NATO strikes Tripoli suburbs

Seven civilians were killed and 18 wounded in a NATO air raid that targeted the southwestern Tripoli suburb of Khellat al-Ferjan in the early hours of Thursday, official Jana news agency reported, as the United States said it would not send military advisers to Libya despite decisions by France, Britain and Italy to do so.

An earlier report by the state al-Libiya TV said the Khellat al-Ferjan area, where three explosions could be heard, was the “target of barbarian crusaders’ raids that left martyrs and wounded among the residents and destroyed their homes.”

NATO warplanes also carried out air raids on Wednesday at Bir al-Ghanam, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the Libyan capital, that left four people dead among the civilian population, according to Jana.

Quoting a military official Jana said “seven civilians were killed and 18 wounded by the colonialist crusading aggressor” in the attack in the Khellat al-Ferjan region.

The raids destroyed “a number of houses and terrorized women and children.”

Tripoli’s population is estimated at one million people out of Libya’s total population of 5.5 million.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, said that Washington would not be sending military advisers to aid Libya’s opposition fighters despite decisions by France, Britain and Italy to do so.

“There is a desire to help them be more organized and we support that. We’re not participating in it, but we support it,” she said in a conversation moderated by Charlie Rose at the State Department and aired on PBS.

France and Italy joined Britain on Wednesday in sending military advisers to opposition-held eastern Libya, as Tripoli warned that a foreign troop deployment would only prolong the conflict.

Ms. Clinton responded “no” when asked if the United States would follow the lead of its European allies, according to Agence-France Presse.

The White House had earlier said that US President Barack Obama backed the three countries' decisions to dispatch advisers, saying it would help the opposition battling Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s forces.

Many Americans, weary from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, fear that sending ground troops in to support NATO’s air campaign would plunge their country into a third bloody, long-term conflict in the Muslim world.

“We want to get to a point where there is a resolution and it has to be a political resolution,” Ms. Clinton said.

However, she also said “It’s too early to tell” if the conflict had reached a stalemate.

An international coalition, acting on a resolution by the United Nations Security Council, started air raids against the regime of Colonel Qaddafi on March 19 to force the 68-year-old leader from power after a 42-year rule.

NATO took over command in the military intervention on March 31.

The battle lines have been more or less static in recent weeks, however, as NATO air strikes have helped block Mr. Qaddafi’s eastward advance but failed to give the poorly organized and lightly-armed rebels a decisive victory.

(Abeer Tayel of Al Arabiya