“There is no lack of planes but a lack of identification of mobile objectives,’’ he said in an interview published yesterday in the daily Le Parisien. “The problem is that we’re missing concrete and verifiable information on identified objectives on the ground.’’
Longuet said that “coalition aviation is capable of breaking all logistical provisions of Khadafy’s troops’’ to the east. But he acknowledged that in urban combat, “if the aviation avoids tragedies, it still isn’t solving the problem.’’
After a meeting of NATO foreign ministers last week in Berlin, the alliance’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said NATO needed “a small number of precision aircraft’’ to hit Khadafy’s forces.
The Libyan government has come under sharp international criticism for its assault on Misurata and has been accused by human rights groups of using heavy weapons, including shells, missiles, and cluster bombs. Such bombs can cause indiscriminate casualties and have been banned by many countries.
Major General Saleh Ibrahim denied Libyan forces have used cluster bombs, saying the army did not have such weapons and that Libyan soldiers had not been trained in their use.
Yesterday, Ibrahim said NATO is taking sides in the conflict and renewed claims that fighters from the Al Qaeda terror network have joined the rebels.
“NATO is supporting the rebels, allowing them to advance against our army, providing them with air cover,’’ he said. “It knows about the arming of rebels by the Qatari government and is allowing that. NATO knows about Al Qaeda activities in Benghazi, Darna, and Beyda. It knows that Al Qaeda fighters are advancing westbound.’’
