France and Britain to use attack helicopters in Libya

France and Britain will deploy attack helicopters in Libya, French officials said on Monday, a step aimed at better targeting Muammar Gaddafi's forces which could help rebels break the stalemate.

Continued shelling of the rebel-held western port of Misrata illustrated the problem facing rebel forces and NATO. Rebels said Gaddafi forces were trying to advance into the long-besieged city under cover of rocket and mortar shells.

Hospital officials said two people were killed and several wounded in Monday's fighting in Misrata. Later in the day, explosions were heard outside the city, lasting about an hour.

A rebel spokesman said forces loyal to Gaddafi also shelled the rebel-held town of Zintan and massed troops close to another town in the mountainous region bordering Tunisia, intensifying operations on the war's western front.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview with CBS News, said pressure on Gaddafi was increasing.

"I think we are seeing slow but steady progress. The pressure on the Gaddafi regime has increased to the point that Gaddafi's wife and daughter fled across the border into Tunisia in the last two days," she said. "The oil minister has defected."

"There is an enormous amount of increased messaging going to Gaddafi, not just because of the military strikes but from those who he thought were in his camp or at least wouldn't try to push him to leave."

Residents in the capital Libya have heard fewer planes overhead in the last day or two, but a NATO official said bad weather had temporarily hampered NATO air strikes.

Confirming the proposed use of helicopter gunships, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters in Brussels the move was in line with a United Nations resolution to protect Libyan civilians and NATO's military operations.

"What we want is to better tailor our ability to strike on the ground with ways that allow more accurate hits," he said.

NATO bombing has damaged Gaddafi's armor but not enough to break a deadlock between rebels and government forces. While helicopters could make it easier to strike urban targets, they would also be more vulnerable to ground fire.

Britain was also sending helicopters, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said, but no other nation planned to follow suit. London was tight-lipped. "We are not in the habit of talking about any new missions we undertake until they are in operation," a British government spokeswoman said.

The French daily Le Figaro reported 12 helicopters were shipped to Libya on the French warship Tonnerre on May 17.

A U.N. Security Council resolution allows NATO to strike Gaddafi forces in Defense of civilians, but it explicitly excludes any military occupation. Critics such as Russia accuse NATO of overstepping their mandate in prosecuting a systematic campaign to force an end to Gaddafi's 41-year rule.

According to Le Figaro, French special forces, who have been in Libya to identify targets for NATO since the start of air strikes, could now be reinforced to guide helicopter attacks.

MORE RISKY

The use of helicopters would pose additional risks for NATO. Helicopters would fly lower and be more exposed than aircraft flying well above depleted air defenses. The downing of helicopters could draw ground forces into rescue efforts.

Intensifying diplomatic activity ahead of a G8 meeting of world powers in France this week, the most senior U.S. diplomat to visit during the uprising arrived in the eastern city of Benghazi for talks with leaders of the rebellion.

Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for the Near East, met members of the National Transitional Council formed to administer the eastern regions under rebel control.

Gaddafi describes his opponents as religious extremists, criminals and foreign-backed mercenaries. He says he has no intention of stepping down after the manner of Tunisian and Egyptian autocratic leaders overthrown in an "Arab Spring" of democratic protest that swept the Middle East.

War Crime Prosecutors want arrest warrant for Gaddafi

The world's top war crimes prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, accusing him of killing protesters who want an end to end his four-decade rule. 

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also asked judges, who must now see if there is enough evidence to issue warrants, for the arrest of Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam and his spy chief brother- in-law Abdullah al-Senussi. 

In the uprising, civilians were attacked at home, protests were suppressed using live ammunition, heavy artillery was used against funeral processions and snipers deployed to kill people leaving mosques after prayers, the prosecutor said on Monday. "We have strong evidence, so strong evidence," Moreno-Ocampo said, adding: "We are almost ready for trial ... Gaddafi ruled Libya through fear and Libyans are losing that fear now." 

The prosecutor's office had received calls from senior officials in the Gaddafi government in the past week to provide information. Prosecutors spoke with eyewitnesses to attacks and assessed evidence from 1,200 documents, plus videos and photos. In central Tripoli, NATO airstrikes hit two buildings on Tuesday, including one which a Libyan spokesman said contained files detailing corruption cases against government officials who had defected to the rebels. Officials summoned reporters after the attack in the early hours to visit the two damaged buildings which they said housed internal security forces and Libya's anti- corruption agency. 

One building was in flames. Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said the anti-graft agency had held files on former supporters of Muammar Gaddafi who had joined the rebels. "We believe that NATO has been misled to destroy files on their corruption cases," he said. There was no immediate reaction to Ibrahim's comments from the rebel leadership, based in the eastern city of Benghazi. Ambulances were at the scene of the buildings on either side of a street although there was no sign of any casualties. 

OIL CHIEF Arab television channels reported late on Monday that Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation, had defected. It was not possible to verify the reports immediately and Libyan officials in Tripoli were not available for comment. Al Arabiya television quoted sources in the rebel Transitional National Council as saying that Ghanem had defected and joined rebel ranks. Al Jazeera reported he had defected and left Libya, without giving details. 

Thousands have been killed in the conflict in the North African state, the bloodiest of the revolts which have convulsed the region in what has been called the "Arab Spring." NATO, which has been hitting targets in Libya for nearly two months, appeared to step up its bombing campaign on Monday with strikes in several towns and cities including Tripoli, according to Libyan state television and rebels. On the diplomatic front, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the United Nations was working on the removal of Gaddafi to exile to make way for a new government, and a Libyan government delegation was expected in Moscow on Tuesday. 

