US warships and British submarine fire at least 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya against Gaddafi’s anti-aircraft missiles and radar as defiant Gaddafi says confident of ’victory’
European and US forces unleashed warplanes and cruise missiles against Libyan long-time ruler Moammar Gaddafi's forces in the biggest Western military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The US, Britain and France bombarded Libya with missiles from air and sea overnight Saturday in a multi-national action against Gaddafi’s forces under a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing a no-fly zone.
But, while the international forces are saying the operation is ‘successful,’ defiant Gaddafi delivered an audio speech in which he renewed his confidence of victory and said that all Libyans were armed to face the new aggression.
AIRSTRIKES AMOUNT TO TERRORISM
According to Gaddafi, airstrikes on Libya by Western countries amounted to terrorism…
In an address broadcast Sunday on state television, he said his country was preparing for a "long, glorious war" and that all Libyans were carrying weapons to defend the country, claiming to have opened up the weapons depots. "Everyone is armed with automatic weapons, mortars, bombs," he said.
"All the Libyan people are united. The Libyan men and women have been given weapons and bombs ... You will not advance, you will not step on this land," he went on to say. "We promise you a long, drawn-out war with no limits," he added. "We are ready for a long war. You are not prepared for a long war in Libya. We are prepared. This is a very happy moment we are living."
The leaders of Britain, France and the United States would "fall like Hitler ... Mussolini," he warned. "All tyrants fall under the pressure of the populist masses."
"America, France, or Britain, will not enjoy our oil ... You are aggressors, you are animals," said Gaddafi. "We do not have to retreat from the battlefield because we are defending our land and our dignity," he concluded.
OPERATION ‘SUCCESSFUL’
Meanwhile, top US military commander Michael Mullen said Sunday that the initial part of the international operation to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya "has been successful" and the government's offensive on Benghazi has been stopped. "They are no longer marching on Benghazi," Mullen added.
The comments came after the United States unleashed a barrage of strikes against the Libyan regime's air defenses, but ruled out using ground troops in what President Barack Obama called a "limited military action."
In a dramatic show of force, US warships and a British submarine fired at least 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya against Gaddafi’s anti-aircraft missiles and radar Saturday, the US military said.
Admiral William Gortney told reporters at the Pentagon that the cruise missiles "struck more than 20 integrated air defense systems and other air defense facilities ashore."
Earlier Sunday, three US B-2 stealth bombers dropped 40 bombs on a major Libyan airfield in an attempt to destroy much of the Libyan Air Force, US military officials said.
In all, 19 US planes, including the stealth bombers took part in dawn raids Sunday on targets in Libya, US Africa Command, based in Germany, told AFP. "What we are doing, with our coalition partners, is the initial phase of an operation to try to create the conditions to be able to set up a no-fly zone," spokesman Kenneth Fidler said.
GADDAFI SEEN LOSING GRIP ON LIBYA
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the allies had agreed to use "all necessary means, especially military" to enforce the Security Council resolution for an end to attacks on civilians.
"Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen," British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters on Saturday. "We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue."
Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention, fearing Western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite a US insistence, repeated on Saturday, that it has no plans to send ground troops into Libya.
