Rebel leaders in eastern Libya call for immediate international military intervention

PanARMENIAN.Net - Rebel leaders in eastern Libya have called for international military intervention to help topple Muammar Gaddafi, fearing people power alone may not be enough to dislodge their nation's autocratic leader from his last remaining strongholds.

The rebels said they didn't want ground forces, but they are coming round to the view that help in the form of a flight exclusion zone, as well as air strikes and supplies of weapons, will be necessary to ensure Colonel Gaddafi's fall.

In the eastern city of Benghazi, the centre of the resistance, some members of the committee formed to run the city said they expected to issue a formal request to the international community for military assistance.

A militia of jittery factory workers and shopkeepers used anti-aircraft guns to blaze at empty skies as they vowed to hold eastern Libya's front line a day after it was bombed by Colonel Gaddafi's air force.

''A no-fly zone would limit his ability to move mercenaries from south to north and to recruit mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa,'' said a member of Misurata's media committee.

Regime opponents control the centre of Misurata, according to the spokesman. They also claim control over most of the military air base to the south, theage.com.au reported.

Meanwhile, two US warships have entered the Suez Canal en route to Libya. ''The USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce are making their way to the Mediterranean sea,'' a canal authority official said.