Libyan officials have denied killing civilians, saying instead they were forced to take action against criminal armed gangs and al Qaeda militants. They say the NATO bombing campaign is an act of colonial aggression aimed at grabbing Libya's oil. PERSECUTION, TORTURE Moreno-Ocampo said persecution was still taking place in areas under Gaddafi's control with forces arresting, imprisoning and torturing alleged dissidents. 

Some had disappeared. Prosecutors are also investigating reports of mass rapes, war crimes committed by different parties and attacks against sub- Saharan Africans wrongly seen as mercenaries once the Libyan situation developed into an armed conflict. Libyan officials have already denounced the ICC, saying the court is a creation of the West for prosecuting African leaders. 

The Libyan rebel council has welcomed the move. State-run television in Libya reported there were NATO strikes on Tripoli, the town of Zawiyah about 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital, the western Tripoli suburb of Tajoura, and on the town of Zuara, 120 km west of Tripoli on Monday. In each case strikes hit military and civilian targets and caused "material and human losses," it said. A rebel spokesman in the town of Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, told Reuters by telephone that NATO had been hitting government weapons depots about 30 km from the town.

Rockets strike Gadhafi's compound

Four rockets struck the compound of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Thursday, killing at least two people, a government spokesman told reporters.


After the blasts, which could be heard in the center of Tripoli, sirens blared and at least two emergency vehicles sped toward the Bab al-Aziziya compound.

The Libya government took journalists near the site of the blast and smoke could be seen still rising from the compound. At least two dead bodies were at a nearby hospital, both of them men.

Government officials said 27 people affected by the strike were also brought to the hospital. Most seemed to be suffering from smoke inhalation.

On May 1, the Libyan government said another attack on the same compound had killed Gadhafi's son Saif al-Arab Gadhafi and three of the leader's grandchildren.

Thursday's strike came a day after spokesmen for the Libyan rebels sparred with a spokesman for the Libyan government over who was in control of the airport in the besieged city of Misrata.

During the day, Shamsiddin Abdulmolah of the Transitional National Council said the airport in the southern part of the war-torn city had fallen to "revolutionaries" after opposition fighters in nearby Zlaitin joined their counterparts in Misrata.

Government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said government forces were in control of the airport and the seaport in Misrata. He said rebel forces had been there "for (a) short time and left."

But a rebel spokesman in Misrata, who has asked to be identified solely as Mohamed, said late Wednesday night that the rebels had retained control of the airport and were also in control of a civil defense base beyond the airport.

The capture of the airport would be key for rebels fighting the Gadhafi forces since it would provide an important entry point for humanitarian aid.

Two months of fighting and the ongoing shelling of the Misrata port have prevented most aid ships from docking there, leaving the city "at the forefront" of humanitarian concerns, a top U.N. official told the Security Council this week.

NATO warplanes and missiles have been pounding Gadhafi's forces since March as Gadhafi's troops try to quash a nearly three-month-old revolt against his nearly 42 years of rule.

The NATO mission aims to enforce a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for the protection of civilians.

U.S. President Barack Obama and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet at the White House on Friday to discuss the alliance's role.

NATO said Wednesday that vehicle and ammunition storage facilities, a surface-to-air missile launcher and an anti-aircraft gun had been hit in the Tripoli area. It also said in a news release that ambulance storage facilities were struck in Mizdah and Qaryat.

As for Misrata, Marie Colvin, the Middle East correspondent for Britain's Sunday Times, told reporters that rebel forces defending the city from government troops were making "meter-by-meter" gains despite heavy shelling and rocket attacks.

Units loyal to Gadhafi have been firing rockets and artillery shells into residential neighborhoods, leaving a nearby emergency room full of women, children and old men, she said.

"The rebels are very much trying, at a minimum, to push back Gadhafi's lines so he simply can't do that," Colvin said Tuesday.

Almost 750,000 people have fled the country amid the fighting, and 58,000 more are displaced within Libya, Valerie Amos, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said.

At least 5,000 more are stranded at border crossings between Libya, Tunisia and Niger, Amos said.

Others have tried to flee by sea, but one such attempt appears to have ended in disaster for hundreds of refugees as their ship capsized off the capital.

Who will make Gadhafi go?

In the aftermath of the successful Osama bin Laden operation, President Barack Obama has come out looking strong and determined on national security. Where the administration has often been accused of dithering, the narrative, at least for now, has shifted.


Unfortunately, though it's unlikely America's enemies are getting the message. If anything, embattled autocrats such as Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi are likely to use the Western media's wall-to-wall coverage of bin Laden's death to push even more aggressively against their opponents.

The death of bin Laden has turned attention away from an apparently deteriorating situation in Libya. A son and three grandchildren of Gadhafi were reportedly killed by NATO airstrikes last weekend. If Gadhafi's son, Saif al-Arab, was in fact killed, it could mean an even more vengeful regime response. Ahead of the funerals in Tripoli, regime forces renewed attempts to take rebel-held Misrata, which has been under siege for weeks.

Since the Libyan government announced the four deaths, however, the reports have remained unconfirmed. Some rebel leaders have suggested the deaths have been manufactured to generate sympathy for the regime.

The Libyan government is treating Saif al-Arab's purported death as a propaganda coup, arguing that NATO has violated its mandate. "What we have now is the law of the jungle," government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said. "What is happening in Libya has nothing to do with the protection of civilians."

