TRIPOLI: United State, France and British forces pounded Libya’s air defenses and patrolled its skies on Sunday as Libyan armed forces issued a command to all units to observe an immediate ceasefire.
The announcement came after some 24 hours of air bombardment from American, French and British forces aiming to implement a UN resolution authorizing the use of force to protect Libyan civilians from government troops.
“The Libyan armed forces ... have issued a command to all military units to safeguard an immediate ceasefire from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) this evening,” a Libyan army spokesman said.
Earlier in the day, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had said he would give out weapons to his people to help defend Libya against Western forces. The Libyan leader said the air strikes amounted to terrorism and vowed to fight to the death.
While his eastern forces fled from the outskirts of Benghazi in the face of the allied air attacks, Gaddafi sent tanks into Misrata, the last rebel-held city in western Libya. Among the densely packed houses full of civilians, they were less vulnerable to attack from the air.
A Libyan government health official said 64 people had been killed in the Western bombardment overnight, but it was impossible to verify the report as government minders refused to take reporters in Tripoli to the sites of the bombings.
On Sunday evening heavy anti-aircraft fire could be heard over central Tripoli for a second night.
The US military said the first stage of coalition raids under a UN Security Council remit to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya had been ‘successful’ and Gaddafi’s offensive on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi stopped in its tracks.
In Benghazi itself, medics and AFP correspondents said at least 94 people had died in an assault launched on Friday on the Mediterranean city by forces loyal to Gaddafi’s before the coalition onslaught.
On the other hand Arab league has demanded that they wanted to impose no fly zone over Libya not Bombs. This is second time that US and its allies has trapped Arabs on the issue of No Fly zone.
