TRIPOLI, March 22, (Agencies): Muammar Gaddafi’s forces attacked two west Libyan towns, killing dozens while rebels were pinned down in the east and NATO tried to resolve a heated row over who should lead the Western air campaign.
With anti-Gaddafi rebels struggling to create a command structure that can capitalise on the air strikes against Libyan tanks and air defences, Western nations have still to decide who will take over command once Washington pulls back in a few days.
In the latest fighting on Tuesday, Gaddafi’s tanks shelled the rebel-held western town of Misrata and casualties included four children killed when their car was hit, residents said, adding the death toll for Monday alone had reached 40.
Residents painted a grim picture of the situation in Misrata which has been under siege by Gaddafi loyalists for weeks, with doctors operating on people with bullet and shrapnel wounds in hospital corridors and tanks in the city centre.
“The situation here is very bad. Tanks started shelling the town this morning,” a resident, called Mohammed, told Reuters by telephone from outside the city’s hospital, adding: “Snipers are taking part in the operation too. A civilian car was destroyed killing four children on board, the oldest is aged 13 years.”

In the first apparent air force casualty of the campaign, a US F-15E crashed in Libya overnight and its two crew members were rescued, the US military said. The crash was likely caused by mechanical failure and not hostile fire, it said.
Explosions and anti-aircraft rounds rattled Tripoli for a third time overnight, and Libyan state television said several sites in the capital had come under attacks by what it called the “crusader enemy”.
Al Jazeera news network said Gaddafi forces were trying to seize the western rebel-held town of Zintan near the Tunisian border in an attack using heavy weapons. Residents had already fled the town centre to seek shelter in mountain caves.
Security analysts say it is unclear what will happen if the Libyan leader digs in, especially since Western powers have made clear they would be unwilling to see Libya partitioned between a rebel-held east and Gaddafi-controlled west.
Rebels in east Libya were positioned just outside Ajdabiyah on Tuesday, making no further advance on the strategic town despite a third night of Western air strikes on the north African oil-producing state.
At the frontline in the desert scrub about 5 kms (3 miles) outside the town located at the gateway to the rebel-held east, fighters said air strikes were helping to cripple Gaddafi’s heavy armour. But there was no sign of a swift drive forward.
When asked why rebel units had not advanced towards their objective, which is the eventual taking of Tripoli, Ahmed al-Aroufi, a rebel fighter at the frontline, told Reuters: “Gaddafi has tanks and trucks with missiles.”

Commenting on the air campaign to protect civilians in this uprising against Gaddafi’s 41-year rule, Aroufi said:
“We don’t depend on anyone but God, not France or America. We started this revolution without them through the sweat of our own brow, and that is how we will finish it.”
Washington, wary of being drawn into another war after long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, has ruled out specific action to overthrow Gaddafi, though France said on Monday it hoped the Libyan government would collapse from within.
The United States expects to hand over command in “a matter of days” but has not said which nation or organisation would take charge. Britain and France took a lead role in pushing for air strikes which have destroyed much of its air defences.

Command
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the intention was to transfer command to NATO, but France said Arab countries did not want the US-led alliance in charge of the operation.
NATO officials resumed talks in Brussels on Tuesday after failing to reach agreement at fractious talks on Monday.
Some allies were now questioning whether a no-fly zone was necessary, given the damage already done by air strikes to Gaddafi’s military capabilities, a NATO diplomat said, adding: “Yesterday’s meeting became a little bit emotional.”
Underlining the differences in the anti-Gaddafi coalition, Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said if agreement was not reached on a NATO command, Italy would resume control of the seven airbases it has made available to allied air forces.
A NATO role would require political support from all the 28 states. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a NATO member, said on Tuesday that the United Nations should be the umbrella for a solely humanitarian operation in Libya.
In a speech in parliament, Erdogan said: “Turkey will never ever be a side pointing weapons at the Libyan people.”

