By Liz Sly and Greg Jaffe
TRIPOLI Libya Four days of allied strikes have battered Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafis air force and largely destroyed his long-range air defense systems a top U.S. commander said Tuesday. But there was little evidence that the attacks had stopped regime forces from killing civilians or shifted the balance of power in favor of the rebels.
Gaddafi loyalists made further advances into the besieged western city of Misurata continued to pound the small town of Zintan southwest of Tripoli the capital and fired artillery to hold at bay rebels attempting to regroup outside the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiya.
The Libyan militarys attacks and the mounting civilian deaths call into question whether the internationally imposed no-fly zone can achieve its goal of protecting civilians let alone help loosen Gaddafis grip on power. It seemed unlikely that the coalition which has argued in recent days over the scope and leadership of the allied mission would countenance a significant escalation.
Late Tuesday Gaddafi made his first televised appearance since the bombing campaign began delivering a defiant address to supporters at his Tripoli compound which was struck by Tomahawk missiles a few days earlier. I am here I am here I am here" he said as celebratory gunfire echoed across the city. We will win. We will be victorious in this historic battle."
President Obama meanwhile sought to shore up support for the international mission saying that the U.S. and allied efforts to halt advances by Gaddafis forces had saved lives."
In Benghazi a city of 700000 people you had the prospect of Gaddafis forces carrying out his orders to show no mercy" Obama said at a news conference while in San Salvador. That could have resulted in catastrophe in that town."
Hours earlier a top U.S. military official had touted the limited gains that allied forces had made over the course of the four-day-old military intervention.
Since the bombing began Saturday U.S. and allied forces have launched 162 Tomahawk missiles and conducted more than 100 attacks with precision-guided satellite bombs said U.S. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III commander of the allied task force charged with enforcing the U.N. resolution that authorized action in Libya.
But he conceded that the airstrikes have been unable to halt attacks by Libyan government forces against civilians.
They are conducting attacks against civilians in Misurata in violation of the Security Council resolution" said Locklear referring to the city 131 miles east of Tripoli. He added that allied commanders were considering all options" to halt attacks by Libyan forces but declined to provide specifics about any future military actions.
A doctor at a Misurata hospital said that about 80 people had been killed in the city since the adoption Thursday of the U.N. resolution which called for a halt to attacks on civilians. Among the 12 said to have died Tuesday was a family of six; a tank shell hit their car. The doctor said that he had stopped counting the injured that patients are being treated on the floor and that the hospital is running out of almost all medicines and supplies.
This no-fly zone doesnt mean anything to us because Gaddafi only had a few planes and they were doing nothing" said the doctor who spoke by telephone on the condition of anonymity because he fears Libyan forces may soon retake the city. We need a no-drive zone because it is tanks and snipers that are killing us."
Gaddafi loyalists who launched a major assault on Misurata just hours before the U.N. Security Council vote have secured several neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city but rebels are holding out in the city center. To halt the Libyan governments advance allied forces would probably have to launch airstrikes in densely populated urban areas.
Question of civilian toll
In Moscow U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday that the pace of attacks would wane in the days ahead as the United States hands over responsibility for maintaining the no-fly zone to its allies and the number of clear targets diminishes.
Meanwhile there were indications that international support for the coalition effort is beginning to flag with China joining Russia in calling for a cease-fire to avert feared civilian casualties. China like Russia abstained from voting on the U.N. resolution.
The U.N. resolution on the no-fly zone over Libya aimed to protect civilians" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters at a news briefing. We oppose abuse of force causing more civilian casualties."
U.S. and other coalition officials dispute Libyan assertions that the strikes have caused civilian deaths. Its perfectly evident that the vast majority if not nearly all of civilian casualties have been inflicted by Gaddafi" Gates told reporters after meeting with Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. Weve been very careful about this."
Britains Channel 4 TV reported that six villagers were injured by American troops who apparently opened fire during the rescue of two U.S. crew members forced to eject over eastern Libya when their F-15 fighter jet malfunctioned and crashed overnight Monday. Among the injured civilians was a young boy who is likely to lose a leg Channel 4 said.
Locklear declined to comment on the report and said an investigation had been launched into why the jet crashed. He said one of the downed aviators had been rescued by rebels who treated him with dignity and respect" before handing him over to the U.S. military. U.S. forces rescued the planes weapons operator the military said.
Clintons comments
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested Tuesday that the Libyan leader and some members of his inner circle might be searching for a way out of the country and the conflict.
Weve heard about other people close to him reaching out to people that they know around the world Africa the Middle East Europe North America beyond saying what do we do? How do we get out of this? What happens next?" Clinton said in an interview with ABC News.
But at least in Tripoli the government appears to be in firm control nearly a month after the last major protests were crushed by security forces using live ammunition.
On Tuesday Libyan government officials took journalists to see a cluster of bombed warehouses struck the previous night at a central harbor that appeared to have housed military hardware.
In one warehouse four mobile missile launchers had been destroyed by a direct hit along with a multiple-barreled rocket launcher. Three Soviet-made surface-to-surface missiles were unscathed but officials said they were used only for training. Libyan navy Capt. Abdul Bassit told reporters that no one had been killed in the attack because officials had suspected the site would be targeted and had evacuated it.
Staff writers William Branigin in Washington and Craig Whitlock in Moscow and correspondent Keith B. Richburg in Beijing contributed to this report.
