A US warplane has crash landed in a Libyan field in the area around Benghazi
Exclusive Telegraph picture shows locals inspecting an American F-15 E Strike Eagle jet that crashed in a field
By Rob Crilly and Laura Roberts
The pilot of the F-15E fighter jet was rescued by rebel soldiers after ejecting from the aircraft, it is understood. Another crew member is also thought to have ejected and been recovered by US military forces.
The US military said it has launched an operation to recover the missing crew member.
The crashed plane was discovered by a Telegraph journalist reporting in and around Benghazi, the rebel-held city.
It is thought the F-15E fighter jet came to ground after suffering a mechanical failure.
The US military confirmed that one of its jets had crash landed but said that it had not been shot down. Vince Crawley, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Africa Command, said that one crewman had been recovered and one was "in process of recovery".
UN approves no-fly zone over Libya EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council voted Thursday to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and authorize "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from attacks by Moammar Gadhafi's forces, hours after the Libyan leader vowed to crush the rebellion with a final assault on the opposition capital of Benghazi.
The U.N. vote paved the way for possible international air strikes on Gadhafi's advancing military and reflected the past week's swift reversal of the situation in Libya, where once-confident rebels are now in danger of being obliterated by an overpowering pro-Gadhafi force using rockets, artillery, tanks, warplanes. That force has advanced along the Mediterranean coast aiming to recapture the rebel-held eastern half of Libya.
The resolution establishes "a ban on all flights in the airspace of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in order to help protect civilians." It also authorizes U.N. member states to take "all necessary measures ... to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory."
Source: Associated Presshttp://ow.ly/4gUce
Canada will contribute six CF-18 fighter jets to help enforce a no-fly zone in Libya
“The Canadian government has made the decision late today that Canada will send six CF-18 fighter jets to join the Americans, the British and the French and other countries that will participate in imposing a no-fly zone,” CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Thursday.
Correspondent went missing with Brazilian journalist Andrei Netto while reporting from country
Ian Black, Middle East editor and Peter Beaumont in Tripoli guardian.co.uk, Thursday 10 March 2011 18.53 GMT
Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who is believed to have been detained close to the town of Sabratha in Libya. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian
Libyan government officials have confirmed that Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is in their custody after he went missing while reporting from the country.
The foreign ministry in the capital Tripoli said that Libyan authorities were holding Abdul-Ahad along with a Brazilian journalist, Andrei Netto. The two are believed to have been detained close to the coastal town of Sabratha on Monday.
Abdul-Ahad entered Libya from Tunisia and was last in touch with the paper through a third party on Sunday. He was then on the outskirts of Zawiya, a strategic town west of Tripoli which has seen fierce fighting between government and rebel forces in the past few days.
The Guardian has been in contact with Libyan officials in Tripoli and London and asked them urgently to give all assistance in the search for Abdul-Ahad and to guarantee his safety and wellbeing.
Abdul-Ahad, an Iraqi national, is a highly respected staff correspondent who has written for the Guardian since 2004. He has spent long periods in Somalia, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan, reporting on the stories of ordinary people and their suffering in times of conflict.
He has won many of the most prestigious awards available to foreign correspondents, including foreign reporter of the year at the British Press Awards, the James Cameron award and the Martha Gellhorn prize. He was shortlisted in February in the foreign reporter of the year category at this year's UK Press Awards.
Netto is a correspondent for the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo. Libya's ambassador to Brazil told Brazilian senators that Netto was about to be freed, the paper reported on its website.
Reporters Without Borders, the international press freedom watchdog,called on the Libyan authorities to immediately release the two. "Journalists should not under any circumstances be made to pay for the fighting between government forces and rebels," it said.
The BBC strongly condemns this abusive treatment of our journalists and calls on the Libyan government to ensure all media are able to report freely and are protected from persecution. The safety of our staff is our primary concern especially when they are working in such difficult circumstances and it is essential that journalists working for the BBC, or any media organisation, are allowed to report on the situation in Libya without fear of attack.
2234: Ms Landor adds: "Despite these attacks, the BBC will continue to cover the evolving story in Libya for our audiences both inside and outside the country."
2232: Liliane Landor, Controller of Languages for BBC Global News, says: "The BBC strongly condemns this abusive treatment of our journalists and calls on the Libyan government to ensure all media are able to report freely and are protected from persecution. The safety of our staff is our primary concern especially when they are working in such difficult circumstances and it is essential that journalists working for the BBC, or any media organisation, are allowed to report on the situation in Libya without fear of attack."