For its part, NATO has intensified airstrikes on military infrastructure in Tripoli. Any hope for a negotiated resolution to the conflict seems further away than ever.

The bottom line is that nothing Gadhafi says or does can be trusted by the rebels or the international community. And without trust, negotiations are impossible. Increasingly, the conflict in Libya looks like it will be a fight to the very end. If Gadhafi refuses to cede power, then the only other options are capture or assassination, either at the hands of his own people, rebel forces or NATO.

According to the March 17 U.N. Security Council resolution, Gadhafi may very well be a legitimate target. NATO has been striking at military targets and pro-regime forces responsible for killing civilians. It is unclear why Gadhafi would be exempt from these categories. The U.N. resolution, after all, authorizes "all necessary measures" -- short of foreign occupation -- to protect civilians.

It is becoming increasingly evident that as long as Gadhafi is in charge, civilians are not and will not be safe. They continue to perish in large numbers at the hands of regime loyalists in Misrata and other cities.

Unfortunately, Western nations, particularly the United States, have been sending mixed messages to the Libyan people and the international community. Obama has insisted on the "limited" scope of the Libyan operation while, at the same time, insisting that Gadhafi must go. But if he won't, then who will make him go, and when?

Critics of the Libya intervention will complain of mission creep. And they will be right. The harsh reality, though, is that mission creep may be precisely what's needed to conclude the mission. Coming off its watershed success in the war on terror, the Obama administration has the opportunity to re-assert itself in Libya and redouble its efforts to force Gadhafi out of power.

Gadhafi survived, son and 3 grandchildren killed in NATO airstrike

The Libyan government promised death to "invaders" in the country after saying one of ruler Moammar Gadhafi's sons -- Saif al-Arab Gadhafi -- was killed in a NATO airstrike.

Moammar Gadhafi and his wife were in their son's house when it was targeted, spokesman Musa Ibrahim told journalists Sunday. Both of them were in good health, according to the spokesman.

Saif al-Arab Gadhafi is one of two Gadhafi sons whose names begin with Saif. The other is Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, who had previously touted reform but has emerged as one of his father's most visible defenders in recent months.

Ibrahim said three of Moammar Gadhafi's grandchildren also died in the attack.

The house in Tripoli was destroyed by the strike, with a massive crater where the house used to be. At least one unexploded bomb could be seen.

The building was in a residential area of Tripoli, according to Ibrahim, who insisted that Saif al-Arab Gadhafi was a student in Germany who was not deeply involved in Libya's military and government. The 29-year-old was the sixth of Gadhafi's eight biological children.

Ibrahim railed against NATO after the strike, calling it an illegal act and a "war crime."

Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of NATO's military operations, said in a statement Sunday that he was "aware of unconfirmed media reports that some of Gadhafi's family members may have been killed."

"We regret all loss of life, especially the innocent civilians being harmed as a result of this ongoing conflict," Bouchard said. "NATO is fulfilling its U.N. mandate to stop and prevent attacks against civilians with precision and care -- unlike Gadhafi's forces, which are causing so much suffering."

The NATO commander stated that all targets "are military in nature and have been clearly linked to the Gadhafi regime's systemic attacks on the Libyan population ... We do not target individuals."

A senior official in U.S. President Barack Obama's administration said the U.S. government is "very aware" of the reports, but cannot confirm who, if anyone, died in a strike until they see the evidence.

Gunfire broke out around Tripoli after the news came out, while a large crowd of demonstrators gathered around Moammar Gadhafi's compound. Images on Libyan state TV showed what appeared to be dozens of people chanting and waving flags.

Protesters could be heard yelling, "We want to redeem the martyr," and, "Oh youth, this is time for jihad."

They were joined at one point by Ibrahim, who told the demonstrators, "Every one of you are Saif al-Arab."

"We will make Libya the grave of all invaders," he told the crowd.

A spokesman for the Libyan opposition doubted the veracity of the report of Saif al-Arab Gadhafi's death, saying, "In all honesty, we never heard of Saif al-Arab until the start of the uprising."

"We don't believe this is true," said Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of the Transitional National Council in Benghazi. "It is all fabrications by the regime in a desperate attempt to get sympathy. ... This regime constantly lies and keeps lying."

Ibrahim, the spokesman for Gadhafi's government, accused NATO of launching the strike specifically in order to kill the Libyan leader.

Earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz acknowledged that "our own laws" would affect any decision to try to assassinate Moammar Gadhafi directly.

"I don't believe that any credible group or individual sees the solution to the Libyan problem without the removal of Moammar Gadhafi, one way or the other," he said. "But our job and our goal is to get a political solution, but through the means that we are allowed to by our own laws."

This is not the first time that Moammar Gadhafi reportedly has been at the site of an airstrike that killed one of his children.

In April 1986, U.S. forces launched an airstrike that targeted Moammar Gadhafi's residential compound. As a result, the Libyan leader's adopted daughter, Hanna Gadhafi, was killed.

Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, then just 3 years old, was hospitalized after suffering injuries in that strike, Libyan officials then said. Video shows what Libyan officials claimed were him and his brother Khamis, though both boys were heavily bandaged and their faces were not clearly visible.

At the time, U.S. President Ronald Reagan told the American people the bombings were an act of self-defense following the bombing of a West Berlin, Germany, club that killed two American servicemen and injured several others.

On Monday, Ibrahim issued a defiant statement saying Moammar Gadhafi was alive despite what the Libyan government called a NATO attempt to kill him by bombing his compound.

