’s Shiite majority to take power, Baghdad has had uneasy relations with its Sunni Arab neighbours.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his ruling Shiite bloc have criticised the intervention by Gulf states in Bahrain. Iraqi Shiite clerics, including the country’s most revered, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have spoken out against the crackdown in Bahrain.
“The Saudi government practices a double standard. On the one hand it is with the Libyan people, and on the other hand it is (flexing) a strong arm against Bahrain’s people and suppressing them,” said Muhanad Sahib, a 41-year-old professor demonstrating in Basra.

“Support for the Bahraini people is a religious and moral duty. Let the Marjaiya (Shiite clergy) declare Jihad.”
The US government on Friday said it was deeply troubled by the arrests of Bahraini opposition leaders and called on the country’s government to ensure legal proceedings for those arrested were fair and transparent.
Sunni-ruled Bahrain has arrested seven opposition leaders and driven pro-democracy demonstrators from the streets after weeks of protests that prompted the king to declare martial law and drew in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia. The protests by the Shiite demonstrators against the Sunnis have resulted in violence and battered the country’s economy.

The US State Department said it was particularly concerned about the arrest of Ibrahim Sharif, a prominent leader of Wa’ad, a political group recognized by the Government of Bahrain, and the reported detention of Dr Ali Al-Ekri, a senior physician at Bahrain’s largest public hospital.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the Bahrain government must ensure the safety of those arrested and commit to open legal proceedings that comply with the country’s law and international legal obligations.
“We also call on security forces to cease violence, especially on medical personnel and facilities,” he said. “Protestors, too, must engage peacefully and responsibly.
“The Bahraini government must exercise maximum restraint as it deals with this situation and must ensure that GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) forces do so as well,” he said.
Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s foreign minister, said on Friday the government is committed to talking with the opposition but has placed security as its top priority. Three or four Gulf States are sending troops who would remain until calm was reached, he said.

Syria
Syrian security forces fired tear gas Saturday on mourners burying two men who were killed in an earlier protest in the southern city of Daraa, wounding several, rights activists said.
The latest violence came as a Facebook page, one of the motors behind an unprecedented string of protests in Syria, called for a Saturday rally in the city of Homs, north of Damascus.
The fresh call for protests in the Middle Eastern country infamous for its tight grip on security came one day after rights groups reported that security forces killed at least three people and wounded hundreds in a rally in the southern city of Daraa.
Friday’s incident came as residents of Daraa, a traditional city home to large, tribal families, attended the funerals of two of the victims.

“Thousands of people at the funerals of Akram al-Jawabra and Hussam Abdelwali Ayash were surrounded by large numbers of security men who fired tear gas at the mourners to disperse them,” the activist said, quoting witnesses.
He said several people inhaled tear gas or were injured when they began to push their way through the crowd, which had been chanting “God, Syria, freedom,” in panic.
Another activist said Daraa was in a state of extreme agitation.
“Dozens of people were arrested today and a protester who was wounded on Friday, Adnan Akrad, died,” he said.
“More than 10,000 attended the funerals but the bodies were buried without prayers being recited in the mosque.”

After the burial the crowd headed for the centre of Daraa, to be met by tear gas,” the activist added.
Impromptu protests have erupted in Damascus and other cities for four days, with Facebook group The Syrian Revolution 2011 — which also carries an Arabic version of its title translating as “The Syrian Revolt against (President) Bashar al-Assad” — emerging as a major mobilising force behind the unprecedented events in Syria.
The group, which has called several days of protest with different degrees of success, on Saturday disclosed the location of the demonstration in advance, a bold gesture in Syria, which remains under a 1963 emergency law that bans protests.
Demonstrations in Syria on Friday marking a “Day of Dignity” were also reported in the coastal town of Banias and in Homs.

In Damascus, AFP reporters saw plain-clothes police dragging away at least two activists Friday who had apparently began to chant “freedom” after prayer at the main mosque.
Syria’s state news agency SANA confirmed violence and “acts of sabotage” had broken out in Daraa, where Friday’s killings were reported, and said security forces had intervened to control the situation.
An unofficial group that has dubbed itself “the March 15 revolution,” after the first of four days of rallies, posted on Saturday a statement on Facebook holding the state squarely responsible for the deaths in Daraa.
Small protests have erupted since March 15 in the Old City of Damascus, demanding the release of political prisoners and reforms amid a wave of popular uprisings across the Middle East.