French Planes Stopping Air Strikes on Benghazi: Sarkozy

PARIS - French war planes are overflying Benghazi, preventing Moamer Kadhafi's air strikes on the Libyan rebel bastion, and are ready to attack his tanks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on March 19.
"In agreement with our partners, our air force will oppose any attack by Colonel Kadhafi's planes on the people of Benghazi. Our planes are already preventing air strikes on the city," Sarkozy said.

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"Already other planes, French, are ready to intervene against tanks that might threaten unarmed civilians," he said after a summit drawing together international leaders to discuss what action to take on Libya.
"There's still time for Kadhafi to avoid the worst, by obeying without delay or reserve all the demands of the international community," Sarkozy said. "The door of diplomacy will reopen when the attacks end."
"Today we are intervening in Libya under a U.N. Security Council mandate," he said. "With our partners, notably our Arab partners, we will do so to protect the civilian population from the murderous folly of a regime that, by killing its own people, has lost all legitimacy."
"We are intervening to allow the Libyan people to themselves choose their destiny. They cannot be deprived of their rights through violence and terror," Sarkozy said.

Israel Navy Snags Another Smuggling Ship

tel aviv - The Israel Navy's seizure last week of Iranian C704 anti-ship missiles and other munitions marked the latest in the escalating, yet still indirect, tit-for-tat confrontations between Jerusalem and Tehran.
The nonviolent intercept of the Liberian-flagged Victoria container ship, and its estimated 50-ton concealed arms cache, occurred some 380 kilometers off Israel's southern coast. The incident again demonstrated the long arm of Israeli intelligence and Israel's readiness for maritime operations following the bloody, botched takeover of a Gaza-bound Turkish ship last May.

The successful seizure of Iranian weaponry - Israel's fourth in a decade - also was a sweet reward for security officials here, who stood by in frustration as the Iranian Navy tested the post-Mubarak Egyptian waters with its first Suez Canal passage in more than 30 years.
Israeli officials said the ship carrying Iranian-produced, Chinese-designed C704 missiles, 120mm mortars and other munitions was headed for the Egyptian port city of Alexandria. From there, the cache was to have been transported through the Sinai and into Gaza via underground tunnels along the Gaza-Egyptian border.
Israeli intelligence said the cargo was loaded at the Syrian port city of Latakia, sailed to Cyprus, then Beirut and then to a port in southern Turkey before Israel Navy commandos intercepted it en route to Alexandria.
"Iranian arms flowing into Gaza are not coming in drip by drip but wave by wave," Danny Ayalon, Israeli deputy foreign minister, told diplomats invited to Israel's Ashdod port to view the confiscated contraband.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel's battle against the axis of Iran, Syria and Lebanon-based Hezbollah - each working to support terror groups in the Gaza Strip - would continue "by air, sea and land in every place and from every direction, both near and far."
The C704s would have introduced a new capability into the Gaza theater of operations that would have required the Israeli military to modify its operating and protective procedures, given the missile's 35-kilometer range.

Cracks Turn Up in U.S. Navy's First LCS

A 6-inch crack in the hull of the littoral combat ship USS Freedom caused the ship to abort sea-keeping trials on Feb. 12 and return to its homeport of San Diego for repairs, the U.S. Navy confirmed March 18.
The crack, about three and a half feet below the waterline in a weld seam between two steel plates in the hull, allowed water to enter a void space in the ship, according to Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). Flooding was contained, however, and, at a speed of about 8 knots, the vessel sailed about 600 miles to San Diego to begin repairs.