US President Barack Obama spoke with Erdogan and they affirmed their full support for the UN resolution “and agreed that this will require a broad-based international effort, including Arab states,” the White House said on Tuesday.
Approve
At least half the US public approves of President Barack Obama’s military action in Libya, despite growing criticism from Republicans and some Democrats in Congress, recent polling data suggests.
A CBS News poll released on Tuesday said just 29 percent of Americans disapprove of Obama’s handling of the situation in Libya, where a US-led air and naval force has established a no-fly zone over much of the country.
Exactly half of the 1,022 US adults polled by CBS approved of Obama’s actions while 1-in-5 Americans had no opinion.
That compares with 70 percent approval for US military action in a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll that put the opposition at 27 percent.

In both cases, polling began last Friday, a day after the UN Security Council authorized military action against the Libyan government, and continued through the commencement of hostilities on Saturday.
CNN, which released its poll on Monday, said there was no indication the actual attacks had changed public opinion over the course of the weekend.
The results coincide with growing criticism of Obama by Republicans in Congress, who say the president should have consulted more closely with lawmakers before initiating the operation code-named “Odyssey Dawn.”
Two Qatar Air Force fighter jets and a cargo aircraft were heading to Crete Tuesday in the first sign of military operations by Qatar so far to help enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, officials said.
The planes made an unscheduled stop at the island’s Larnaca airport, and government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said in a statement that the two Mirage jets and one cargo aircraft would depart after refueling.
A Cyprus Civil Aviation Department official told The Associated Press that high winds forced the two Mirage 2000 and one C-17 cargo aircraft to land for refueling. The aircraft were enroute to a US military base on the Greek island Crete, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with policy.

Britain is talking to Arab nations in a bid to “develop” the military coalition arrayed against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday.
Foreign Secretary William Hague briefed the cabinet on efforts to boost the coalition, which is led by the United States, France and Britain and includes some other Western states and Arab country Qatar, said the spokesman.
Asked if there had been any progress on drawing in other Arab countries, he told reporters: “That’s something the foreign secretary referred to in cabinet.
“He was talking about continued efforts to develop and maintain that coalition of countries, which was what the prime minister was talking about yesterday (in parliament).
“And I think there is a lot of activity in the Foreign Office to ensure that happens.”
The cabinet was “completely unified” behind the military action, he added.

Bahrain
Dozens of mourners gathered in Bahrain’s capital Tuesday to bury a Shiite woman who witnesses say died at the hands of the country’s military shortly after emergency rule was imposed last week.
The funeral was a reminder that emotions remain raw and tensions are still high between the Shiite majority, which make up the bulk of the opposition, and the kingdom’s Sunni rulers and their allies.
Bahrain descended into turmoil last month as Shiite-led opposition groups took to the streets of the capital Manama to call for greater political reforms. The tiny island nation plays host to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, and its rulers maintain close ties to Saudi Arabia and other Western-backed Arab nations.
Bahia al-Aradi, 51, was driving on a main road in Manama looking for gasoline when she was shot in the head last Wednesday as she approached a military checkpoint, according to witnesses who came to her aid from nearby houses. They said they were also shot at by the military vehicles parked on a highway overpass.
The woman’s brother, Habib al-Aradi, 36, said Bahia was on the phone with her younger sister when she was shot. He said the family was told they could pick up al-Aradi’s body from the main civilian hospital, Salmaniya, only this week. However, a death certificate seen by an Associated Press reporter was issued by a military hospital. It listed the cause of death as severe brain injury.

The office of the human UN rights chief said Tuesday it appeared to have been targeted by an orchestrated e-mail campaign after it condemned a takeover of Bahrain hospitals by security forces.
“Since last Thurday, we’ve been inundated with e-mails telling us we got it back to front and that the protestors are the ones completely at fault,” said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“Many of these e-mails are very similar in content, suggesting an orchestrated campaign. That said, some or even many of these e-mails may be genuine,” he added.
US and Gulf naval forces have staged a joint exercise in the Gulf focused on tracking vessels deemed threatening, the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Force (CMF) said on Monday.
Ships from Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States took part in the seven-day Exercise Goalkeeper 11-01 in central and southern Gulf waters to “train across the spectrum of Maritime Security Operations (MSO)”, CMF said in a statement.
It did not disclose when it happened.
The exercise focused on coordinating coalition security operations at sea, as well as “improving the dissemination of information among regional command centres and building relationships between contributing nations,” said Bahraini Colonel Isa al-Doseri.