2224: Feras Killani added: "When we arrived at the detention centre, one of the soldiers hit me in the back with his Kalashnikov. I dropped to the ground. They then asked me to put my hands behind my head. Then I started to hear the weapon being cocked. I thought I only had minutes to live, and that they would shoot me. I thought at that moment that if they had decided to do it, they would. I just closed my eyes and asked God to help me."
2222: BBC Arabic reporter Feras Killani said: "In one cell there were about 10 to 12 prisoners. Two of them were Egyptians, the others Libyans. The majority of them were from Zawiya. I understood from other guys that they were fighters, or that they were accused of fighting against Muammar Gaddafi's army. Four of them were in a very bad situation. There was evidence of torture on their faces and bodies. One of them said he had at least two broken ribs. I spent at least six hours helping them drink, sleep, urinate, and move from one side to another."
2214: BBC cameraman Goktay Koraltan said they saw other prisoners, mainly from Zawiya, in a much worse state than them were: "I cannot describe how bad it was. Most of them were hooded and handcuffed really tightly, all with swollen hands and broken ribs. They were in agony. They were screaming."
2209: One of the team, Chris Cobb-Smith, said: "We were lined up against the wall. I was the last in line - facing the wall. I looked and I saw a plain-clothes guy with a small sub-machine gun. He put it to everyone's neck. I saw him and he screamed at me. Then he walked up to me put the gun to my neck and pulled the trigger, twice, the bullets whisked past my ear. The soldiers just laughed."
2203: The BBC's Wyre Davies says: "Like many reporters seeking to get around Libyan government restrictions, the team from the BBC Arabic service was trying to get into the town of Zawiya, controlled earlier this week by anti-government rebels but under attack by Col Gaddafi's forces. After being detained at an army roadblock, the three men were taken to a military barracks in Tripoli where they were blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten. Reporter Feras Killani was singled out for repeated beatings and was repeatedly attacked because of his coverage of the Libyan uprising. After being released, all three team members told us that they had feared for their lives. There were at least two mock executions, with live bullets being fired past the head of one of them men. Although a senior Libyan government later apologised for their treatment at the hands of the army, the men have now left the country."
2200: Three members of a BBC News team have left Libya after being detained and mistreated by the Libyan military for 21 hours earlier this week. The team was among several reporters trying to get to the besieged town of Zawiya when they were detained.
Tanks closing in on Az-Zawiyah March 9, 2011 by By Maria Golovnina and Mohammed Abbas
TRIPOLI/BREGA, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, using tanks, rockets and warplanes, are stepping up a campaign to root out rebels as Britain and the United States discuss an internationally backed no-fly zone.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that Washington believes any decision to impose a no-fly zone over this African oil-producing desert state is a matter for the United Nations and should not be a U.S.-led initiative. Gaddafi's aircraft and tanks pounded rebels in Zawiyah, the closest rebel-held city to the Libyan stronghold of Tripoli in the west. A relentless government barrage blocked rebels in the east from advancing west to his strategic hometown of Sirte.
"Zawiyah as you knew it no longer exists. They have been attacking the town from 10 in the morning until 11:30 in the evening," Zawiyah resident, Ibrahim, said early on Wednesday:
Only giving one name, he told Reuters by telephone that dozens of bodies were on the streets. "There is no electricity, no water and we are cut off from the outside world," he said.
Rising casualties and threats of hunger and a refugee crisis have increased pressure on foreign governments to act, but many were fearful of moving from sanctions alone to military action. President Barack Obama has faced criticism for being cautious.
"We want to see the international community support it (a no-fly zone)," Clinton told Sky News. "I think it's very important that this not be a U.S.-led effort."
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who talked with Obama about a no-fly zone by telephone, said planning was vital in case Gaddafi refused to step down in response to the popular uprising that erupted mid-February.
"I think now we have got to prepare for what we might have to do if he goes on brutalising his own people," the prime minister told the BBC.
In the telephone call, the two leaders "agreed to press forward with planning, including at NATO, on the full spectrum of possible responses, including surveillance, humanitarian assistance, enforcement of the arms embargo, and a no-fly zone".
Britain and France are seeking a U.N. resolution to authorise such a zone to ground Gaddafi's aircraft and prevent him moving troops by air. Russia and China, which have veto power in the U.N. Security Council, are cool towards the idea, which would be likely to require bombing Libyan air defences.
Hafiz Ghoga, spokesman for the rebel National Libyan Council, said in the rebel base of Benghazi in eastern Libya:
"We will complete our victory when we are afforded a no-fly zone. If there was also action to stop him (Gaddafi) from recruiting mercenaries, his end would come within hours."