"The message that was sent by NATO in the early hours of this morning was sent to the wrong address," Ibrahim said.

Bruce Riedel, a former adviser to three U.S. presidents and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said the reported killing could complicate any chances that Moammar Gadhafi might leave Libya peacefully after a negotiated solution.

"A political solution was always a long shot". "But in Libya's very tribal politics, the death of a son makes any political settlement all that much harder."

Western leaders reject a future Libya led by Gadhafi

In a joint opinion piece to be published Friday, the leaders of the United States, Britain and France lay out in stark terms their contention that Libya's future must not include its leader, Moammar Gadhafi.

"It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government," said the article, titled "Libya's Pathway to Peace," by U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "It would be an unconscionable betrayal."

Because Gadhafi has lost the consent of his people, "any deal that leaves him in power would lead to further chaos and lawlessness," it says. "We know from bitter experience what that would mean. Neither Europe, the region, or the world can afford a new safe haven for extremists."
The leaders called for an end to violence and for the regime's forces to pull back from the embattled cities of Ajdabiya, Misurata and Zintan, which have been besieged by Libyan government forces.

Gadhafi rallies support in Tripoli The mood in Libya's capital.

"However, so long as Gadhafi is in power, NATO must maintain its operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the regime builds," they wrote. "Then a genuine transition from dictatorship to an inclusive constitutional process can really begin, led by a new generation of leaders. In order for that transition to succeed, Gadhafi must go and go for good."
Clinton: Terms for Gadhafi "non-negotiable"

At that point, they added, "the United Nations and its members should help the Libyan people as they rebuild where Gadhafi has destroyed -- to repair homes and hospitals, to restore basic utilities, and to assist Libyans as they develop the institutions to underpin a prosperous and open society."
The decision about who will replace the current Libyan leaders will be left up to the Libyans themselves, they said.

West divided over Gaddafi exit

Most Britons, Americans, French and Italians think the West should aim to oust Muammar Gaddafi, but concerns over costs, aims and the possible outcomes of the NATO mission in Libya highlight divisions in the alliance.

A poll found most people in Britain, Italy and the United States felt their country cannot afford military action, while a majority in all countries polled except France felt NATO action in Libya did not have clear objectives.

The alliance's war planes have conducted more than 1,700 sorties over the north African country since taking over from a coalition led by France, the U.S. and Britain to enact a United Nations resolution protecting civilians from Gaddafi's forces.

Fighter jets and missiles launched from war ships have targeted Gadaffi's military infrastructure and enforced a no-fly zone and an arms embargo, in an effort to halt Gaddafi's attacks on regions opposed to his 41 years of oppressive rule.

Mass protests in mid-February wrested much of east Libya from his grip, but fighting between his forces and armed rebels since then has reached a stalemate despite Western intervention.

Earlier on Tuesday, the French and British foreign ministers called on NATO to do more to protect Libyan civilians.

The poll was conducted last week, and found that 63 percent of Britons, 71 percent of Americans, 67 percent of the French, and 76 percent of Italians wanted the West to help oust Gaddafi, but results were mixed when questioned on the NATO mission.

Only half of Britons, 55 percent of Americans, and 40 percent of Italians support allied military action in Libya. In France, which has led calls to use force in Libya, support was higher at 63 percent.

Most Western nations are sharply cutting spending to rein in ballooning budget deficits, and 79 percent of Britons, 74 percent of Americans and 62 percent of Italians felt their country could not afford military action in Libya.

Only half of the French felt they could afford it, although a much higher 65 percent felt the mission had clear objectives. Only 49 percent of Britons, 44 percent of Americans and 44 percent of Italians felt the same.

There was little consensus on what the outcome of Western military action in Libya might be, with results mainly split between expectations of a stalemate and the possibility of a new democratically elected government.

The poll was conducted online between April 5-7 in Britain, the U.S. and France, and was conducted by telephone on April 4 in Italy. Interviewees were aged between 16 and 64 and were a representative sample of this age range in each country.

Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.

Gadhafi accepts terms of agreement

Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in negotiations with the African Union, has agreed in principal to a deal that would end the conflict in the nation he's ruled for 42 years, South African President Jacob Zuma told reporters.

Negotiations remained under way Sunday night between Gadhafi and the African Union delegation.

Details of the agreement were not available, though it is believed to include an immediate ceasefire in the nearly two-month long war between Gadhafi's forces and those fighting to unseat him. In his comments, Zuma also discussed an end to NATO airstrikes aimed at enforcing a no-fly zone and targeting Gadhafi's troops.

After staying overnight in Tripoli, the African Union delegation will fly Monday to the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi to meet with opposition leaders there.

Gadhafi has been a strong supporter of the African Union and has channeled large sums of money its way. Libya also holds a seat on the 15-member Peace and Security Council. As such, opposition leaders have voiced skepticism that mediation would end the conflict in a way that would satisfy their goals, which include Gadhafi's ouster.

The African Union's special committee on Libya is represented by Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Uganda as well as Zuma's South Africa.

As Gadhafi left one meeting at his compound in Tripoli, he made a rare public appearance for international media before riding off in a car as he waved to supporters near his tent. The leader then entered a second meeting with the delegation.

Earlier Sunday, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz told journalists that the meetings "will discuss the ways to resolve the crisis in Libya, and our main goal is to stop the military operations and find adequate solutions for the problem between our Libyan brothers," according to a Mauritanian news agency.

