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发帖数: 7918 | | p**********d
发帖数: 7918 | 2 March 17, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/world/africa/18nations.html?_
U.N. Approves Airstrikes to Halt Attacks by Qaddafi Forces
By DAN BILEFSKY and KAREEM FAHIM
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council approved a measure on
Thursday authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians
from harm at the hands of forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
The measure allows not only a no-fly zone but effectively any measures short
of a ground invasion to halt attacks that might result in civilian
fatalities. It comes as Colonel Qaddafi warned residents of Benghazi, Libya,
the rebel capital, that an attack was imminent and promised lenient
treatment for those who offered no resistance.
“We are coming tonight,” Colonel Qaddafi said. “You will come out from
inside. Prepare yourselves from tonight. We will find you in your closets.”
Speaking on a call-in radio show, he promised amnesty for those “who throw
their weapons away” but “no mercy or compassion” for those who fight.
Explosions were heard in Benghazi early on Friday, unnerving residents there
, Agence-France Presse reported.
The United States, originally leery of any military involvement in Libya,
became a strong proponent of the resolution, particularly after the Arab
League approved a no-fly zone, something that Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton called a “game changer”
With the recent advances made by pro-Qaddafi forces in the east, there was a
growing consensus in the Obama administration that imposing a no-fly zone
by itself would no longer make much of a difference and that there was a
need for more aggressive airstrikes that would make targets of Colonel
Qaddafi’s tanks and heavy artillery — an option sometimes referred to as a
no-drive zone. The United States or its allies might also send military
personnel to advise and train the rebels, an official said.
In the most strident verbal attack on Colonel Qaddafi to date by an American
official, Mrs. Clinton said Thursday that the Western powers had little
choice but to provide critical military backing for the rebels. “We want to
support the opposition who are standing against the dictator,” she told an
applauding audience in Tunisia on Thursday. “This is a man who has no
conscience and will threaten anyone in his way.”
She added that Colonel Qaddafi would do “terrible things” to Libya and its
neighbors. “It’s just in his nature. There are some creatures that are
like that.”
The Qaddafi government responded to the potential United Nations action with
threats.
“Any foreign military act against Libya will expose all air and maritime
traffic in the Mediterranean Sea to danger and civilian and military
facilities will become targets of Libya’s counterattack,” it said in a
statement carried on Libyan television and the official news agency, JANA,
Reuters reported. “The Mediterranean basin will face danger not just in the
short term, but also in the long term.”
There were reports on Thursday that warplanes were already bombarding the
outskirts of Benghazi for a second day, opening shots, perhaps, in the
battle. And after days of batterings at the hands of Qaddafi loyalists, the
opposition forces welcomed the promise of Western assistance.
Rebel leaders doubted that the loyalist forces could mount an assault on
Benghazi tonight, in that they were still contesting Ajdabiya, 100 miles to
the south, on Thursday morning. But witnesses said there were skirmishes on
the road to Benghazi in the afternoon, about 30 miles from Ajdabiya.
Mohamed, a rebel spokesman in the embattled, rebel-held city of Misurata —
the last major rebel foothold in the west — welcomed the new American tone.
“We are very heartened yesterday by the moves in the United Nations
Security Council and the urgency of the American stand,” he said, speaking
over a satellite phone.
Forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi massed outside Misurata on Thursday,
apparently in preparation for an attack. Musa Ibrahim, a spokesman for the
Qaddafi government, confirmed that its forces were preparing to take the
city in the same way they did Zawiyah, another western town that had been
held by the rebels.
“It starts in the beginning by surrounding the city,” he said, “then
moving slowly to avoid casualties.” Rebels in Zawiyah described heavy
casualties — at least dozens — during the Qaddafi forces’ siege of that
city.
“It should be finished up tomorrow if not today,” Mr. Ibrahim added.
Rebels in Misurata said that Qaddafi forces had so far appeared to hold back
, though electricity, water and telecommunications remained severed a day
after fighters held the town against an onslaught of tank and artillery fire.
Loyalist military units surrounded the strategically located town of
Ajdabiya in the east, and were massing for a push up the road to the rebel
stronghold of Benghazi, 100 miles distant, rebel officials said.