We have witnessed the regime's tanks shelling residential buildings. We have sheltered in a mosque as the colonel's soldiers fired on the minarets.
Later, we were in the town's Martyrs' Square watching the rebels' celebrations as the authorities in Tripoli told the foreign media they had "liberated" the place.
The Sky News crew of cameraman Martin Smith, foreign editor Tim Miller and I found ourselves trapped in Zawiyah as the Libyan army still loyal to Col Gaddafi moved in to crush them.
The day before, we had joined thousands and thousands of Zawiyah's towns folk as they marched through the streets demanding Col Gaddafi stepped down.
They shouted slogans for change and waved the original Libyan flag as they moved en masse to the army tank lines on the edge of the town.
These are not shots to frighten people, these are shots to kill.
Doctor in Zawiyah
In the crowds were children, mostly young boys. They looked around eight, maybe 10 years old. "Go Gaddafi, go," the crowd shouted.
We were constantly stopped by the demonstrators. "Tell the UN we need their help," one man said. "Gaddafi is killing Libya. Send your report. We need to show people this."
Then, as the crowd came close to the first tank, near an intersection, the soldiers opened fire.
The crowd appeared to flinch but carried on walking - the firing carried on too. It caused a stampede as people fled. The firing continued.
We saw ambulances being driven at high speed to pick up the first casualties and they too were fired on.
Eyewitness account of Pro-Gaddafi forces assault on Zawiyah
It was mayhem at the Zawiyah teaching hospital, as dozens of people were stretchered in by friends, colleagues and strangers. The injuries were appalling.
One doctor, who we shall call Dr M for his own safety, told us: "This is a shoot to kill policy. Most of the injuries are to the head, chest and neck.
"These are not shots to frighten people, these are shots to kill."
We were in Zawiyah from Friday midday to Sunday afternoon and, in that time, the people were under almost constant attack with repeated military forays into the town centre.
We were shielded by those soldiers who had defected from the army. They had brought with them ammunition, a number of anti-aircraft guns, a few tanks and some guns.
We were told they call themselves the Freedom Fighters Brigade and had set up a 10-man military council headed by a number of high-ranking officers.
Benghazi says there seems to be a division within the rebel Libyan National Council. Some members saying talks are underway between Gaddafi and rebels to secure his departure of the country, others say no talks
Tweet from: Iyad_elbaghdadi Iyad El-Baghdadi It seems rumors that Gaddafi is seeking an exit plan through negotiations with the transitional council have something behind them. #Libya
5 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply 1448: Reuters has the following quote from Abdel Salem Mohamed, 21, returning to Ras\rLanuf from the front: "People are dying out there. Gaddafi's forces have rockets\rand tanks." 1447: And AFP is reporting heavy shelling on the front line, west of Ras Lanuf. 1446: Pro-Gaddafi forces are using tanks and rockets to bombard rebels on the front line, Reuters reports. Rebels are said to be using heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and anti-tank and aircraft weapons. 1439: More from the BBC's Paul Danahar: "The speculation is largely based on a long red carpet, all the cars being towed out of the car park, and a warning from the media centre that journalists trying to shoot pictures from the upper floors run a risk of being shot themselves!" 1437: The BBC's Paul Danahar in Tripoli says: "There is much speculation that Col Gaddafi is about to turn up at the Rixos Hotel in the capital, where the foreign media are based. Whether it will be for a press conference or something else, we do not yet know." 1436: Al-Jazeera, which is based in Doha, has been credited by many with a playing a key role in spreading information about recent unrest in Arab countries. 1434: Libyan TV has mocked Al-Jazeera, saying the channel has switched from news to "comedy". It calls the broadcaster it Al-Jarirah, which in Arabic means "guilt" and "transgression", and accuses it of spreading "despicable rumours". 1426: Mustafa Menhshawi, the BBC Arabic correspondent in Benghazi says there seems to be a division within the rebel Libyan National Council. Some members saying talks are underway between Gaddafi and rebels to secure his departure of the country, others say no talks. The council does not appear to be fully linked to the opposition forces on the ground, our correspondent says.
