Immediately following a summit of coalition forces the French Air Force began combat operations in and around the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in Eastern Libya.   Aljazerra and Western Media outlets begin to describe the conflict.   Both East and West media views presented below:

Eastern Reports (Aljazerra)  French warplanes have hit four tanks used by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi on the outskirts of the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, on a day when opposition fighters in the city reported coming under constant artillery and mortar fire.  The action marks the first international military move against the Libyan leader, and it comes a day after the UN Security Council authorised a no-fly zone over the North African country. 

A spokesman for the French military had confirmed that his country’s fighter jets have attacked another vehicle belonging to Gaddafi’s forces.   “The vehicle was clearly identified as being enemy,” army spokesman Colonel Thierry Burckhard said after the first UN-mandated air strike, describing the target as “a vehicle that was threatening the civilian population”.

Earlier on Saturday, pro-government forces had entered the western outskirts of the city, while French Rafale fighter jets began reconnaissance overflights of “all Libyan territory”.  Witnesses in Bengazi, in the east of the country, said they heard large explosions on Saturday.  Al Jazeera’s correspondents in the city reported multiple explosions, plumes of smoke in the sky and a fighter jet belonging to the opposition getting shot down.

Government troops reportedly bombed the southern Benghazi suburb of Goreshi among other places. Artillery and mortars were also fired in the centre of the city.  Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the opposition National Libyan Council, told Al Jazeera “there is a  bombardment by artillery and rockets on all districts of Benghazi”.  James Bays, Al Jazeera”s correspondent in Benghazi, reported that while the air strikes by international planes were not evident, people were “cheered” by the report. He said, however, that there was a prevalent atmosphere of nervousness and fear, as well.

Government denials:  The Libyan government firmly denied that it was attacking the city on Saturday. “There are no attacks whatesover on Benghazi. As we said, we are observing the ceasefire,” Musa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, told the Reuters news agency.  Khaled Kaim, Libya’s deputy foreign minister, told the BBC “the ceasefire is real, credible and solid. We are willing to receive [international] observers as soon as possible”.

On Saturday, Moussa Khoussa, the foreign minister, requested Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations chief, to send observers to monitor the “ceasefire”, saying that his country has “fulfilled all of its obligations to the international community”.  But Ibrahim Jibreel, a Libyan political activist, told Al Jazeera “we need to first consider the source” when receiving information about Libya. He said the government has “demonstrated their ability and willingness to lie time and time again”.  Besides Benghazi, fresh fighting was reported on Saturday in the nearby town of Ajdabiyah, while fierce battles raged in the western town of Misurata.  Reports also indicated that pro-Gaddafi forces had attacked the town of Az Zintan.

Meanwhile, Abdel Fatah Younis, the former interior minister who left Gaddafi”s government to join the opposition, has denied reports on Libyan state television that he has rejoined the government.  Ibrahim, the government spokesman, told reporters on Saturday that Gaddafi had sent urgent messages to the US president, the French president and the British prime minister, as well as the secretary-general of the UN. (video)

Western View (CNN Reports) Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — French fighter jets deployed over Libya fired at a military vehicle on Saturday, the country’s first strike against Moammar Gadhafi’s military forces who earlier attacked the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

The French Defense Ministry, which confirmed the strike, said its attack aircraft being used to take out tanks and artillery have deemed Benghazi and the surrounding area an “exclusion zone.”  The French are using surveillance aircraft and two frigates in the operation to protect the civilian population. The aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle is soon going to be en route from Toulon.

“Our air force will oppose any aggression by Colonel Gadhafi against the population of Benghazi,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking after an international, top-level meeting in Paris over the Libyan crisis.  “As of now, our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town,” he said, calling the intervention a “grave decision.”

“As of now, our aircraft are prepared to intervene against tanks, armored vehicles threatening unarmed civilians.”  The international show of force is much-welcomed by besieged rebel forces who have called for backup to help them stave off a government offensive against their positions in Benghazi and other rebel-held enclaves. An opposition spokesman in Benghazi said Gadhafi forces that assaulted the city earlier Saturday are now positioned outside the town. However the forces are preparing for more attacks.

Sarkozy said Gadhafi still has time to stop its activities and as of Friday, France, Britain, the United States and Arab League nations passed along a warning for Gadhafi to stop his operations immediately.  But “Gadhafi has totally ignored the warning” and “in the last few hours his forces have stepped up their deadly offenses,” Sarkozy said.