Report tracks "sweeping changes" in Mideast

After a series of setbacks driven by the advances of pro-government forces, Libyan rebel fighters this weekend recaptured the besieged city of Ajdabiya after apparently holding off Gadhafi's better-equipped forces.

In a hospital, witnesses told CNN on Saturday that three of Gadhafi's fighters who were killed were carrying identification cards from Syria, Algeria and Chad.

Meanwhile, in Misrata, NATO airstrikes hit parts of the city overnight and Sunday, an eyewitness told CNN, who did not want to be named for security reasons. At least eight people were killed and 22 injured from Saturday's fighting between the pro-Gadhafi forces and the rebels, according to medical sources in the city.

On Sunday, two rebel fighters died as they attempted to hunt down pro-Gadhafi snipers near the city center, another eyewitness said. The rebels were able to recover the bodies of 15 such snipers shot earlier Sunday. The snipers took positions on top of residential and commercial buildings, the eyewitness said.

NATO airstrikes on Sunday hit various positions in and around the city, destroying 14 tanks, the eyewitness said. Sporadic fighting continued Sunday, but had decreased from recent days as the airstrikes kept pro-Gadhafi forces busy.

Some youths, captured in recent days by rebels, said they were teenagers and secondary-school students who had been forced to leave their homes in nearby towns and villages and undergo mandatory weeklong military training before fighting in Misrata, according to the second eyewitness.

Pro-Gadhafi forces continued shelling parts of the city Sunday morning, the eyewitness said. A steel mill near the port was targeted but the port is now under rebel control, eyewitnesses said. However, the port still holds about 4,000 foreign workers who are trying to leave the city.

Civilians living in the western sections of Misrata have been forced to leave their homes and have gathered in schools and friends' and relatives' homes near the city center, eyewitnesses said.

In a statement Saturday, NATO said its aircraft destroyed pro-Gadhafi ammunition stockpiles east of Tripoli that were supplying troops shelling Misrata and other cities. The alliance also made attacks on armored vehicles near Misrata and Ajdabiya, NATO said.

Opposition spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah told CNN that rebels flew two attack helicopters from Tobruk to join the fighting in Ajdabiya.

"There were some 50 regime pickup trucks with machine guns and rocket launchers that attempted to enter Ajdabiya," Abdulmolah said. "The helicopters destroyed several of the trucks, and the rest took off."

Abdulmolah did not know what kind of helicopters the rebel forces used in Saturday's attack and could not confirm whether rebel forces coordinated the operation with NATO.

NATO is operating under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force to protect Libyan civilians from attack.

The United Nations said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Cairo Thursday to head meetings on Libya at the Arab League headquarters. Among the participants will be Catherine Ashton, the representative for foreign affairs and security for the European Union.

While Gadhafi has largely stayed out of the public eye in recent days, state TV aired images Saturday of the leader visiting what appeared to be a primary school in Tripoli. The anchor said the school was a target of international airstrikes and was going to be attacked.

But NATO said in its statement that Gadhafi's forces continue to use civilians as human shields.

"We have observed horrific examples of regime forces deliberately placing their weapons systems close to civilians, their homes and even their places of worship," said Lt. Gen. Charlie Bouchard, commander of NATO's Operation Unified Protector. "Troops have also been observed hiding behind women and children. This type of behavior violates the principles of international law and will not be tolerated."

Gadhafi paid millions to U.S. firms to polish his global image

Just a few years before becoming embroiled in fighting a rebellion, Moammar Gadhafi was spending millions of dollars a year to wage a PR campaign to burnish his global image as a statesman and a reformer, confidential documents show.

The mercurial leader hired The Monitor Group, a Boston-based consulting firm, to execute a public relations strategy that included paying think-tank analysts and former government officials to take a free trip to Libya for lectures, discussions and even personal meetings with Gadhafi starting in 2006.

According to a 2007 memo from Monitor to Gadhafi's intelligence chief, the campaign was to "enhance international understanding and appreciation of Libya... emphasize the emergence of the new Libya... [and] introduce Muammar Qadhafi as a thinker and intellectual."

The price: $3 million a year, plus expenses, for work that included consulting, briefings, analyses, and a steady stream of high-profile visitors to Libya -- at least one a month.

The memos were posted online by the National Conference of the Libyan Opposition.

Eamonn Kelly, senior partner at Monitor Group, is heading an internal investigation at the company. He said the visitors program was only a small part of a wider campaign to help build civil society there.

The vast majority of the work, he says, was bringing leadership training and expertise to the country, aimed at "promoting reform, improving the economic prosperity of the country and the people, modernizing the government and helping to heal the very broken civic society."

"We were not working for Gadhafi, we were working for Libya," Kelly said.

After one year's work, a 2007 memo from Monitor touted the results, including a dozen high-profile visitors, ranging from interviewer David Frost to eminent professors such as Francis Fukuyama, fellow at Stanford University. Monitor also took credit for positive media coverage and also highlighted a half-dozen positive articles written by some of the participants they sponsored.

For example, Benjamin Barber wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post entitled, "Gaddafi's Libya: An Ally for America?" and Andrew Moravcsik wrote a piece for Newsweek called, "A Rogue Reforms."

Although the firm had vowed to "provide operational support for publication of positive articles on Libya," there is no indication any of the pieces were written at Monitor's behest.

Instead, participants in the program who were reached by CNN say they believed they were being paid for the lectures they gave and the coaching they offered. They said they agreed to go because they were curious about Libya at a time when the regime had taken several positive steps toward the West and appeared to be open to change.

