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Nato accused of aiding rebels' Tripoli push

Fighting rages in plains south of the regime stronghold

Agencies, THpoii
A senior Libyan official yesterday accused Nato of intensifying its bombing campaign and backing foreign mercenaries to lay the groundwork for an advance by rebels trying to topple Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told The Associated Press in an early morning interview that the alliance's increased bombings represent the "final phase" of the air campaign. But he said the push will fail and that civilians will be the ones to pay the price.
The intensified campaign, he said, is focused on targeting civilian infrastructure and police checkpoints, and providing additional weapons to rebel fighters.
Kaim also said Libyan forces have evidence that Colombian mercenaries
funded by the West and its Arab allies have joined the rebel fighters trying to advance toward the capital Tripoli from the western rebel-held city of Misrata.
Nato began airstrikes against Libya in March. The coalition and its Arab allies are operating under a UN mandate to protect civilians.
Some countries in the coalition have interpreted that mandate broadly, with France acknowledging it has provided weapons to rebels operating in the mountains and other countries providing non-lethal aid to rebel-held areas.
Meanwhile, rebels pressed ahead yesterday with day two of a Nato-backed offensive after seizing a desert hamlet some 50 kilometres fromTripoli.
At the same time, insurgents said forces from their western coastal enclave of Misrata had pushed to within a short distance of Zlitan, some
60 kilometres further west, with 20 killed on both sides.
Reinforced with French weapons parachuted into the North African country and backed by Nato-led air strikes aimed at destroying Gaddafi's frontline armour, the rebels attacked regime forces in the plains southwest of the capital.
The area targeted by that offensive is seen as strategic as it also features the garrison city of Gharyan, a government stronghold in the Nafusa mountains.
"We waited before launching this assault and finally got the green light from Nato... and the offensive began," a rebel leader in Zintan, a hill town, said onWednesday.
An AFP correspondent embedded with the rebels said there were intense exchanges of artillery, mortar and cannon fire with government troops dug in around Gualish.