Yemen
Yemen’s president warned on Tuesday his country would descend into civil war if he were forced to quit and Washington voiced concern about instability in the Arabian state that has become an al-Qaeda stronghold.
Seven weeks of unrelenting anti-government protests and defections among the ruling elite have piled pressure on Saleh, a US ally against radical Islamist ambitions in the Arabian peninsula, to step down immediately after 32 years in power.
But an aide said he would leave office only after organising parliamentary polls and establishing democratic institutions, by January 2012 — a declaration the opposition promptly rejected.
“Ali Abdullah Saleh does not seek power,” Saleh’s media secretary Ahmed al-Sufi told Reuters. “Ali Abdullah Saleh will not leave without knowing who he is handing over to.”
The United States, grappling with the diplomatic fallout of uprisings and uncertainty across the Arab world, voiced rare public alarm about the situation in Yemen.
“We are obviously concerned about the instability in Yemen,” US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. His chief concern was to avoid “diversion of attention” from opposing al-Qaeda there.
Opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabry, rejecting Saleh’s offer to go by January 2012, said the coming hours would be decisive.

In speeches to army officers and tribal leaders in Sanaa, Saleh said Yemen faced a danger of civil war and disintegration because of efforts to stage a “coup” against his rule.
“You have an agenda to tear down the country, the country will be divided into three instead of two halfs. A southern part, northern part and a middle part. This is what is being sought by defectors against...unity,” he said, referring to northern Shiite rebels and al-Qaeda militants.
“Those who want to climb up to power through coups should know that this is out of the question. The homeland will not be stable, there will be a civil war, a bloody war. They should carefully consider this,” Saleh told army commanders.
Presidential guards loyal to Saleh surrounded an air force battalion in the coastal city of Hudaida after its commander said he supported the protesters. A presidential guard and a soldier died in clashes between the two forces in the southern coastal city of Mukalla late on Monday, medical sources said.
Western countries fear the political crisis could hasten a slide into failed nation status for a country that borders the world’s biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and major shipping routes. One scenario could see the country split into separate zones along tribal, military or regional lines.
Al-Qaeda has already used Yemen to attempt attacks in Saudi Arabia and the United States in the past two years. The Shiite Houthi movement has staged a number of revolts against Saleh.

Oman
About 100 Omani demonstrators set up tents on Tuesday in a district of the capital housing the main government ministries, demanding political reform.
Protests against autocratic rulers sweeping the region have not spared conservative and usually tranquil Oman at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula whose Gulf Arab dynasty has long been backed by Washington.
In power for 40 years, Sultan Qaboos this month began moves to cede some legislative powers to the partially elected Oman Council, which is so far only an advisory body. At present, only the sultan and his cabinet can legislate.
The government also said it would double monthly welfare payments and increase pension benefits. But workers at many public and private companies have continued to stage sit-ins and strikes over wages, including at two refineries on Sunday.

The camp in Al Khuwair is the second in the capital. Several weeks ago prostesters set up tents outside parliament. Activists are also camped out nightly in tents in front of the governor’s office in Salalah in the far south and in Sohar where at least one person died in protests and clashes with police last month.
“The new appointed ministers can’t miss us here. We hope some of them to step out from their offices to have discussions with us,” said Ahmed Al Zadjali, an unemployed protester.
Huge placards will greet ministers when they drive into the zone: “We are still waiting for the jobs,” “Get rid of corruption”, and “All officials must be accountable”.
Qaboos has ordered a salary hike of up to 100 rials ($260) a month from April 1 for civil servants, including the security forces, but protesters say the private sector has been ignored.
“Nothing for the private sector so far, apart from the unemployment benefit. The people in these government buildings are benefitting from the demonstrations,” said Yacoub Al Mawli, a receptionist at the Rusayl Industry Zone in Muscat.
Wealthy Gulf Arab oil producers launched a $20 billion aid package this month for their less prosperous neighbours Oman and Bahrain — a job-generating measure that should enable the two countries to upgrade their housing and infrastructure.