The international coalition meeting in Paris — which included Western and Arab partners — focused on how to take on a Libyan government bent on destroying the fledgling opposition movement under the U.N. resolution authorizing force to protect civilians against the Gadhafi government.  “There is still time for Colonel Gadhafi to avoid the worst, by complying immediately and unreservedly with all the demands of the international community. The doors of diplomacy will open once again when the aggression stops,” Sarkozy said.

Speaking from Brasilia, Brazil, President Barack Obama said the international coalition was united. “Our consensus was strong and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected.”  Asked whether the decision to carry out bombing against Libyan forces could begin immediately after Saturday’s session ends, a senior State Department official said: “In terms of when the bombing starts, I’ll leave that for others to lay out at the appropriate time.”  “Everybody recognizes the urgency,” he said.

In Rome, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s office confirmed to CNN that Berlusconi has proposed the use of the NATO base in southern Italy as a command center for allied action in Libya.   U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton underscored that this is “a broad international effort” and that the “world will not sit idly by while more innocent civilians are killed.”  “Now America has unique capabilities, and we will bring them to bear to help our European and Canadian allies and Arab partners to stop further violence against civilians including through the effective implementation of a no fly zone,” she said.

She said despite talk of a cease-fire from Libya, Moammar Gadhafi “continues to defy the world.”  “His attacks on civilians go on,” she told reporters Saturday.

But after Gadhafi forces earlier Saturday assaulted Benghazi, the opposition said the military repositioned itself far outside the city.  Earlier Saturday, incoming artillery rounds landed inside the city, and pro-Gadhafi tanks rolled into the town firing rounds, witnesses said. Plumes of smoke rose in Benghazi as civilians said buildings came under small arms fire. Many fled their homes in fear of a full-blown assault there.

A fighter jet plummeted from the sky, burst into flames, and nose-dived to the ground. Khaled el-Sayeh, the opposition military spokesman, said the plane was an old MiG-23 that belonged to the rebels.  But as night fell over Benghazi on Saturday, the city became quiet and calm. While plumes of smoke could be spotted, the pro-Gadhafi tanks seen earlier were not in sight. El-Sayeh told CNN that “tens” have been killed in Benghazi on Saturday and opposition forces found 13 men clad in Libyan military uniforms bound and executed in a building that had been used by pro-Gadhafi forces to launch artillery assaults.  He said Gadhafi forces have withdrawn from the city and that they are now positioned 50 kilometers outside Benghazi on the road east to Ajdabiya. CNN could not independently verify those details.  (more from CNN)

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After the UN Security Council passed resolution 1947 on Thursday night authorizing member states to “take all necessary measures” to “protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack”, militaries in the US, Britain, France, NATO and some Arab states began enacting their Libyan contingency plans. Meanwhile, as Libyan officials announced an end to military operations on Friday, reports suggested continued shelling of the rebel held town of Misurata. 

The wording of the resolution allows for a broader spectrum of military action than just a ‘no-fly zone’, including a ‘no-drive’ zone to counter advances by Gaddafi’s tanks and artillery, and the possible targeting of Libya’s small navy if it attempts to bombard rebel-held coastal towns. However, to launch air strikes on Libyan soil requires careful synchronisation between a wide range of air and sea assets.

Firstly, and following the blueprint from the Iraq invasion, ‘decapitation’ missile strikes could be used against Gaddafi’s reinforced command bunker in the Bab Al Azizia area of Tripoli, something the rebels have called for. These could be delivered by Tomahawk missiles fired from a US submarine stationed off the coast. However, the recent ceasefire called by Gaddafi may make this an unlikely course of action for political reasons.

Before committing their air forces, the military will aim to suppress Gaddafi’s limited air defences, including launch sites and radar facilities. These include old, but long ranged, Soviet built SA-2 and SA-5A missile batteries and mobile, shorter ranged SA-6s and SA-8s. While modern ground attack fighter aircraft are equipped with an array of missile counter-measures, the destruction of these air defences will pave the way for strikes on the Libyan air force.

These strikes are usually synchronised to attack immediately after the destruction of the surface-to- air missile threat, and will concentrate on destroying the bulk of the Libyan air force on the ground.

