YAFRAN/TRIPOLI: Libyan rebels seized all of the mountain town of Yafran Monday, driving out Muammar Gaddafi's forces in a sign NATO air strikes may be paying off. Yafran is spread over a hill, the bottom part of which had been controlled by pro-Gaddafi forces for more than a month and used to besiege the rebel-controlled part. Yafran, 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Tripoli, is in the Western Mountains where the population, mostly from the Berber ethnic minority, have joined the uprising against Gaddafi. British warplanes destroyed two tanks and two armored personnel carriers in Yafran on June 2. At least two powerful blasts were heard early Monday evening in Tripoli, where NATO has been bombing targets of Gaddafi's government since March. Libyan television said the neighborhood of Al-Karama was hit by NATO forces. It later said a telecoms station was hit in a bombing, but the alliance denied the charge. The rebels control the east of Libya, the western city of Misrata and the range of mountains near the border with Tunisia. But they have been unable to advance on the capital against Gaddafi's better-equipped forces, despite NATO air strikes. NATO attack helicopters were in action in the east on Sunday. Apaches destroyed a rocket launcher system on the coast near the eastern town of Brega, Britain's Defense Ministry said. In Tripoli, NATO air raids targeted the military intelligence headquarters of battered regime Monday, ahead of a visit to Libya by an envoy from Russia which has raised concerns about the scope of the military campaign. Gaddafi's forces also fired rockets into the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah in the east Monday and clashes broke out on the main road further west, rebel sources said. The new deployment of the helicopters is part of a plan to step up military operations to break the deadlock. Critics say NATO has gone far beyond its UN mandate to protect civilians. In a report Monday, the International Crisis Group (ICG) urged the rebels and their NATO allies to propose a ceasefire. “The (rebels) and their NATO supporters appear uninterested in resolving the conflict through negotiation,” it said. In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen sidestepped questions on whether more helicopters were needed, but he said he would repeat calls for NATO allies to step up involvement during a NATO defense ministers meeting this week.
