French Foreign Minister defends NATO airstrikes in Libya

PanARMENIAN.Net - The French Foreign Minister defended NATO airstrikes in Libya against mounting rebel complaints Wednesday, April 6, saying it has become hard to distinguish Moammar Gadhafi's forces from civilians and friendly forces.

Alain Juppe said the situation has become increasingly complicated because Gadhafi's forces are positioning themselves in heavily populated civilian areas to make targeting difficult.

"Airstrikes have destroyed most of Gadhafi's aircraft and armored vehicles, and his troops are using pickups and less sophisticated weapons similar to those used by the rebels," Juppe said. "The military situation in the field is confused and uncertain and the risk of engulfing exists," he said in a radio interview.

He also said the standoff in the besieged western rebel-held city of Misrata was complicated by the need to prevent civilians from being mistakenly hit by the airstrikes.

"Misrata is in a situation which cannot carry on," he said. "But I want to make clear that we categorically asked that there is no collateral damage on the civilian population so it makes the military interventions more difficult because Gadhafi's troops understood it very well and are getting closer to the civilian populations.

A NATO spokeswoman also dismissed the criticism, saying the number of airstrikes is increasing every day. She also said Misrata remains a priority of the air campaign.

Carmen Romero said the alliance flew 137 missions on Monday, 186 on Tuesday, and planned 198 on Wednesday.

But Romero also noted that NATO's priority is to avoid harming civilians and therefore "all operations are carried out in a very vigilant way."