notice thursday

Libyans gather for funerals of alleged victims of airstrike
By the CNN Wire Staff
March 24, 2011 -- Updated 2121 GMT (0521 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: NATO to take lead in military operation
NEW: Ban Ki-moon says Libyans have not complied with the cease-fire
NEW: Pentagon says it is not communicating with rebel forces
French jets fired on a Libyan aircraft for violating the no-fly zone
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- After a fifth consecutive night of pounding by coalition jets, Libyans gathered at a seaside cemetery in Tripoli on Thursday for the funerals of 33 people Moammar Gadhafi's government said were victims of an airstrike.
State television broadcast the funerals live, calling the dead victims of the "crusader colonial aggression." Earlier, a Libyan government official said coalition planes struck the suburb of Tajura and state TV showed images of fires, smoldering vehicles and the charred bodies of the dead.
CNN could not independently verify the circumstances of the deaths or who the victims were. Regardless, anger trumped grief at the cemetery and Gadhafi's message was loud and clear: innocent people were wrongly killed and the Libyan people will fight back.
Coalition leaders have reported no civilian casualties so far and said that Western jets have dropped precision bombs on military targets.
The reports of civilian deaths were given little credence by coalition forces, which launched airstrikes Thursday near Tripoli, Misrata and Ajdabiya in Libya.
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"The only civilian casualties we know are for certain are the ones that the Libyan government itself has caused," U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.
More than 350 aircraft are participating in coalition efforts in enforcing a no-fly zone and protecting populations in Libya, with slightly more than half of the aircraft from the United States, he said. Nine other nations, including Qatar, are involved in the coalition, he said.
"When and where regime forces threaten the lives of their own citizens, they will be attacked," Gortney said. He urged Libyan forces to cease fighting.
Asked whether any Libyan forces loyal to Gadhafi have quit fighting, he said, "I'm not aware of any at this particular point in time.
"We are not communicating with the opposition forces on the ground," he said in response to a question. "When it comes to the opposition military forces and our military forces, we are not communicating."
Leadership of the coalition forces is expected to change soon. A deal in principle has been reached for NATO to take command of the military mission in Libya in coming days, diplomatic officials told CNN on Thursday.
The deal was reached after a conference call among U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her counterparts from Britain, France and Turkey, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of not being identified by name.
NATO sources said that a major sticking point involved the rules of engagement for coalition forces that will take over command of enforcing a no-fly zone and naval blockade of Libya.
The rules of engagement will be drafted in coming days, the NATO sources said, adding that the process would take 48 hours. That means the earliest date for the United States to hand over control of the mission to NATO would be Sunday, according to the sources.
Gortney said coalition forces were working "very hard on the military side to be ready to hand over the lead of this coalition command structure" to NATO as soon as this weekend.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he sees no signs of a cease-fire by Libyan government authorities.
Ban told council members, "to the contrary, fierce battles continue in and around the cities of" Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zinan. Ban gave his briefing, as required by U.N. Resolution 1973, seven days after that resolution was passed by 10 votes and five abstentions. He added that his envoy to Libya told Libyan authorities that if the government did not comply with the cease-fire resolution, "the Security Council was prepared to take additional measures."
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Libya
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He said he was sending his special envoy to an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at which representatives of the Gadhafi government and the opposition were expected to attend. "Their aim: to reach a cease-fire and political solution."
But there was no sign that any such solution was near. So far, the aerial war has been unable to stop Gadhafi's armor, and the battle for two cities -- Misrata in the west and Ajdabiya in the east -- raged on Thursday.
A Misrata resident told CNN that he heard an explosion and that snipers loyal to Gadhafi were shooting from rooftops in the besieged city. They killed six people near the central hospital, a doctor told CNN.
The doctor said 109 people have been killed in the past week of fighting and more than 1,300 have been wounded since anti-Gadhafi protests erupted last month.
Witnesses in Misrata are not being identified by CNN for security reasons. Journalists have no access to the city and cannot independently confirm reports of violence.
The battle for Misrata, Libya's third-largest city, has been ongoing for more than a week.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday that many residents remain trapped in their homes without electricity and communications and with a dwindling supply of food and water.
In the east, Gadhafi's tanks were shelling Ajdabiya, where fighting had occurred the day before. Loyalist forces still controlled the northern and western gates to the city.
"This underlines the appalling danger its inhabitants would be in without coalition action, as do continued threats by Gadhafi forces to 'massacre' residents in areas under bombardment," Hague said.
The coalition has established a no-fly zone that spans from east to west along Libya's coast. French jets fired air-to-ground missiles on a Libyan combat aircraft Thursday that was in violation of the no-fly mandate, destroying it, the French Defense Ministry said. The plane was struck as it was landing in a Misrata airfield.
Though the rebels may be in a better position now, a U.S. official said Gadhafi's forces still have the upper hand.
They remain capable of carrying out attacks on the opposition, are relatively well-organized and continue to fight effectively, the official said.
Aid agencies, restricted from accessing most parts of the country, expressed grave concern for Libyans living in battle zones.
"It's unclear how civilians are faring in the areas affected by hostilities," said Simon Brooks, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross mission in Libya.
"We're getting alarming reports from cities like Ajdabiya and Misrata, where the conflict has been raging for weeks now."
Brooks said doctors in both cities were working under difficult conditions and "struggling to keep patients alive."
Officials said they hoped the transition to NATO control would be seamless. NATO already has ships in the Mediterranean Sea to enforce an arms embargo.
A key NATO ally, Turkey, voted Thursday to participate in the alliance's naval operations but only in support of the arms embargo against Libya. It will not conduct military strikes.
Critics are also calling for a clearer explanation of U.S. policy in the North African nation.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who just wrapped up a five-day trip to Latin America, has insisted that the goal of the U.N.-sanctioned military mission is strictly to prevent a humanitarian crisis.
Specifically, the U.N. mandate calls for protecting Libyan rebels and other civilians from attacks by forces loyal to the strongman.
U.S. officials have indicated they hope Gadhafi will be removed quickly by forces currently loyal to him, though they haven't publicly called for a coup.
The international airstrikes against Libyan military positions began over the weekend after Gadhafi defied a United Nations-mandated cease-fire to stop attacks against civilians.
The war was sparked in February by protests demanding an end to Gadhafi's nearly 42-year rule. The Libyan strongman responded with force against civilians, prompting the international community to take action.
France launched the air campaign, and Britain and the United States followed. Britain has announced an international meeting for next Tuesday to assess the situation in Libya.