TRIPOLI: Libyan rebels begged for more NATO airstrikes Thursday, saying they faced a massacre from government artillery barrages on the besieged city of Misrata, but Western allies squabbled over how to respond. Rebels said a hail of rockets fired by besieging forces into a residential district of Misrata had killed 23 civilians, mostly women and children. Aid organizations warn of a humanitarian disaster in Misrata, the lone major rebel bastion in western Libya, where hundreds of civilians are said to have died in a six-week siege. NATO warplanes later shook Tripoli as the US told a meeting the alliance must intensify its mission to isolate the Libyan leader and “bring about his departure”. After the explosions in Tripoli, one resident of a western suburb of the capital said anti-aircraft guns returned fire, apparently at NATO warplanes. “A lot of gunfire followed the explosions,” said the resident. A column of smoke rose in a southeastern part of the city. Libyan state television showed video of Gaddafi defiantly pumping his fists in the air as he stood through the sun roof of a car moving quickly through the streets of Tripoli. It said Gaddafi's tour came at the same time as NATO airstrikes on military and civilian areas of the capital and Aziziyah, about 35 km to the south, adding that there were civilian casualties. The report could not be confirmed immediately. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon chaired a Cairo meeting of regional and international organizations on Libya and set three targets: reaching and implementing a ceasefire, delivering humanitarian aid and starting a dialogue on Libya's future. “Shelling your own people is not acceptable,” he said at a meeting at Arab League headquarters, referring to actions by Gaddafi's forces against anti-government rebels. Gaddafi's troops unleashed heavy shelling for three hours on the port city of Misrata, which is partly held by rebels who are defending positions against government forces. Gaddafi's forces have laid siege to the city, taking control of some neighborhoods. The port is Misrata's only lifeline. A rebel who only gave his first name, Abdel-Salam, said by telephone that NATO did nothing to protect civilians in Misrata from Thursday's attack. At the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin, members of the alliance stressed that their common aim is to bring an end to Gaddafi's regime, and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the world must increase its support for the Libyan opposition. Although the alliance agrees that Gaddafi must be ousted, it has been at odds on how to proceed. The rebels, meantime, want the US military to take a stronger role in the NATO-led air campaign, although the Obama administration has been insisting the US will stick to its plan to remain in a supporting role. “As our mission continues, maintaining our resolve and unity only grows more important,” Clinton said. “Gaddafi is testing our determination.” Arab League chief Amr Moussa told reporters after the meeting that the situation in Libya is “very grave”. “We want to reach a political solution in Libya, starting with a ceasefire,” he said. Before the latest shelling of Misrata, Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim had alleged that several Lebanese militants from the Hezbollah group were fighting alongside the rebels there. Rebel Chief of Staff Abdel-Fatah Younes said the opposition fighters have recieved new anti-tank weapons from Qatar and that experts from that country are training the forces to use them. Meanwhile, Britain confirmed that the European Union had lifted sanctions on Mussa Kussa, the former Libyan foreign minister who defected from the Gaddafi regime last month. US President Barack Obama Thursday poured praise on the emir of Qatar, saying in Oval Office talks that the international coalition in Libya would have been impossible but for his leadership. Obama also thanked Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani for his role in supporting democratic transitions in Egypt and Tunisia. “I expressed to him my appreciation of the leadership that the emir has shown when it comes to democracy in the Middle East,” Obama said.
