The step by step strikes on the Dictator's Hole, is a Method that, the Coalition would not rage anger among the International Community and Arab Regimes in Specific. But it looks like, that, the NOOSE is closing on the Dictator's NECK, and certainly will POP out of his HOLE, Hideout. It is traditions, that, Dictators, take with them as many as they can, of bloodshed, and Victims, before they go to their GRAVES.
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NATO confirms helicopter lost in Libya

US surveillance drone lost near Zliten, while rebel-held Misurata comes under rocket attack for the first time in weeks.

Last Modified: 21 Jun 2011 22:53

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Libyan state television broadcast images of what it said was a downed NATO helicopter [AFP]

A NATO aircraft downed in Libya was a drone helicopter that had earlier lost radar contact with its operators, US defence officials said on Tuesday.
The MQ-8B Fire Scout, a small, pilotless helicopter used for surveillance, was one of two deployed to the Libyan conflict, the officials told the AFP news agency.
It was the first confirmation of the use of such aircraft in Libya.

Libyan state television broadcast images of the wreckage throughout Tuesday, saying the aircraft was an Apache, an attack helicopter recently put into use against government forces by NATO.
It said the helicopter had been shot down by Libyan armed forces near Zliten, about 160km east of the capital, Tripoli. NATO denied losing any attack helicopters.
A US defence official told AFP that the cause of the break in radar contact between the Fire Scout and NATO's command center in Naples, Italy, was unknown.
It was unclear whether the small helicopter, equipped with cameras and sensors for surveillance flights off naval ships, had been shot down or suffered mechanical or communications problems.
Farther east of Zliten, in the rebel-held city of Misurata, rockets fired by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi hit the city centre for the first time in weeks, proving the city remains in range of his forces.
Four rockets hit the area on Tuesday, inspiring fear among residents that there may be a return to last month's violence. Rebel forces managed to push out Gaddafi's men in May after weeks of heavy fighting.
Drone helicopter was gathering intelligence
The Pentagon had previously announced the deployment of two armed Predator drones for the NATO-led air campaign against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces, but had not previously cited any role for the unmanned helicopter.
Both Fire Scouts were deployed to the Mediterranean Sea aboard the USS Halyburton, a frigate.
The alliance lost track of the helicopter at 9:20am local time in Libya's central coastal area, NATO spokesman Mike Bracken said.
"This drone helicopter was performing intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance over Libya to monitor pro-Gaddafi forces threatening the civilian population," Bracken told a news conference in Brussels via videolink from Naples.
The Fire Scout, manufactured by Northrop Grumman, carried out its first flight in 2006 and was deployed on a guided-missile frigate, the USS McInerney, in 2009 for counter-drugs efforts.
The Fire Scout can reach an altitude of 6,000 metres, fly at a speed of more than 200kph and stay in the air for more than eight hours, employing sensors and radar to find and track targets.
The US navy had a fleet of 15 Fire Scouts before Tuesday's incident and plans to build 168 of the helicopters, proposing funding for three Fire Scouts in 2011 and a dozen in 2012.
Three Fire Scouts have also been deployed for operations in Afghanistan, officials said.
US tightens sanctions amid debate
The loss of the drone in Libya came as the US Treasury Department said it was blacklisting nine companies owned or controlled by the Libyan government.

The sanctions prohibit any US citizen or business from dealing with the companies, which include the Arab Turkish Bank, Tunisia-based North Africa International Bank and Lebanon-based North Africa Commercial Bank.

Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage

The department also removed sanctions against defected Shukri Mohammed Ghanem, the Libyan oil minister, who abandoned Gaddafi's government in May.

The US has said it will consider lifting sanctions against officials who "distance" themselves from the government.
In Congress, politicians remained divided over whether Barack Obama, the US president, has overstepped his legal authority by backing the air campaign against Gaddafi's forces without seeking authorisation from politicians.
Since April, when NATO assumed command of the air campaign, US planes have carried out about 60 sorties on anti-aircraft targets in Libya, while Predator drones have fired missiles about 30 times, according to the New York Times.

