Libya Air Strikes Continue, Gaddafi Vows 'Long War'

story by AP/Huffington Post
photo by AP

TRIPOLI, Libya - Muammar Gaddafi vowed a "long war" as allied forces launched a second night of strikes on Libya, and jubilant rebels who only a day before were in danger of being crushed by his forces now boasted they would bring him down. The U.S. military said the international assault would hit any Gaddafi forces on the ground that are attacking the opposition.

In an attack that carried as much symbolism as military effect, late Sunday a cruise missile blasted a building in Gaddafi's residential compound, near his iconic tent. It was not known where Gaddafi was at the time, but it seemed to show that while the allies trade nuances over whether his fall is a goal of their campaign -- he is not safe.

An Associated Press photographer escorted to the scene by the Libyan government said half of the round, three-story administration building was knocked down, smoke was rising from it and pieces of the missile were scattered around the scene. About 300 Gaddafi supporters were in the compound at the time. It was not known if any were hurt.

The U.S. military said the bombardment so far -- a rain of Tomahawk cruise missiles and precision bombs from American and European aircraft, including long-range stealth B-2 bombers -- had succeeded in heavily degrading Gaddafi's air defenses.

In addition to targeting anti-aircaft sites, U.S., British and French planes blasted a line of tanks that had been moving on the rebel capital Benghazi, in the opposition-held eastern half of the country. On Sunday, at least seven demolished tanks smoldered in a field 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Benghazi, many of them with their turrets and treads blown off, alongside charred armored personnel carriers, jeeps and SUVs of the kind used by Gaddafi fighters.

"I feel like in two days max we will destroy Gaddafi," said Ezzeldin Helwani, 35, a rebel standing next to the smoldering wreckage of an armored personnel carrier, the air thick with smoke and the pungent smell of burning rubber. In a grisly sort of battle trophy, celebrating fighters hung a severed goat's head with a cigarette in its mouth from the turret of one of the gutted tanks.
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