Didim Today

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have shelled a rebel supply route and a besieged opposition stronghold in western Libya, even as the embattled Libyan leader's international isolation deepened with a demand by Turkey that he resign now. NATO, meanwhile, said its warplanes would keep up the pressure on Gaddafi's regime for as long as it takes to end the violence in the North African nation.

Italian navy Vice-Admiral Rinaldo Veri said yesterday that the alliance, having disrupted the regime's ground forces on the front lines, was now focusing on cutting Gaddafi's lines of communications with his troops.

Two loud explosions were heard in the capital Tripoli yesterday, several minutes apart, apparently from NATO airstrikes. Also yesterday, the general in charge of Libya's rebel forces said a car bomb exploded in front of their headquarters in northeast Benghazi, the de-facto capital of the eastern, rebel-held half of the country.

No injuries were reported in the blast, which blew out windows in a high-rise near a Benghazi courthouse where the rebel committee is based, General Abdel-Fattah Younis said. Turkey is a key regional mediator and has in the past tried to nudge Gaddafi to meet demands for change from the opposition.

However, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan adopted a much tougher stance yesterday, saying Gaddafi must "immediately step down". In Tripoli, Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister, Khaled Kaim, said such a decision was not up to Turkey, but the Libyan people. "If you want to be a mediator, you shouldn't express yourself to support one party against the other," he said.

Rebels in western Libya, reached by telephone, said loyalist forces fired dozens of rockets at a road on Tuesday to disrupt supplies transported from Tunisia through the rebel-controlled Dhuheiba border crossing to rebel towns in a nearby mountain area of Libya. Shelling has caused the road to close intermittently. In Misratah, under siege by Gaddafi's forces for two months, fighting continued on the city's edges, where regime loyalists have taken up positions.

The two sides fired shells, and medics reported one dead and 22 wounded, most of them rebel fighters. Last week, NATO vessels spotted Libyan forces trying to lay sea mines in the approaches to Misratah's harbour in an attempt to choke the city's only lifeline. Two of the mines were destroyed, but a third broke free. The hunt for the mines has disrupted shipping in recent days.

The International Organisation for Migration said it was desperately trying to get permission from NATO for its ship, the Red Star One, to dock at Misratah to evacuate some 1000 migrants and wounded civilians from the city. Misratah, a city of 300,000 people, is dependent on food and medical supplies arriving by sea. In Istanbul, Mr Erdogan told a news conference that Gaddafi had ignored calls for change in Libya and instead preferred "blood, tears and pressure against his own people".

Turkey had initially baulked at the idea of taking military action against Libya but, citing its responsibilities as a NATO member, it took part in the enforcement of an arms embargo against Libya while also volunteering to lead humanitarian aid efforts. Turkey has vast trade interests in Libya, where Turkish companies have been involved in lucrative construction projects worth billions of dollars, building hospitals, shopping malls and five-star hotels before the uprising and resulting chaos began. Source - AU News