SuccessWithLoss: US, UK and French attack Libyan leader Gaddafi's military sites

Gaddafi's air force destroyed, UK says

Dubai: In a major blow to the Muammar Gaddafi regime, allied forces destroyed the dictator's air force and are patrolling Libyan air space unchallenged, attacking Gaddafi's soldiers wherever they threaten the civilian population.

"The air force of Gaddafi has been destroyed and no longer exists as a fighting force," Air Vice-Marshal Greg Bagwell, commander of the British aircraft operating over Libya, was quoted as saying at Gioia del Colle in southern Italy.

Britain has deployed Tornado and Typhoon jets alongside French and US warplanes to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya that was authorised by a UN Security Council resolution to protect civilians.

Bagwell said US, French and British forces involved in the strikes that began on Saturday had "taken away [Gaddafi's] eyes and ears" and "destroyed the majority of his air force". Meanwhile, defence analysts said that the no-fly zone over Libya could end up costing the western coalition more than $1 billion if the operation drags on more than a couple of months.

A Libyan holds a portrait of Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi at a naval military facility damaged by coalition air strikes, in eastern Tripoli, March 22, 2011. Anti-aircraft fire and explosions reverberated across Tripoli for a third

Nato warships, meanwhile, have started patrolling off Libya's coast to enforce the UN arms embargo, as the alliance appeared set to assume responsibility for the no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians.Western warplanes also targeted Gaddafi's artillery and tanks besieging the rebel-held town of Misrata yesterday.

However, Gaddafi remained defiant terming western powers who carried out a fourth night of air strikes "a bunch of fascists who will end up in the dustbin of history".

Gaddafi made his first public appearance in a week late on Tuesday, hours after explosions sounded in Tripoli. State TV said he spoke from his Bab Al Aziziya residential compound, the same one hit by a cruise missile on Sunday night. "In the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them," he said.

Gaddafi's tanks had kept up the shelling of Misrata, killing dozens of people this week, and residents said a "massacre" was taking place with doctors treating the wounded in hospital corridors. Snipers killed five people yesterday, they said.

Rebels are also clashing with Gaddafi's forces in Ajdabiya, rebel fighters were quoted as saying, and residents are fleeing the destruction.

In Cairo, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said it was ultimately up to Libyans to settle matters in their country. "It seems to me that if there is a mediation to be done, if there is a role to be played, it is among the Libyans themselves. This matter at the end of the day is going to have to be settled by Libyans. It's their country," Gates said.

Over 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired
French carry out four air strikes
US warships, British submarine involved
Claims of 48 dead, 150 injured
Gaddafi vows to retaliate in Mediterranean

Pictures of Demolishing

Air strikes destroy vehicles of Gaddafi’s forces on the road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah on Sunday. US, British and French forces hammered Libya, prompting Gaddafi to warn of a long war in the Mediterranean “battlefield”.