NAVSEA and Lockheed Martin, the ship's prime contractor, are reviewing the ship's design, construction drawings and welding procedures to determine what caused the hull crack. It is not yet clear, NAVSEA said, whether the problem is due to a design flaw or faulty construction techniques.
"Lockheed Martin is working closely with the Navy to confirm the root cause and have made all necessary repairs to the ship," Lockheed spokeswoman Kimberly Martinez said in a March 18 e-mail. "We are also supporting the Navy in additional testing along the hull to confirm this crack was an isolated anomaly."
The hull crack was first reported March 18 by Bloomberg News.
The crack appeared while the ship was performing heavy-weather sea trials off the northern California coast, said Cmdr. Jason Salata of Naval Surface Forces in San Diego.
A watch was kept on the space throughout the ship's return to San Diego, and the problem did not restrict the ship's maneuverability or speed, NAVSEA said. The 8-knot speed back to San Diego, Salata said, was based on fuel economy.
The horizontal crack measured just over 6 inches on the outside of the ship, and was about 3 inches long on the inside. It was amidships, at a point where the hull turns sharply inward.
Repairs to the hull were completed March 12 at San Diego after a cofferdam was built and installed around the crack. The hull repairs were made while the ship was undergoing a scheduled repair period.
A separate issue regarding hull cracks in the aluminum superstructure was dealt with during the repair period, NAVSEA said.
"Several small cracks" appeared aboard the ship last fall, NAVSEA said in a statement, correlating to predicted high-stress areas in the superstructure. Those areas had been "instrumented" before that time to detect problems, and "cracks were identified within the welds, indicating lack of fusion or weld defects."
Changes already have been made in the ship's design to correct the superstructure stress, metal fatigue and cracking, NAVSEA said, and many of those changes are being done in the current repair period.
USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), the next ship being built to the LCS 1 design, "had detail changes incorporated which mitigate these high stress areas," NAVSEA said.

West Mobilizes For Libya Air Strikes

BRUSSELS, Belgium - A coalition of Western nations mobilized Friday to launch quick air strikes against Libya after the United Nations approved military action to prevent Moammar Gadhafi from crushing insurgents.
The United States, Britain and France were expected to scramble fighter jets against Gadhafi's forces after they secured the UN Security Council's blessing.

Paris warned military action was imminent.
The strikes will come "rapidly ... within a few hours," French government spokesman Francois Baroin said after the UN Security Council approved "all necessary measures" to impose a no-fly zone on Libya.
The goal of the operation would be to "protect the Libyan people and to allow them to go all the way in their drive for freedom, which means bringing down the Gadhafi regime," Baroin told RTL radio.
The three military powers could be joined by Canada, which according to Canadian media planned to deploy six CF-18 fighter jets.
Norway said it would take part in the operation and Denmark awaited parliamentary approval before joining the action with F-16 warplanes. Poland offered logistical support but no role in a military strike force.
NATO was holding a meeting to decide what, if any, role it may take.
The West could be joined by Arab nations in the endeavor after the Arab League pressed for the international community to impose a no-fly zone against Gadhafi's forces.
Qatar's foreign ministry said the Gulf state would "contribute in the efforts aiming at stopping bloodshed and protecting civilians in Libya" and urged quick action to impose the no-fly zone, the state news agency said.
The UN's approval of the measures sparked celebrations in the rebel bastion of Benghazi in eastern Libya where the opposition had urged the international community to act quickly.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UN measures were needed to "avoid greater bloodshed" and stop Gadhafi from attacking his own people.
"This places a responsibility on the members of the UN and that is a responsibility to which the United Kingdom will now respond," Hague said.
Britain's Royal Air Force is expected to send Tornado attack aircraft equipped with precise weapons from their bases in Marham, east England, and Lossiemouth in Scotland.
NATO convened a meeting to debate whether the 28-nation military alliance would take part of the international effort.
"For any NATO operation, there needs to be a demonstrable need for the alliance to act, firm regional support and a clear legal basis," said NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu.
"Under those three conditions, NATO stands ready to act as part of the broad international effort," she said.
NATO allies have been divided about intervening in Libya, with Germany and Turkey voicing opposition to a military intervention.
Germany was among five nations, alongside China and Russia, that abstained from voting for the UN resolution, which passed 10-0 late Thursday.
Warning of "considerable risks and dangers," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle insisted no German troops would participate in military intervention.
"We remain eminently skeptical on the option of military intervention ... anticipated in this resolution. We see in it considerable risks and dangers. That is why we could not approve this part of the text," a statement said.
Russia also ruled out taking part in the operation.
The UN Security Council also agreed to protect civilian areas and impose a ceasefire on Gadhafi's military, but ruled out sending ground troops.