Barber points out that, starting in 2003, Libya "came out of the cold, thanks to Bush administration overtures: rejoined the West, made war on al Qaeda, started imprisoning al Qaeda warriors, paid (Lockerbie) reparations of $1.3 billion, and yielded their weapons of mass destruction."

Barber, an academic whose books on political theory include the best-seller "Jihad vs. McWorld," says he now wants to see Gadhafi driven out. But at the time, Barber tells CNN, "we thought -- and I think Monitor thought -- it was an opportunity to work at internal reform."

Another distinguished academic, Harvard's Joseph Nye, said he accepted the paid trip because "Gadhafi appeared to be changing his policy -- and introducing new ideas could further reform."

After he met with Gadhafi, Nye wrote an op-ed for The New Republic that contained both praise and criticism of the dictator.

Several other program participants, including Fukuyama and Harvard's Michael Porter, did not reply to inquiries.

Some of the visitors who met with Gadhafi later briefed American officials, according to Monitor's memo, including "senior officials in the White House" and "senior government officials" at the State Department and the Department of Defense.

The Monitor Group claimed that after they sponsored two trips to the country by former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle, "he briefed Vice President Dick Cheney on his visits to Libya."

Cheney did not reply to an inquiry, but Perle told CNN he did not "brief" Cheney on Libya and that it was mistaken to suggest he had done any lobbying for Libya.

Still, the possibility that paid visitors later briefed government officials has Paul Blumenthal at The Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group that has reported on the subject, saying the firm should have registered as lobbyists for a foreign country.

"They really wanted these intellectuals to be able to influence policy on Libya," says Blumenthal, to talk to "people in the State Department and the Defense Department, and really convey the sense that Libya was this great new open place."

The Monitor Group has received an inquiry about their work from the Justice Department, according to Kelly.

Monitor also offered, in a letter to Gadhafi's intelligence chief, a 22-page proposal for a book about Gadhafi, to be produced for $2.9 million in fees and expenses. The book would cover Gadhafi's "ideas on democracy," the outline said, "so that the West gains a more accurate and balanced understanding of his actions and ideas."

The book project never reached fruition, and Monitor said in a statement the proposal was "a poor decision" that the firm seriously regrets.

But overall, said Kelly, Monitor stands by its main body of work. "We were working in a very different period, a period of promise, and we are heartbroken that that period clearly has ended."

Monitor wasn't the only U.S. firm that Gadhafi's regime engaged. In 2008, as Monitor's work was coming to a close, Libya retained a more traditional lobbying firm, The Livingston Group, led by former U.S. Rep. Bob Livingston, R-Louisiana.

The firm lobbied State Department officials and members of Congress for Libya in 2008 and 2009, introducing Libya's U.S. ambassador to dozens of members of Congress. Libya initially paid the firm $200,000 a month, but after a year, the billings had dwindled to just $30,000 a month.

Livingston declined an interview with CNN, but he told CNN affiliate WVUE that he ended the contract shortly after Gadhafi gave a hero's welcome to Lockerbie conspirator Abdelbeset al Megrahi upon his release from prison in Scotland. "That was just a bridge too far, and we had to fire the client," he said.

And before Livingston and Monitor, starting in 2004, Gadhafi's government engaged lobbyist Randa Fahmy Hudome during its effort to get Libya accepted in the international community and taken off the State Department's list of nations who sponsor terrorism. Libya paid her firm more than $3 million over the course of three years, she said.

"It certainly was not about money," Hudome said. "It was about national security principles at the time."

Rebels Unlikely to Oust Gadhafi - General

A top U.S. general said Thursday he doubts that Libyan rebels could push into the nation's capital and topple Moammar Gadhafi, even with the NATO air cover.

"I would assess that as a low likelihood," said Gen. Carter Ham, the head of U.S. Africa Command. He answered questions about the opposition forces in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Ham also said that there would have to be "a better understanding of exactly who the opposition force is" before arms could be supplied to the rebels.

Assurances are needed "that those U.S.-provided weapons would not fall into the hands of extremist organizations," he said.

"My recommendation would be that we should know more about who they are before we make any determinations to arm them," Ham said.

He said he agrees that the Gadhafi regime has weakened after at one point closing in on victory.

"The important part is that, I think at this point, the regime has a significantly degraded ability to continue to attack civilians -- but if I may, with the notable exception of Misrata," a city in western Libya.

"The opposition forces have held an area in the northeastern portion of the city, in the port. And frankly, the port has been operating to get some relief," he said. "But the regime forces are and remain active in the city against civilians."

Ex US congressman to meet with Gadhafi

Former U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon said he is set to meet with Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday in an attempt to convince the embattled Libyan ruler to step down.

"I've met him enough times to know that it will be very hard to simply bomb him into submission," wrote Weldon, who said he is in Libya at the invitation of Gadhafi. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is aware of the trip, the former Republican representative from Pennsylvania said.

In 2004, Weldon led a congressional delegation to the Libyan capital of Tripoli and met privately with Gadhafi after the Libyan leader renounced terrorism in an effort to establish warmer ties with the West. In his New York Times piece, Weldon said he went to support Gadhafi's decision to give up Libya's nuclear weapons program, though neither he nor the White House wanted to support Gadhafi himself.

Weldon told in 2004 that he had 14 meetings with "everyone in the administration" and toured a nuclear complex.

