EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton vows to offer EU’s long term support to Libyan opposition

European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Sunday vowed to offer the European Union's long term support to Libyan revolutionists, hours after NATO bombed the port of Tripoli and Muammar Gaddafi’s compound near the capital.

Ashton, on a visit to the opposition-held eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, is to open a European Union mission office in a city hotel later Sunday and she will also address a news conference. She said she saw the vision of the Libyan people today all around. "I am here today to explain and be clear about the depth and breadth of our support in the European Union for the people of Libya," in the fields of economy, health and education namely, Ashton said.

"This support is not just for now, but long into the future, as long as people from the country wish us to be there," she said after meeting Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of the opposition’s National Transitional Council. "The people of Libya have spoken about the future they want. I am here on behalf of all the 27 countries of the European Union to offer our support to that future," she added.

In an earlier statement issued by her office Ashton said it was an "honor to meet the people who have been fighting for democracy and a better future for Libya."

Ashton will also tour central Benghazi, the epicenter of the protests against Gaddafi, and where pro-democracy demonstrations continue to occur regularly. Her visit is a new boost for the revolutionists who have been lobbying world powers to formally recognize their interim council.

Just hours ahead of Ashton's visit NATO-led warplanes struck the Tripoli port and Gaddafi’s immense compound of Bab al-Aziziya near the capital. "There were two raids on the port and Bab Al-Aziziya", the residence of Gaddafi which has already been targeted several times, a Libyan regime official said about the early Sunday NATO strikes.

Meanwhile, distant blasts rumbled through the eerily quiet roads of Misrata, Libya's third biggest city and the scene of some of the fiercest fighting since the uprising began in mid-February. Revolutionists said they have pushed Gaddafi's forces 25 km (15.5 miles) from the center of the besieged city after weeks of street fighting and bombardments.