NATO: 30% of Libyan military destroyed; Misrata a priority

BRUSSELS—Western strikes have destroyed nearly a third of Libya’s military assets, and NATO is now making the defense of the besieged city of Misrata a priority, an alliance general said Tuesday.

The bombing campaign that started on March 19 has prompted Moammar Gadhafi to change tactics, moving his forces in light vehicles and using human shields to protect heavy artillery from air strikes, said Brigadier General Mark van Uhm.

“We have taken out 30 percent of the military capacity of pro-Gadhafi forces,” van Uhm told reporters, citing an assessment by the Libya operation’s commander, Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard.

Van Uhm, NATO’s chief of allied operations, said the pace of strikes has not slowed since NATO took command of bombing operations from a US-led coalition last Thursday on a UN mandate to protect civilians.

NATO planes have conducted 851 sorties since March 31, including 334 missions aimed at spotting or hitting potential targets on the ground, the alliance said.

The alliance launched 14 strikes on Monday alone, including “a number” that hit air defense systems, tanks and armored vehicles in the area of Misrata, where rebels are holding out under siege from Gadhafi forces, van Uhm said.

“Misrata is a No. 1 priority because of the situation on the ground over there,” van Uhm said.

“We have confirmation that in Misrata tanks are being dispersed, being hidden, (and) human beings used as shields in order to prevent NATO sorties to identify targets,” he said.

For more than 40 days the insurgents have defended Misrata, Libya’s third largest city located 214 kilometers (132 miles) east of Tripoli, as it is besieged and pounded by Gadhafi’s troops.

In other operations on Monday, the alliance struck a rocket launcher that was firing around the oil town of Brega, the general said.

Ammunition storage facilities were hit in other parts of the north African country.

“What we have seen is that pro-Gadhafi forces have changed their tactics over days, what we see is that they are more and more using trucks and light vehicles to move their personnel to the frontline,” Van Uhm said.

“We are trying to identify where those heavy assets like tanks and armored vehicles are because we have seen that they have chosen to hide in urban areas, even using human shields in order to not be targeted.”

On Monday, three-quarters of NATO sorties came back without having deployed their weapons for various reasons, including partly because the Gadhafi artillery was located in populated areas, he said.

While NATO cannot hit the hidden artillery, their location has also made it impossible for Gadhafi’s forces to use them, the general said.

Surveillance aircraft are keeping an eye on the ground to see if the heavy artillery comes out and needs to be taken out, he said, adding: “We are closely monitoring where they are.”