NATO intensified military pressure on Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. The alliance renewed airstrikes on Tripoli hitting eight vessels in the city’s port.

NATO intensified military pressure on Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. The alliance renewed airstrikes on Tripoli hitting eight vessels in the city’s port.

NATO said it has sunk eight warships belonging to Gaddafi’s forces. The ships were targeted in co-ordinated overnight attacks on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, the alliance announced on Friday.

The deputy commander of the NATO mission in Libya said the air strikes “were needed to protect civilians and NATO forces at sea.”
"NATO and coalition air assets continued their precision air strikes against pro-Gaddafi regime forces overnight with a coordinated strike against pro-Kadhafi forces in the ports of Tripoli, Al-Khums and Sirte," said Rear Admiral Russell Harding.

Overnight, NATO aircraft hit pro-Gaddafi warships, striking eight vessels," he added.
Hours after the airstrikes targeted the vessels, explosions were heard in the Libyan capital early Friday.

Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim accused the Western alliance of seeking to scare international shipping firms into steering clear of government-held ports.
"Whatever the ship that has been hit, it is clearly a message sent by NATO to the international maritime companies not to send any more vessels to Libya," Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli.

OBAMA PREDICTS: GADDAFI TO LEAVE
On the other hand, Ibrahim described as delusional the US President’s prediction that Gaddafi would be forced from power.
Barack “Obama is still delusional -- he believes the lies that his own government and own media spread around the world," Ibrahim said.

"It's not Obama who decides whether Muammar Gaddafi leaves Libya or not. It's the Libyan people who decide their future," he added.

In a speech, Obama predicted the Libyan strongman would "inevitably" leave or be forced from power, saying “Time is working against Gaddafi”.

"He does not have control over his country. The opposition has organised a legitimate and credible interim council," Obama said of the National and Transitional Council based in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi.

"And when Gaddafi inevitably leaves or is forced from power, decades of provocation will come to an end, and the transition to a democratic Libya can proceed."