No fly zone in place

[the_future_modernes]

ETA: akuma_river has a wealth of links for Libya

US commander warns of Libya stalemate

Mike Mullen says ousting Gaddafi is not the goal of the military operation in Libya, but a no-fly zone is now in place.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, has said the military operation in Libya called for by the UN Security Council is not aimed at regime change - adding that a "stalemate" could well exist, leaving Muammar Gaddafi in power.

The 64-year-old admiral also said that no-fly zone had "effectively been established", as Gaddafi's planes had not taken to the skies following Saturday's overnight shelling of dozens of targets in northern Libya.

"In the first 24 hours, operations have established the no-fly zone. French air planes are over Benghazi as we speak and will do that on a 24/7 basis. The operations have taken out some ground forces near Benghazi, taken out air defences, some of his control nodes, some of his airfields, I don’t have all damage assessments, but so far [it's been] very very effective," he said.

Gaddafi "was attacking Benghazi and we are there to stop that ... we are ending his ability to attack us from the ground, so he will not continue to execute his own people.

Mullen, the most senior officer in the US military, denied that any civilians had been killed in the bombardment, which saw some 110 cruise missiles being shot from American naval vessels in the Mediterranean sea.

Libyan state TV has reported that death toll from the air strikes has risen to more than 60.

It's understood that 20 of 22 Libyan targets were hit in the overnight assault, "with varying levels of damage", a military source told Reuters.

Mullen also said the US would be handing command of the operation to "a coalition" of militaries, with support coming from the Arab world, as well as NATO members.

"There are forces, airplanes in particular from Qatar, who are moving into position as we speak. There are other countries who have committed - I'd rather have them publicly announce that commitment.MORE

Here's the Al Jazeera liveblog

7:10pm

Armed anti-Gaddafi fighters are agains advancing east from the city of Benghazi, in an attempt to break the siege imposed by Gaddafi's troops on Ajdabiya, Al Jazeera Arabic reports.

6:52pm

As Gaddafi's tanks roll into the rebel-held city of Misurata, there are reports of many injuries amid fierce street fighting.


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6:35pm

Qatar isn't the only Arab country sending planes to join the campaign against Gaddafi. Aircraft from the United Arab Emirates are due to arrive at the Decimomannu air force base on the Italian island of Sardinia, says the AFP news agency.

The base is already hosting four Spanish F18 fighter jets that arrived yesterday.

British Tornado jets involved in last night's raid flew directly to Libya from Norfolk, England, it is understood.
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5:49pm

Among the headlines, you may think '"Odyssey Dawn" is the only military operation in action - but we understand each of the contributing nations has their own codename for enforcing UN Security Council resolution 1973:

Operation Odyssey Dawn - The US military operation.
Operation Ellamy - The UK military effort
Operation Mobile - The Canadian component.
Operation Harmattan- The French military operation.

If we find out why they're named those names, we'll let you know...


4:00pm

Civilians have been hit in the bombardment of sites in Libya, says Russia - which called for an immediate end to the strikes. A foreign ministry spokesman said:

In that respect we call on countries involved to stop the non-selective use of force.

We believe a mandate given by the UN Security Council resolution-- a controversial move in itself - should not be used to achieve goals outside its provisions, which only see measures necessary to protect the civilian population.

He said that 48 civilians had been killed in the overnight shelling, with strikes hitting a medical facility, roads and bridges.

Libyan state TV had also given the same casualty count earlier in the day.MORE

Here's the Guardian Blog

5.16pm: Still no more on Kamel Atalua, the British cameraman being held by Libyan authorities in Tripoli, along with other members of his Al Jazeera reporting team: cameraman Ammar al-Hamdan and correspondents Lotfi al-Messaoudi and Ahmed Vall Ould Addin. Al Jazeera's director general Wadah Khanfar tweeted:

We're doing everything possible to secure the release of our colleagues from the Gaddafi authorities. We want them back immediately.

5.04pm: An update on the situation for foreign press in Libya. The Agence France-Press news agency says two of their journalists and another photographer who was travelling with them have gone missing while reporting on fighting between Gaddafi forces and rebels.AFP says Dave Clarke and photographers Roberto Schmidt and Joe Raedle (who works for Getty Images) went missing before meeting Gadaffi opponents on Saturday. The three were working near the city of Tobruk, in eastern Libya, near the border with Egypt – an area largely under rebel control.
Ali Hassan Al Jaber, a cameraman for Al-Jazeera was shot dead last week in what appeared to be an ambush while another Libyan journalist was also reportedly killed.
Four journalists for The New York Times were detained by government forces in the east of Libya last week but although the authorities said they would be released there has been no confirmation of this.
Ian Black told us earlier that the movements of journalists are being tightly controlled.

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2.51pm: Defence and security correspondent Nick Hopkins has put together profiles of Samuel Locklear III, the American admiral who is coordinating the air and naval strikes in Libya, and the head of the British forces, Air Marshall Sir Stuart Peach. Until an agreement is made over Nato leading the operation, French, British and American forces have gone ahead under the UN resolution.
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• Aircraft continue to arrive at Mediterranean bases from allied countries including Canada, Denmark and Spain. MORE