Al Jazeera: Opposition fighters ask for help to fend off fierce counterattacks by Gaddafi loyalists aiming to retake lost towns. 08 Mar 2011 09:07 GMT
Opposition fighters in Libya have been fending off fierce attacks by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, amid reports of a rising death toll. Gaddafi supporters moved eastward on Tuesday in an effort to push the rebels back and recapture fallen towns, with reports emerging that they have taken the central Libyan town of Bin Jawad. The loyalists have moved on to the oil port of Ras Lanuf, which they had been bombarding with air raids. Several people were reported to have been killed in battles a day earlier, including a family trying to flee the fighting. There has also been fierce fighting in the eastern city of Misurata, located between the capital, Tripoli, and Gaddafi's hometown Sirte, with reports of at least 18 people killed. On Sunday, rebels were filmed celebrating their victory over Gaddafi's forces there, but it was short-lived as fighting ensued on Monday, with rebels saying they feared Gaddafi forces were regrouping for further attacks. Valerie Amos, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, said in a statement that the Benghazi Red Crescent reported that Misurata was under attack by government forces again. "Humanitarian organisations need urgent access now,'' she said. "People are injured and dying and need help immediately." Witnesses also told Al Jazeera that Az-Zawiyah, west of Tripoli, was under heavy attack by government forces. Meanwhile, Libyan state television has denied reports that Gaddafi tried to strike a deal with the rebels that would have seen him step down. Gaddafi reportedly sent a representative to make a proposal to the opposition's so-called "National Council" based in Benghazi. It is said he wanted guarantees for his and his family's safety and immunity from prosecution. READ MORE at Al Jazeera
As uprisings turn to revolutions in the Middle East, Al Jazeera's New Media team releases a Twitter Dashboard that illustrates what is being tweeted about and where.
In the top right section you can see the total number of tweets for the day about developments in these four countries. Before each flag there is a colour code that explains the rest of the dashboard.
Top left: Here the number of tweets for the day are graphed. We can see that Libya is still the most tweeted about uprising, with Egypt getting a third less. The bottom right shows the hashtag distribution for each country from Libya in green on getting the most attention in the Twittersphere.
Bottom left: This is a Twitter stream of all tweets related to the four countries highlighted in this dashboard. You can see the Al Jazeera Dashboard at the bottom of this blog, it was too wide to fit into this post.
7:15pm Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid, reporting from Benghazi, reveals more about those newly released British soldiers - apparently on a "diplomatic mission".
She reports they were found outside the town of Suluq, about 50km south of Benghazi - and at least 200km from any oil installations. British special forces had earlier helped to evacuate oil workers from facilities in the Libyan desert.
The eight were brought back to Benghazi, handed over to the National Council and rebel commanders.
One carried a diplomatic passport, while the other seven did not, confirm sources within the new "Libyan Transitional National Council".
Hoda reports the British said they had entered via the Egyptian border - but none had recent Egyptian entry or exit stamps in their passports.
Instead, Hoda's sources tell her, anti-Gaddafi fighters near Suluq saw a helicopter landing close to them early on Friday, investigated, came across the eight - and picked them up.
While claims of being on a diplomatic mission remain credible, she says, members of the National Council are asking: "Why didn't they just establish direct contact with us?"
While the troops remained tight-lipped when she saw them, Benghazi dock workers told her the first port of call for the HMS Cumberland - which has been evacuating British nationals from Benghazi over the past weeks - would be Malta.
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi pushed back Sunday against a rebel advance toward Mr. Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte from Libya's 'liberated' east.
Ras Lanuf, Libya By Dan Murphy , Staff writer / March 6, 2011
Rebels walk forward as smoke raises from mortar and tank shelling during a fight against pro-Qaddafi fighters near the town of Bin-Jawad, eastern Libya, Sunday. Libyan helicopter gunships fired on a rebel force advancing west toward the capital along the Mediterranean coastline Sunday and forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi fought intense ground battles with the rival fighters. Hussein Malla/AP
Yesterday, militiamen in Libya's "liberated" east were flush with easy victory. They’d taken the key oil terminal at Ras Lanuf after sharp fighting on Friday. And on Saturday they rolled further west into the coastal town of Bin Jawad with hardly a shot being fired This morning, they were vowing to press west to Muammar Qaddafi’s hometown of Sirte, his last stronghold on the Libyan coast before the capital, Tripoli.
But then a hard reality set in The Libyan civilians-turned-militiamen – a growing number of whom are referring to themselves asmujahideen or "holy warriors" – didn’t consolidate their position in Bin Jawad overnight. Some rushed forward, others returned to Ras Lanuf to sleep, leaving nothing like an organized occupation force in Bin Jawad. At mid-morning today came the counterattack, with pro-Qaddafi militiamen moving in behind air strikes on the road west of town from fighter jets. Rebel positions were also shelled. Meanwhile, an air strike this morning targeted rebel positions in Ras Lanuf, about 20 miles west of Bin Jawad. Qaddafi has focused most of his bombing efforts on weapons dumps in recent days, seeking to deny the rebels access to more arms, but these bombs – which landed harmlessly in the desert – appeared to be aimed at the rebels themselves. Qaddafi's forces also reportedly used artillery and tanks in the rebel-held town of Misrata, 125 miles east of Tripoli, in what appears to be Qaddafi's most serious attempt to retake the town since rebels took it over more than a week ago. Misrata remains the biggest population center under rebel control outside Libya's "liberated" east.