On Wednesday the rebels had seemed to make some gains in Ajdabiya, the
gateway to Benghazi and the Egyptian border. The Qaddafi forces, which had
appeared to capture the city with ease on Tuesday afternoon, had withdrawn
to the perimeter by Tuesday night, residents said, as rebel fighters
patrolled the city streets and the battle flared at surrounding checkpoints.
The Qaddafi forces delivered an airstrike, followed by shelling by tanks and
mortars on Wednesday, residents and rebel leaders said. Doctors said at
least two people were killed Wednesday in addition to 26 deaths the day
before.
By day’s end, it appeared that the rebels held control within the city, but
that the loyalist forces had the city surrounded and could penetrate their
opponents’ feeble defenses at will. Shortly after midnight on Wednesday,
however, the explosions in Ajdabiya had given way to the sound of sporadic
gunfights.
“The quiet is uncomfortable,” said Dr. Ahmed al-Jnashi, a doctor at the
hospital there. “It’s abnormal. The streets are empty. People are afraid.
” He said 38 people had died in two days of fighting, including two
children in a car hit by a mortar round.
Dr. Jnashi said witnesses who came to the hospital on Wednesday night said
government troops controlled the city’s eastern gate, on the approach to
Benghazi, securing it with four tanks. “There is no media in the city,” he
said. “No photographers.”
Rebel leaders boasted about their broader arsenal of weaponry — some aged
warplanes and a helicopter — as well as their putative gains n Ajdabiya.
But there were signs that the Qaddafi forces were simply massing for a
renewed assault. The Associated Press, brought to Ajdabiya by the Qaddafi
government to document its progress against the rebels, reported hundreds of
pro-Qaddafi troops with tanks and artillery waiting outside Ajdabiya’s
western gates. Truckloads of ammunition and equipment were reported to be
arriving as well.
In Tripoli, the Qaddafi family sounded increasingly confident of victory. In
an interview with a French television station, one of Colonel Qaddafi’s
sons, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, told the rebels: “We don’t want to kill,
we don’t want revenge. But you, traitors, mercenaries, you have committed
crimes against the Libyan people: leave, go in peace to Egypt.”
He added: “Military operations are over. Within 48 hours everything will be
finished. Our forces are almost in Benghazi. Whatever the decision, it will
be too late.”
Colonel Qaddafi commands wide support in Tripoli, the capital and government
stronghold, but perhaps not so deep. It seems divided between the manic
celebration of those who shouted their allegiance and the shrugging
resignation of those who admitted that they did not.
Asked how many Tripoli residents opposed Qaddafi, one shopkeeper said “100
percent.” But he was fatalistic. “Qaddafi is very strong. He killed many
people. What can we do? He is the president,” even though Colonel Qaddafi
holds no official title of office.
At a cafe in the neighborhood of Tajura — an anti-Qaddafi stronghold —
patrons initially insisted with unmistakable sarcasm that everything in
Tripoli was just fine. One man beckoned a friend to come talk to the foreign
reporter, and his friend declined with a gesture signaling police handcuffs
and a finger drawn across his neck.
Then, in whispers, the patrons acknowledged the protests staged there after
midday prayers on recent Fridays, and said not to expect any more this week.
They asked whether the West would launch airstrikes.
Despite the bluster by rebel leaders, some in the rebel strongholds were
growing fatalistic about their hopes without international help. “People
here are terrified,” said Ahmed al-Hasi, a former diplomat who left
Benghazi on Wednesday for Bayda. “People are saying, ‘We fight until we
die, or we surrender and we are humiliated and then we are killed,’ ” he
said. “It will be a very, very bloody fight, and I know I will fight to the
end.”
Dan Bilefsky reported from the United Nations and Kareem Fahim from Tobruk,
Libya. David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from Tripoli, Libya, and
Steven Lee Myers from Tunis, Tunisia.
【在 p**********d 的大作中提到】
: 要用一切手段阻止傷害平民的暴力行為。
| m********c
发帖数: 13337 | 3 这时候没人制裁巴林政府？人家可是直接武装镇压游行者啊。
【在 p**********d 的大作中提到】
: 要用一切手段阻止傷害平民的暴力行為。
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