Gaddafi ‘hiding in hospitals to evade air attacks by Nato’

DEAUVILLE, Friday

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is hiding in hospitals as he becomes increasingly “paranoid” about Nato air strikes, a diplomatic source said, quoting British intelligence reports.

The information has persuaded Nato powers engaged in the air campaign in Libya that this is the right time to increase the pressure on the Libyan leader, the source said late Thursday at the G8 summit in France.

“There is a strong consensus that we need to be turning the screw now and that is partly informed by our intelligence reports from the ground,” the European diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity.

“One quite striking thing is the fact that Gaddafi appears to be moving from hospital to hospital, spending each night in a different one, and his motive appears quite clear,” the source said.

“He is moving from one place that we won’t bomb to another place that we won’t bomb.”

The intelligence was provided by Britain, the source confirmed.

The US, France and Britain have denied specifically targeting Gaddafi with air strikes but have hinted that it would not be illegal under the terms of the UN Security Council resolution authorising military action.

Several air strikes have hit Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli in recent weeks and the source said the intelligence reports meant the Libyan leader was now “on the run”.

“There is a picture building up of this man who is very paranoid, and of a regime that is increasingly feeling the pressure and beginning to fracture,” the source added.

“He is worried about further defections, other people trying to find a way out, he is clearly concerned.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday authorised the use of Apache helicopters in Libya and said he wanted to “turn up the pressure” on Gaddafi.

Britain’s deployment of Apache helicopters in Libya marks a tactical shift in the military campaign against Gaddafi forces but sparked fears Friday that it would escalate the conflict.

“There’s certainly the potential for escalation,” retired Rear Admiral Chris Parry, a defence analyst, told BBC radio after British officials confirmed Thursday the decision to use the attack helicopters in the stalled Nato campaign.

“They are quite terrifying when they are on the battlefield, and if you are not used to that sort of firepower, then you are going to be pretty frightened by them.

“It really depends how you want to use the Apaches,” he added, saying that using them to protect civilians and block Gaddafi’s supply convoys would not be an escalation, but using them in assault operations or to reinforce rebel attacks against the regime would be.

Reports suggest the Apaches and their warship carrier HMS Ocean, which are now in the Mediterranean, could be in action within 24 hours.

But a government source told AFP this was a “very ambitious” timeframe.

Earlier this week, as ministers were still mulling the deployment, junior defence minister Nick Harvey denied it would be an escalation of the military operation, which is authorised by a UN resolution to protect civilians.

“The targets would remain the same; it would simply be a tactical shift in what assets we used to try to hit those targets,” he told lawmakers. (AFP)