Obama nodes drone mission in Libya

Apr 23, 2011 |

Reuters

MISRATA

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President Obama on Friday authorised the use of armed drones to help rebels bogged down in their bid to oust Muammar Gaddafi even as the top American commander warned that the conflict was 'moving towards stalemate' with Libyan troops pressing on with their punishing siege of rebel Misrata.

Morocco said it was seeking a political solution to the crisis, after Moroccan officials met representatives of Muammar Gaddafi and rebels this week. Rebels welcomed US plans to deploy unmanned aircraft, typically operated remotely from the United States.

But it emerged that bad weather had forced the first two drones sent to Libya to turn back. In Misrata , the only rebel-held major city in western Libya, rebels wrested control of a downtown office building which had been a base for Gaddafi's snipers and other troops, after a furious twoweek-long battle.

Shattered masonry, wrecked tanks and the incinerated corpse of a government soldier lay near the former insurance offices on Friday amid buildings pockmarked by gunfire. "They shot anything that moved," one fighter said of the Gaddafi men driven out.

Rebels said they had captured several other central buildings from government forces and the state of the battle did not appear to match claims by government officials in Tripoli to control 80% of Misrata. Rebel fighters are fighting a block-by-block war of attrition with an enemy sometimes only yards (metres ) away.

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