France and Britain are putting 16 ground attack helicopters on standby to launch attacks on Muammer Gaddafi’s regime in
Libya amid claims in the west that his grip on power is weakening.
France has sent 12 Tiger and Gazelle helicopters on the carrier Tonnerre while British officials said on Thursday that David Cameron, UK prime minister, had signed off on the deployment of four Apache aircraft.
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The Apaches, aboard HMS Ocean in the Mediterranean, would be operational within days, with an expectation that Nato could send them into action soon.
The escalation of the Nato offensive was discussed by Mr Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, and Barack Obama, US president, on the margins of the Group of Eight summit of leading economies in Deauville, France.
European diplomats claim to have intelligence reports that Colonel Gaddafi has become paranoid – although the Nato allies have seldom described the Libyan leader as a model of sanity.
Western intelligence said the colonel has been sighted going from hospital to hospital at night in an attempt to take shelter in buildings that would not be targeted by Nato air strikes.
“He’s on the run,” said one European diplomat.
“We are hearing from various sources that the regime is increasingly feeling the pressure and is beginning to fracture. Our judgment is that it’s the right time to be turning up the pressure.”
The comments may be seen as wishful thinking, given that Col Gaddafi has so far proved more resilient and elusive than many in the west had expected when they began their military operations in Libya in March.
Nato military planners hope the deployment of helicopter gunships will allow them to hit targets more accurately and from lower levels now that the Gaddafi regime’s air defence systems have been largely destroyed.
Mr Sarkozy and Mr Cameron said it was a good way to intensify pressure on the Libyan leader while staying within the remit of UN resolution 1973, which provides for Nato to protect civilians from attack by the regime.
Meanwhile forces loyal to the Gaddafi regime bombarded the rebel-held city of Misurata with mortar rounds on Thursday, reinforcing a view in Washington that a ceasefire offer from Tripoli was not credible.
Spain said on Thursday it had received a message from Libya’s prime minister offering an immediate ceasefire, although Madrid supports the European Union’s position that any ceasefire must be credible and verifiable.
The bombardment of Misurata was the heaviest for days and coincided with the start of the G8 summit, where western countries debated how to bolster the spread of reform in north Africa.
Mr Sarkozy repeated his view that Col Gaddafi “had to go” and that the longer he waited, the worse it would be for his country.
Mr Obama suggested during a visit to London this week that the west may consider that it had achieved success if it had ensured that the Libyan leader could no longer terrorise his own people.
But Ben Rhodes, US deputy national security adviser, said the Libyan government was not complying with the UN resolution and that the effort to drive the Libyan leader from power would continue.
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