England, March 20: The British military’s RAF Tornado jets successfully hit targets under control of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.
MoD has confirmed that its Tornado GR4 jets hit the pre-determined targets with Stormshadow missiles. The jets are capable of flying 4830 kilometers from RAF Marham in Norfolk and return back to their bases.
The Western alliance also fired a barrage of 120 Tomahawk cruise missiles – some of them British – as part of a coordinated strike to destroy the Libyan ruler’s air defenses and air force capabilities.
A Royal Navy Trafalgar-class submarine stationed in the Mediterranean took part in the coordinated assault, which also involved forces from the US, France, Italy and Canada under the operational control of US Africa Command.
The first phase of a multi-phase operation entitled “Odyssey Dawn” was carried out, with missiles targeting radar systems and ground-to-air missile sites around the cities of Tripoli and Misrata.
According to Libyan state TV, the barrage of the state-of-the-art missiles, some of them deployed for the first time ever, killed at least 48 civilians and injured 150 others along the Libyan coast.
“The fast jets flew 3000 miles from RAF Marham and back, making this the longest range bombing mission conducted by the RAF since the Falklands conflict,” said Defence Secretary Liam Fox.
“This operation was supported by VC10 and Tristar air-to-air refueling aircraft as well as E3D Sentry and Sentinel surveillance aircraft,’ added Fox.
France and Britain have taken a lead role in pushing for international intervention in Libya and the United States – after embarking on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – has been at pains to stress that it is supporting, not leading, the operation.
The military intervention in Libya comes amid calls on the Western countries to take action against the Bahraini regime’s deadly crackdown on protesters.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Paris in the run-up to Libya invasion that it’s within the rights of the Bahraini ruler to hire Saudi and UAE mercenaries to annihilate any movement.
US president Barack Obama told a radio address that the so-called multinational force was attacking Libya to prevent Qaddafi from killing his own people.
Many have criticized the US conflicting stances on Libya and Bahrain, saying it is an example of Washington’s “double standard.”
Prior to Libya strike, anti-war activists said UK Prime Minister David Cameron had been “itching” to bomb Libya, accusing him of not learning the lessons of the “disastrous” wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A spokesman for the Stop The War Coalition said, “Air attacks on Libya will not help end the civil war but will escalate it and could be the prelude to a much wider war.”
—-Agencies