War could drag on The longer the war drags on, the greater the chances that Qaddafi, who seized control of Libya in a 1969 coup, will survive. State television has been filled with propaganda – claiming overnight that Ras Lanuf has been retaken by his forces, a patent lie. State TV also claimed the western city of Zawiya, close to Tripoli, and the far eastern town of Tobruk, had fallen to Qaddafi’s forces. Rebels in both locations dismissed the claim. While Bin Jawad is of little strategic relevance, Ras Lanuf is something else again. It has a full-sized air strip and a major petrochemical complex. But for the moment it is firmly in opposition hands. Fighters returning from Bin Jawad said some residents of the town came out of their homes firing at the rebels, speculating that they were afraid to fail to support Qaddafi’s regime. “A lot of these people will be for Qaddafi if he’s there, and with us if we’re there,” says Abdul Jalil, a rebel militiaman from Benghazi, speaking a few kilometers west of Bin Jawad on Sunday. “A lot of our brothers are still afraid of him.”
Depth of support for Qaddafi a key question The extent and depth of Qaddafi’s support now appears to be a key component in determining on how long Libya’s low-intensity civil war will last. Most of his air strikes have fallen harmlessly, raising question about the commitment of his pilots to carrying out his orders. Still, Libya has lived in fear of Qaddafi for 41 years. He has used torture and public executions against his political opponents, and many Libyans fear that's what will happen to them if they support an uprising that fails. Source: Christian Science Monitor http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0306/Qaddafi-strikes-back-at-Libya-rebels-western-advance
By Jeremy BowenBBC Middle East editor, Tripoli 6 March 2011Last updated at 14:36 GMT
As I write I can hear volleys of gunfire hammering around Tripoli. It is around 1430 on Sunday and since early morning supporters of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi have been out in the streets celebrating.
They have been told - and seem to believe without question - that his forces have scored important victories. One of the government spokesmen said Zawiya, Misrata and Ras Lanuf had been recaptured from rebels, and that Col Gaddafi's forces were advancing on Benghazi, the epicentre of the rebellion. These children of a pro-Gaddafi soldier waved his guns at a rally in Tripoli's Green Square on Sunday
Not long after first light, I went to Green Square, right in the middle of Tripoli and the place where true believers in the regime congregate to celebrate its triumphs.
A couple of thousand people were there - the numbers have grown since then - and the atmosphere was crackling with feverish celebration.
Young men had climbed on to speakers and were dancing to music that praised their leader. Women, many with small children, swayed and sang along.
Guns were everywhere, pistols as well as Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles. Every so often their owners fired into the air. Someone was letting off fireworks as well.
There were green flags, green bandanas and green fringed posters of the colonel which kept getting kissed.
"Libya is united again," one man said. "We all love Gaddafi. He is our father and our brother. He is our leader."
Cover-up?
They believe him, without any doubt, when he says that the trouble in Libya is being caused by al-Qaeda and its dupes, and by foreigners who want the country's oil.
As I write, there are still doubts about Zawiya, which is only 30 miles (48km) or so west of Tripoli. The government says that its men have crushed the rebels who have been in control of the town centre.But as the morning went, a different version of events began to emerge. BBC journalists in Ras Lanuf reported that Col Gaddafi's forces had not captured the town.
But officials here in Tripoli stalled when they were asked by journalists for permission to visit Zawiya.
Many reporters here have found out to their cost that attempts to visit places in the news without a government minder can lead to arrest and hours of detention by the military and the security services.
And there are questions being asked in Tripoli about the thousands of rounds that have been fired today. The city of Zawiya reportedly saw some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict on Saturday
Now, in daylight, it is clear that it is coming from Gaddafi supporters. I can hear cheering and chanting, and women ululating in celebration, all mixed in with the gunfire.
But before dawn it sounded different, more like a fight. I cannot confirm that happening, but that is how it sounded. Different sorts of guns appeared to be exchanging fire.
And later on, a Libyan man came up to me to say that there had been some sort of shoot-out going on, and the mass firing in the air and the celebrations had been started to cover it up.
“The Canadian government has made the decision late today that Canada will send six CF-18 fighter jets to join the Americans, the British and the French and other countries that will participate in imposing a no-fly zone,” CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Thursday.
