France, Britain and the United States vowed on Friday to keep up their military campaign in Libya until Gaddafi leaves power, although the rebels say their action so far is failing to stop Gaddafi's troops killing civilians.
France and Britain want to extend air strikes to the logistics and decision centres of Muammar Gaddafi's army, rather than start arming Libyan rebels, French defence minister Gerard Longuet said on Friday.
Asked if it was time to send weapons to the rebels, Longuet said: "This is the reason France and Britain want to show our determination, including with strikes on military decision centres in Libya or on logistics depots which today are being spared."
"Why? Because if we want to avoid civil war... the force of the other side must be neutralised, and so the strikes we are asking for are aimed at not having to arm the insurgents. Our goal is not to organise a front, it's that Gaddafi's troops go back to their barracks," he told LCI television.
France, Britain and the United States vowed on Friday to keep up their military campaign in Libya until Gaddafi leaves power, although the rebels say their action so far is failing to stop Gaddafi's troops killing civilians.
A member of the opposition transition council said on Thursday that the West must ramp up its operations and consider arming the rebels or sending in troops to fight Gaddafi's forces, if it wants to stop civilian deaths in the besieged western city of Misrata.
Suliman Fortea said during a brief visit to Paris that weapons were getting through to the rebels, and defectors from Gaddafi's army were training them to use them. But he said more help was needed to stop Gaddafi's assault.
Longuet said France appreciated it was difficult for the United States to get more involved in Libya given its long-running engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, and reiterated the importance of a political solution to the crisis.
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