Obama has said that the US role in the campaign, which began in March, does not amount to "hostilities" that would require approval from Congress after 60 days, under the Vietnam-era War Powers Resolution.
On Tuesday, high-ranking senators John Kerry and John McCain, both former presidential candidates, jointly introduced a measure that would formally authorise US military action in Libya for up to one year.
Halting the US air campaign would "doom the Libyan operation" and "undermine the very core of NATO," said Kerry, a Democrat.
Representative Dennis Kucinich, another Democratic former presidential candidate, has proposed an amendment to the forthcoming overall defence spending bill that would cut off funding for the Libya operation.

Rebel Broadcast in West Mountains

Western Libyan fighters regroup

Published 20 June 2011 14:22 158 Views

An offensive by opposition fighters has failed to dislodge Gadaffi forces gathered on the valley beneath the town of Nalut in Libya's western mountians. After three days of heavy fighting, commanders on the opposition side say they will halt their assault. They aimed to regroup, and then plan another attack. Al Jazeera's James Bay, reports from western Libya

Battle at West Mountains

CNN Reporter in Restricted Areas in Libya

Anger after NATO Strikes.

Libyan state TV: NATO strike in Tripoli neighborhood kills 3 civilians

By the CNN Wire Staff

June 19, 2011 -- Updated 0606 GMT (1406 HKT)

NATO admitted its aircraft mistakenly hit vehicles aligned with the Libyan opposition in the eastern oil city of al-Brega.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NATO has not said whether it struck a Tripoli neighborhood on Sunday
A Libyan official blames NATO, Cameron, Sarkozy and Obama for "murder and crimes"
NATO issued a statement Saturday about an "unfortunate" incident in al-Brega
A NATO strike mistakenly hit Libyan opposition vehicles in the al-Brega incident Thursday

(CNN) -- The Libyan government said a NATO strike hit a residential neighborhood in Tripoli on Sunday, killing at least three people, according to Libyan state TV.

It said the attack in the residential neighborhood of Aradah also injured many others.

NATO has not said whether it struck a Tripoli neighborhood on Sunday.

But the Libyan government quickly condemned NATO.

"This is cold-blooded murder," government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said at the scene in Tripoli. "Is the the protection of civilians? Is this really the search for peace and democracy in the Libya, to attack peaceful neighborhoods of Tripoli?"

Ibrahim said the Libyan government holds NATO, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama "responsible morally and legally for this murder and crimes."

Libya: Uprising anger

Reporting without media freedom in Libya

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State TV reported that the three people killed belonged to the same family. The network broadcast footage of a destroyed building and a chaotic scene of rescue teams and civilians pulling a body from the rubble.

The incident occurred a day after NATO acknowledged that its aircraft had mistakenly struck vehicles aligned with the Libyan opposition in the hotly contested eastern oil city of al-Brega. On Saturday, NATO expressed regret over the incident.

NATO did not provide details as to how many people, if any, died or were injured in the al-Brega strike, which took place on Thursday. But in a statement released Saturday, NATO admitted that its forces hit vehicles that were "part of an opposition patrol" -- an incident the military alliance described as "unfortunate."

For weeks, NATO forces have been targeting forces loyal to longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in an effort to prevent civilian casualties. Most of those strikes have come from missiles fired from off-shore ships or aircraft flying high above the north African nation, though earlier this month British and French attack helicopters did fly closer to the ground in al-Brega to go after targets in that city more precisely.

Al-Brega is on a frontline -- east of Gadhafi's base in Tripoli and west of the rebels headquarters in Benghazi -- in fighting that has taken place between the two sides over the past several months.

In its statement, NATO said that "a column of military vehicles, including tanks," were spotted Thursday around al-Brega where Gadhafi forces "had recently been operating."

During what it called "a particularly complex and fluid battle scenario," leaders in the military alliance ordered a strike after determining these vehicles posed "a threat to civilians."

"We regret any possible loss of life or injuries caused by this unfortunate incident," NATO said in its statement.

CNN's Yousuf Basil contributed to this report

'Mass grave' discovered in Libyan town

Published 18 June 2011 23:52 796 Views

A tip off from a former secret police officer have led residents in the rebel-held town of Derna in eastern Libya to unravel secrets that were hidden by Muammar Gaddafi's regime for decades. A mass grave has been discovered in the area, and forensic doctors have found pieces of bone and clothing. They fear there are as many as seven people buried there. Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports from Derna