Libya remains in a deadly stalemate as pro-Gadhafi forces battle rebel fighters demanding an end to Gadhafi's nearly 42-year-rule.

In his piece, Weldon called for an immediate United Nations-monitored cease-fire, "with the Libyan Army withdrawing from contested cities and rebel forces ending attempts to advance."

"Then we must identify and engage with those leaders who, if not perfect, are pragmatic and reform-minded and thus best positioned to lead the country."

He added that Gadhafi's son Saif, "a powerful businessman and politician, could play a constructive role as a member of the committee to devise a new government structure or Constitution."

Opposition leader: Compromise not an option with Gadhafi

Though Saif al-Islam Gadhafi was once viewed as a leading reformer in the Libyan government, the 38-year-old has become one of his father's most outspoken defenders since the start of the unrest.

Weldon wrote that the country's prime minister and the head of Libya's rebel Transitional National Council should meet with the U.N. envoy to the Libya "and work out a schedule for fair elections for a new president and legislature."

Libyan rebels disappointed by NATO's efforts

Weldon's proposal also suggests free elections within 12 months overseen by the U.N.

Libya needs Gaddafi in power

The Libyan government has said it is open to "any" political reform but Muammar Gaddafi must stay in power to avoid a new Iraq or Somalia.

A spokesman told Reuters that Colonel Gaddafi was a "unifying figure", and insisted his forces only targeted armed rebels, not civilians.

The Libyan leader has reportedly appeared in public in Tripoli.

Meanwhile, evacuees from the besieged city of Misrata accused pro-Gaddafi forces of atrocities against civilians.

Fighting has continued in the east of the country where the rebels have been trying to regain ground lost in recent days, and coalition aircraft attacked military vehicles believed to belong to Col Gaddafi's forces.

The oil-rich country's vital coastal belt is effectively split between rebel forces in the east and government loyalists in Tripoli and the west, nearly two months after the revolt against Col Gaddafi's rule erupted.

The son of Colonel Gaddafi has insisted that he and his father do not feel betrayed by the defection of the Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa who arrived in London last week.

Saif al-Islam told the BBC that Mr Koussa had travelled to Britain for health reasons because he was an old and sick man and needed treatment.

'Elections, referenda, anything'

A Libyan government envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi, is currently on a tour of European capitals aimed at resolving the conflict.

Speaking in Tripoli, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Col Gaddafi was "a safety valve for the country to remain together".

"The leader provides Libyan tribes and Libyan population of a unifying figure, as a unifying figure," he said.

"Many Libyans, many Libyans want him to lead the process forward because they are scared if he is not there for any reason we will have what happened in Iraq, we will have what happened in Somalia, we will have what happened in Afghanistan."

Libya, the government spokesman said, was open to political reform - "elections, referenda, anything" - but "the leader has to lead this forward".

Mr Ibrahim said it was not for the West to tell Libya "you have to lose your leader or your system or your regime".

Denying government attacks on civilians, he challenged the outside world to investigate any alleged crimes.

"We are fighting armed militias," he said. "You are not a civilian if you take up arms."

Libyan state TV showed what appeared to be live footage of Col Gaddafi saluting supporters from a jeep outside his fortified compound at Bab al-Aziziya in Tripoli late on Monday.

'Corpses in the street'

On Sunday, a Turkish humanitarian ship carrying more than 250 injured people from Misrata, the only major city in western Libya still under rebel control, arrived in the rebel capital Benghazi.

Speaking from Tunisia, other evacuees told Reuters that Gaddafi forces there had been "massacring" civilians.

"You have to visit Misrata to see the massacre by Gaddafi," said Omar Boubaker, a 40-year-old engineer with a bullet wound to the leg, brought to the Tunisian port of Sfax by a French aid group.

"Corpses are in the street. Hospitals are overflowing."

In the east, rebels were trying again on Monday to advance towards the oil town of Brega.

The BBC's Wyre Davies, on the road close to Brega, said the rebels appeared to be more buoyant and organised than recently.

US jets attacked Libyan military vehicles near the cities of Sirte and Brega on Monday, US officials said.

NATO strike hit rebel fighters, 13 killed - Libyan opposition

Notions of a cease-fire in Libya quickly faded Saturday as a battle raged for control of the oil town of al-Brega, where rebel fighters claimed they had lost fighters and vehicles to NATO airstrikes.

Airstrikes hit several rebel vehicles and killed at least 13 rebel fighters, spokesmen for the Libyan opposition said Saturday. Seven others were wounded.

NATO was investigating the incident, a spokeswoman said Saturday.

"NATO takes any reports of civilian casualties very seriously, but exact details are hard to verify as we have no reliable sources on the ground," NATO's Oana Lungescu said. "Clearly, if someone fires at one of our aircraft, of course they have the right to defend themselves."

Rebel spokesman Abdul Hafiz Ghoga said opposition fighters had retaken al-Brega after a night of heavy fighting with Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

But it was not immediately clear who commanded control Saturday of the coastal city that has now changed hands six times in as many weeks under the dramatically shifting circumstances of the Libyan war.

Meanwhile, in Misrata, east of Tripoli, two mortars landed at a medical clinic Saturday evening, causing one death and numerous injuries, said a medical official with the city's main hospital.

The doctor, who was not identified for security reasons, told CNN the clinic that was attacked had evacuated patients because of recent attacks, but was being guarded by opposition "fighters and young people."

One person was killed and 15 injured, said the doctor, who was caring for the wounded. Five had serious injuries, including head and chest trauma, he said.

