Tripoli sites bombed, rebels claim Misrata gains

TRIPOLI: In a one-two punch against Muammar Gaddafi's forces, NATO warplanes struck a command center in the capital, Tripoli, on Tuesday after pounding regime targets around the besieged port of Misrata. Rebels were hopeful the accelerated attacks could help them extend some of their biggest advances of the war.

In Misrata, rebels reported a major outward push through the city's western outskirts, increasing prospects that the siege could be broken. The opposition also said it made gains along a long-deadlocked front near the eastern town of Ajdabiya.

In another boost to the opposition, the U.S. State Department said the first load of non-lethal American military aid for the rebels landed Tuesday at the port in their headquarters city, Benghazi.

Spokesman Mark Toner said the shipment consisted of more than 10,000 meals, with further shipments of medical supplies, boots and protective gear to arrive shortly. The delivery came ahead of planned meetings in Washington this week between U.S. officials and the head of the opposition Transitional National Council.

The Libyan conflict, dating to mid-February, had seemed stalemated for more than a week, with most of the fighting along the border with Tunisia in the far west. The latest airstrikes, along with advances at Misrata and on the eastern front, may give the rebels new momentum in their struggle to topple Gaddafi and win greater freedoms.

The rebels control most of eastern Libya, and Gaddafi most of the west, including Tripoli. Exceptions in the west include pockets of embattled rebel-held towns along the border with Tunisia, and Misrata on the coast.

The NATO planes struck what the alliance called a command and control facility in downtown Tripoli early Tuesday, according to Italian Brig. Gen. Claudio Gabellini.

``All NATO targets are military targets,'' said Gabellini, who serves on NATO's planning staff at the headquarters in Naples.

He denied that NATO was targeting Gaddafi, saying: ``We have no evidence about what Mr. Gaddafi is doing right now, and to tell you the truth we're not really interested.''

Gabellini also said 30 regime military targets have been hit since May 2 around Misrata, which has been under siege by Gaddafi's forces for two months. The targets included 12 tanks, three self-propelled guns, three multiple-rocket-launchers, and various vehicles, Gabellini said.

``Although it's a real challenge for us to strike military targets in and around population centers like Misrata, while minimizing the risks to innocent civilians, we have been working hard to prevent attacks by pro-Gaddafi forces,'' Gabellini said.

A doctor in Misrata said rebel forces had pushed outward to Dafniya, a town on western outskirts.

The doctor, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said fighting was taking place both in Dafniya and near the airport south of Misrata. Were the rebels able to punch through past Dafniya, it would increase the prospects of a further advance through the coastal town of Zlitan and toward Tripoli itself.

The rebels posted video clips calling on Gaddafi's forces in the area to surrender and saying they had advanced about 15 miles (25 kilometers) outward from central Misrata.

``We are after you Gaddafi,'' one of the fighters in the video said.

In eastern Libya, rebels reported ongoing fighting between the towns of Ajdabiya and Brega, and said they were finally advancing after being bogged down on that front for weeks.

Walid Mohamed, a rebel manning a checkpoint outside Ajdabiya, said some of his comrades had advanced roughly 20 miles (35 kilometers) westward toward Brega after what he described as the fiercest fighting in weeks on that battlefront. Brega has an oil terminal and Libya's second-largest hydrocarbon complex.

A doctor at the hospital in Ajdabiya, Ahmed Mohamed, said the facility had received the bodies of six slain rebels on Monday and treated three others for wounds before they were transferred to a hospital in the rebel headquarters of Benghazi, 90 miles (145 kilometers) to the north.

Ajdabiya in peacetime has a population of more than 100,000, but has been largely deserted because of the fighting.

Rebel appeals for heavier arms from abroad have not met any response, although NATO is carrying out airstrikes on regime forces as many countries demand that Gaddafi _ Libya's autocratic ruler for 42 years _ relinquish power.

In the latest strike, NATO planes hit several sites in Tripoli, setting off explosions that thundered through the city overnight. One strike hit a building that locals said was used by a military intelligence agency. Another targeted a government building that officials said was sometimes used by parliament members.

It was not immediately clear what the other strikes hit, but one of them sent plumes of smoke that appeared to come from the sprawling compound housing members of Gaddafi's family.

Between explosions, an aircraft dropped burning flares. Some residents responded by raking the sky with gunfire and beeping their horns.

Government escorts in Tripoli did not allow reporters near the site of one building that was hit in the NATO attack. Residents said the building, which had buckled from the bombing, was used by a military intelligence agency.

Reporters, who may not leave their Tripoli hotel without government escorts, were shown damage done to a nearby hospital. A physician, Dr. Mustafa Rahim, said a 4-year-old boy was badly injured, but would not allow reporters to see him, saying he was in intensive care.

Another strike targeted a building _ struck once previously _ that two employees said was used by parliament members and housed a library for research into Gaddafi's writings.

source: AP