Tunisia
A Tunisian died Tuesday after setting himself alight in a town where a self-immolation last year sparked protests that toppled the president and led to a regional uprising, a hospital said.
The 33-year-old set himself alight in the central town of Sidi Bouzid as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Tunisia just over two months after president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in the uprising.
The reasons for the protest by Khaled Ezzafouri, who was single and unemployed, were unclear.
He suffered third degree burns and was transferred to a hospital in the eastern city of Sfax but was dead on arrival, a hospital official said.
The self-immolation in the same town in December of a fruit and vegetable seller set off protests that spread across the country, gaining momentum despite a deadly security forces crackdown.
Around 219 people were killed and 510 injured during the violent protests, according to UN figures.
Ben Ali’s overthrow led to a wave of uprisings across the Arab world, including one that toppled Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak on February 11 with others under way in countries including Libya, Yemen and Bahrain.
Ban, who arrived in Tunisia late Monday, was due Tuesday to meet in Tunis the mother of the fruit seller, Mohammed Bouazizi, who died days after his self-immolation in December.
The 26-year-old man doused himself with petrol and set himself alight in desolate Sidi Bouzid, which is about 260 kms (160 miles) south of the capital, after being humiliated by police.

Syria
Syria sought Tuesday to contain the first serious intrusion of the Arab world’s political unrest by firing the governor of a southern province where a government crackdown killed seven protesters over the weekend.
Residents of the city of Daraa had been demanding his departure after security forces violently suppressed three straight days of protests by thousands of people calling for political freedom and an end to corruption. Forces used tear gas, water cannons and later live ammunition to disperse the crowds, which first gathered on Friday.
Enraged residents then set fire to several government buildings in a startling outburst of unrest in one of the Middle East’s most repressive countries.

The provincial governor, Faisal Kalthoum, was fired on Tuesday, a Syrian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations barring him from being identified by name. Daraa residents accused Kalthoum — in office since 2006 — of corruption. During a demonstration Monday, protesters chanted, “The people want to bring down the governor.”
In a sign the unrest was spreading, video footage posted on the Internet showed new anti-government protests in a suburb of the capital, Damascus, and a village in southern Syria.
One clip on YouTube showed several hundred villagers in Sanamein chanting “Freedom!” while another showed dozens gathered in the Hajar Aswad neighborhood of the capital.
Syrian activists who reported the protests said they took place Monday evening. The activists spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared government reprisals. The authenticity of the videos could not be independently verified.

Sudan
Sudanese police crushed two small anti-government protests on Monday with teargas when youths began a second attempt to emulate popular uprisings in neighbouring Libya and Egypt.
Hit by an economic crisis with rising inflation and political uncertainty as the oil-producing south voted to secede ending decades of civil war, Khartoum is vulnerable. But the protest movement seemed to have lost momentum earlier in the year when police arrested or beat back thousands of youths.
On Monday, heavily armed police surrounded universities in north Sudan and deployed throughout the capital Khartoum.
Two witnesses told Reuters dozens of youths shouting “freedom, freedom” were beaten back by baton-wielding police using teargas near Khartoum’s main bus station.

In Wad Medani, the capital of Sudan’s agricultural heartland, some 250 demonstrators took over the market before they were dispersed by police who arrested a number of the activists.
“They were shouting slogans like ‘people want the regime to fall’ and ‘no to price rises’,” said resident Sir al-Khatim who witnessed the protest.
Dozens of those arrested since the first anti-government protest on Jan. 30 have said they have been tortured and beaten. Hundreds of others arrested were released without charge.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s government took power in a bloodless 1989 coup. Faced with calls for reform within his own ruling party, Bashir has said he will not stand again in presidential elections due in 2015.
He is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide in the western Darfur region.
Sudan has suffered multiple civil wars since independence in 1955, leaving a heavily armed population and exacerbating tribal tensions.