Forces loyal to Gadhafi showed no signs of backing down after officials spurned an opposition cease-fire proposal.

Government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli on Friday that rebels were not "really serious" about the offer, which he said included "silly conditions."

"They are asking us to withdraw from our own cities and open our cities to people, who are holding up arms, who are tribal, violent, no unified leadership, al Qaeda links, and no one knows who they are. If this is not mad, then I don't know what it is," he said. "We will not leave our cities. We will not stop protecting our civilians."

His comments came after Libyan opposition leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil laid out cease-fire conditions that included freedom of expression for the Libyan people and the removal of snipers, mercenaries and militias from western cities.

Ultimately, he said, the opposition's goal remains regime change in Libya.

Ghoga sought to clarify the opposition's position Saturday.

"There is no, and was no, negotiation on a cease-fire with Colonel Gaddafi's dictatorship," he said at a Bengahzi news conference.

He repeated the opposition demands that Gadhafi halt all military action, end the sieges laid on cities like Misrata and allow free speech and assembly.

Sources close to Gadhafi told CNN that political solutions are still possible but that the Libyan leader would relinquish power only to others within his inner circle.

They said there is still time for dialogue but expressed doubts about who would represent the opposition.

Any transition, they said, would involve Gadhafi's second son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, and for such a transition to take place there would first have to be an end to the fighting.

The Libyan sources told CNN that for now, Gadhafi remains confident the regime can withstand any challenge from the rebels.

U.S. officials claim Gadhafi's military capabilities have been steadily eroded since the onset of U.N.-sanctioned airstrikes.

The dictator's forces, however, still outnumber rebels by about 10 to 1 in terms of armor and other ground forces, according to Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.

Gadhafi forces strike Misrata clinic; shelling heard in city

The deadly battles in Libya forged ahead Sunday as pro-government forces shelled a medical clinic in the city of Misrata, killing one person and wounding 15 others, a hospital source said.

The source, a doctor who was not identified for security reasons, told CNN two people were injured by an initial mortar blast. The rest of the injured were wounded by a second mortar blast when they went to the scene of the first attack to help victims.

One of the injured is a 14-year-old child who suffered a fractured skull and is in a coma, the doctor said Sunday.

The clinic that was attacked had evacuated patients because of recent attacks, said another doctor at a Misrata hospital that received the patients. But it was being guarded by opposition "fighters and young people" who were injured.

Elsewhere in the city, the sound of heavy shelling was heard coming from the port area, a resident said.

He said troops supporting Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi surrounded the city, with snipers perched on the rooftops of buildings.

Misrata's port is under the control of the rebels and is considered the main site of aid for the people in the embattled city. A bombing in the port area could prevent the aid ships from coming to Misrata.

The blasts were among the latest attacks in Libya, where the power struggle rages on between forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi and opposition members seeking an end to his nearly 42-year rule.

NATO is leading international military operations in the country following a U.N. Security council resolution authorizing force, including a no-fly zone, to protect civilians.

NATO airstrikes hit several rebel vehicles and killed at least 13 rebel fighters, spokesmen for the Libyan opposition said Saturday. Seven others were wounded.

"Based on the information we have, they (the opposition forces who were hit) heard the airstrikes and went ahead to see what the damage was, and that's when they got hit," rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah said. "They were told to stay back, but they jumped the gun."

NATO was investigating the incident, a spokeswoman said Saturday.

"NATO takes any reports of civilian casualties very seriously, but exact details are hard to verify as we have no reliable sources on the ground," NATO's Oana Lungescu said.

Notions of a cease-fire in Libya quickly faded as a battle for control continued Saturday in the oil town of al-Brega. It was not immediately clear who commanded control Saturday of the coastal city that has changed hands six times in as many weeks under the dramatically shifting circumstances of the Libyan war.

Forces loyal to Gadhafi showed no signs of backing down after officials spurned an opposition cease-fire proposal.

Government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli on Friday that rebels were not "really serious" about the offer, which he said included "silly conditions."

"They are asking us to withdraw from our own cities and open our cities to people, who are holding up arms, who are tribal, violent, no unified leadership, al Qaeda links, and no one knows who they are. If this is not mad, then I don't know what it is," he said. "We will not leave our cities. We will not stop protecting our civilians."

His comments came after Libyan opposition leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil laid out cease-fire conditions that included freedom of expression for the Libyan people and the removal of snipers, mercenaries and militias from western cities.

Ultimately, he said, the opposition's goal remains regime change in Libya.

Ghoga sought to clarify the opposition's position Saturday.

"There is no, and was no, negotiation on a cease-fire with Colonel Gadhafi's dictatorship," he said at a Bengahzi news conference.

He repeated the opposition demands that Gadhafi halt all military action, end the sieges laid on cities like Misrata and allow free speech and assembly.

Sources close to Gadhafi have told CNN that political solutions are still possible but that the Libyan leader would relinquish power only to others within his inner circle.

They said there is still time for dialogue but expressed doubts about who would represent the opposition.

Any transition, they said, would involve Gadhafi's second son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, and for such a transition to take place there would first have to be an end to the fighting.

The Libyan sources told CNN that for now, Gadhafi remains confident the regime can withstand any challenge from the rebels.

U.S. officials claim Gadhafi's military capabilities have been steadily eroded since the onset of U.N.-sanctioned airstrikes.

The dictator's forces, however, still outnumber rebels by about 10 to 1 in terms of armor and other ground forces, according to Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.