Reuters - A coalition of five Western armies began Saturday to bomb targets in Libya to try to compel the forces of Muammar Qadhafi to cease fire and stop attacks against civilians.
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who bloodily suppressed the rebellion in eastern part of the country a month ago, called it aggression "colonial", comparing it to a crusade.
Libyan state television has reported 48 dead and 150 wounded in air raids and firing of these missiles launched several ships and submarines in the Mediterranean, it is not possible to verify the information.
France, Great Britain, the United States, Italy and Canada to participate now in operation dubbed "Dawn of the Odyssey," the biggest military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion Iraq in 2003.Qatar has pledged to get involved and several other European and Arab countries are also ready to participate in this action.
Its objective is, under resolution 1973 adopted on Thursday by the Security Council of the UN to introduce a no-fly zone and to impose a cease-fire.
In a televised address shortly after the first strikes, Muammar Gaddafi said that the Mediterranean and North Africa was now a "battlefield" and that air and sea targets, military or civilian, were now exposed to a real danger in the region.
"It is now necessary to open all deposits and arm the masses with any type of weapon to defend the independence, unity and honor of Libya," he added.
Meanwhile, state television said that Libya was ending its efforts to block illegal immigrants en route to Europe.
More than 110 missiles
The French Air Force struck first in the wake of the Paris summit, which gathered Saturday at the Elysee leaders from 22 countries and organizations, including UN, EU and Arab League.
Twenty French planes took part in the operation over a wide area around Benghazi, destroying several tanks and armored vehicles of the loyalist forces, said the MoD.
Starting at 19:00 GMT, warships and submarines, British and American fired over 110 Tomahawk missiles against more than 20 sites in Libya, and Qaddafi's air defenses were severely damaged, an official of the Security Council National American.
China and Russia, who abstained without veto in the vote on Resolution 1973, deplored the military action.
Explosions and gunfire were heard fed air defense in the early hours Sunday in Tripoli.
Libyan television showed images of a hospital that she did not identify where she was admitted as victims of "the colonial enemy." You could see ten bodies wrapped in blue and white sheets and several wounded, one seriously.
Relief and fear
Residents of Tripoli reported an explosion near the neighborhood of Tadjoura, where the opposition has on several occasions last month.A Misrata, 200 km east of Tripoli, residents have said that air base outside the city had been hit by strikes in the West.
In Benghazi, the second largest city, a Reuters reporter heard an explosion and fire air defense without being able to determine their origin.
In the stronghold of the insurgency threatened by loyalist forces, the people welcomed the first international hits with a mixture of relief and apprehension.
"We welcome France, Great Britain, the United States and Arab countries that sided with Libya. But Gaddafi will unleash his wrath against civilians.The West needs to hit hard, "said Khalid Ghourfali an every officer of 38 years.
Libyan officials say the media that targets civilians, including a hospital, were bombed in Tripoli, Sirte and Benghazi, and Zouarah Misrata and there are civilian casualties in the capital.
In the southern suburbs of Tripoli, thousands of supporters converged on the colonel army camp in Bab al Azizia, forming a human shield in the base of Gaddafi.
The international operation has led Germany's reserves - which is not involved in the operation but requires the implementation of resolution 1973 - and many military analysts, who fear a protracted civil war.
Phase
In conclusion of the Paris summit, Western leaders have said that Muammar Gaddafi they had not left the choice of intervention by not complying with the ultimatum of the international community for a cease-fire.
The objective of the coalition is not taking control of Libya, but to help a people in "mortal danger" facing "the madness of a regime that has lost all (...) legitimacy, "said Nicolas Sarkozy.
"The door of diplomacy will reopen when the attacks cease," added the French president, but his foreign minister Alain Juppe, there is "little hope" that Colonel pandering to the UN .
On a visit to Brazil, President Barack Obama stressed the limited nature of U.S. intervention and reiterated that no ground troops would be deployed.
Washington admitted that he took command of the first intervention phase, hoping to quickly transfer the command to other countries.
