TRIPOLI, Libya — In see-saw battles for strategic Libyan territory, government forces unleashed snipers, tanks and artillery to target rebel-held Misrata Thursday while insurgent forces made their way to within striking distance of the gates of Ajdabiya, with rebels reportedly massed for a march on the city.
Meanwhile, a French Rafale fighter jet destroyed a Libyan military trainer aircraft that had just landed near Misrata after violating the no-fly zone, Fox News Channel reported.
NATO is set to take control of military operations in Libya, Sky News reported Thursday, citing the Turkish foreign minister.
Objections from Turkey and France had held up agreement on the future role of the 28-nation alliance.
Turkey, the only Muslim member, had previously said it did not want NATO to take responsibility for operations that could cause civilian casualties on the ground.
However, on Thursday, Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, “Our demands have been met on Libya,” adding, “the operation will be handed over to NATO.”
During several previous meetings, NATO envoys in Brussels had failed to reach consensus on giving the western alliance command of military operations.
While the US and Britain have been keen to hand off the military responsibility of enforcing a no-fly-zone to the alliance, France and Turkey both expressed reservations.
France had argued that a NATO-led mission would be opposed by Arab leaders while Turkey expressed concern that the coalition airstrikes have exceeded the mandate as set forth by the United Nations.
A meeting Monday was reportedly so tense that it ended with the German and French NATO ambassadors walking out after their positions were criticized by NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, The New York Times reported.
In a related development, Turkey approved sending a naval force off Libya to join a NATO naval operation, despite its objection to Western-led air raids.
The Ankara government pledged a submarine, four frigates and an auxiliary ship to a NATO patrol mission to enforce the UN arms embargo against Libyan leader Col. Moamar Ghadafi
The Libyan government Thursday claimed that coalition air raids, which began last Saturday, had killed nearly 100 civilians, a figure that was impossible to verify and doubted by many western media organizations on the ground.
Asked about civilian casualties, Gen. Carter Ham, commander of US operations in Libya, said at a news conference in Sicily, “I cannot be sure there are no civilian casualties. But I can be sure we are very, very precise in our targeting. I cannot emphasize enough the precision with which we conduct strikes.”
On the ground, forces loyal to Ghadafi were encircling Misrata, Libya’s third largest city, some 214 kilometers (132 miles) east of Tripoli, according to AFP.
“Ghadafi forces surround the city and control the main road as well as adjacent streets,” a rebel spokesman said by telephone.
“Snipers are shooting from rooftops and the government forces are also using tanks and artillery,” he said. “Two people have been killed today (Thursday).”
A city resident reported government ships in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Misrata, were providing weapons and fuel to resupply the government troops.
At the strategic oil town of Ajdabiya, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Benghazi, AFP reported hundreds of fighters had massed in preparation for a march on the city.
“They are shooting at us with tanks, artillery and Grad missiles,” said Mohamed, a rebel returning from the frontline. “We have nothing but light weapons whereas they have heavy ones.”
The rebels, whose weapons range from Kalashnikovs to knives, are trying to enter the city from several fronts and managed to get within one kilometer (.62 mile) of Ajdabiya’s eastern entrance, said Mohamed.
Ghadafi Tanks guarded the northern and western entrances.
Earlier Thursday, French military officials said at a news conference in Paris that its fighter jets attacked an air base 150 miles inland from Libya’s Mediterranean coast overnight. Foreign minister Alain Juppe said coalition air strikes against Libya had been a “success.”
The coalition also carried out an intensive air raid overnight on Ghadafi’s southern stronghold of Sebha, a local resident told AFP on Thursday.
Sebha, located about 480 miles south of the capital Tripoli, is a bastion of Ghadafi’s Guededfa tribe and home to an important military base.