They would most likely be launched by squadrons of F-18 and Rafale ground attack fighters operating from the US aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and the French Charles De Gaulle, supported by aircraft flying from US bases on Sicily, and French bases in the Mediterranean. British Tornado and Typhoon jets could forward-mount in these bases and their own in Cyprus and possibly Malta’s airport.

Facing them are probably about 150 combat effective Libyan aircraft, including French built Mirage F-1s and Soviet-era MiG variants. If, as seems likely, the French and British are first to strike, their superior pilots and technology should easily outclass the Libyan air-to-air threat.

Once air superiority has been secured, Gaddafi’s artillery pieces and tanks could be attacked with relative impunity, but is not yet clear if these would have to be engaging civilians, or rebels, to allow pilots to fire. The ceasefire declaration could further complicate pilots’ rules of engagement and raise questions about the definition of civilians. Threats would remain from loyalist attack helicopters, which are harder to detect, and from shoulder-launched missiles.

As such, a no-fly zone, or air strikes, will need considerable support from specialist radar aircraft, air-to-air refuelling platforms and search and rescue helicopters in case pilots are downed. Ground-air tactical teams may also be deployed, pushing the boundary of the “no ground forces” resolution.

The Gaddafi administration’s spectacular volte face in announcing an immediate end to military operations may have been specifically designed to stall these plans to buy time for loyalist forces. Having said on Thursday night that he would show “no mercy, no pity” to the people of Benghazi, in a rapidly changing political and military situation on Friday, Gaddafi’s Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa stressed Libya’s “great interest in protecting civilians”.

It is more likely that Gaddafi has “great interest” in protecting the military assets from which he draws his power. Moreover, a ceasefire based on the military situation at present would see Gaddafi continue to control much of Libya’s oil revenues, territory and population.

On Friday it appeared that loyalist concentrations of artillery and tanks had grouped around Benghazi in the east and Misurata in the west, before entering the cities. Such an investment of forces before an urban assault presents a very juicy target to air forces, and Gaddafi could have called this ceasefire to allow him to disperse these forces and politically complicate efforts to attack them.

While his commitment to this ceasefire remains to be seen, loyalists also now face a tactical dilemma: if they enter the urban environment they will face grinding a-symmetric attacks from the rebels, but will benefit from fighting in close proximity to civilians, thereby protecting themselves somewhat from air strikes. If they stay in the desert and continue their bombardments they face the wrath of superior air power, which, even if they cease operations, could still be used against them.

As Bosnia proved, despite its obvious impacts, air-power is not a magic ‘fix it’ tool in conflicts. While its use allows nations to intervene quickly and sometimes decisively with relatively little risk of military casualties, it cannot prevent low-level battles and street fights, nor ethnic cleansing.

Depending on the decisions of Gaddafi’s forces in the coming days, the rebels may have to fight again to re-capture the towns they have lost over the last week. If this happens one would expect Gaddafi to pursue a ‘scorched earth’ policy, destroying the oil infrastructures around Ros Lanuf and Brega to deny them to the rebels. The rebels will be loathe to accept Gaddafi’s ceasefire offer as acceptance would signal the de facto partition of Libya and would abandon much of the population.

Continuing the fight, even with supporting air strikes, will most likely be bloody and lengthy.

COSTS – According to new report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, three options for a No-Fly Zone over Libya would have three very different costs:

“Full No-Fly Zone” covering all of Libya

• – $100 million to $300 million per week
• – Initial strike to secure airspace: $500 million and $1 billion
• – Six month total: $3.1 billion – $8.8 billion
• – Similar to no-fly zone imposed over Iraq (Operation Northern and Southern Watch)

Limited No-Fly Zone focusing on the northern third of Libya

• – $30 million to $100 million per week
• – Initial strike to secure airspace: $400 million to $800 million
• – Six month total $1.18 billion – $3.4 billion

Stand-off No-Fly Zone focusing on costal Libya with only air and naval assets beyond Libyan territory

• – $15 million to $25 million per week
• – Because this is strictly a stand-off operation with no assets in Libya, CSBA suggests no “initial cost.”
• – Six month total $0.39 billion – $0.65 billion
• – This No-Fly zone would be enforced by three aegis-equipped destroyers.
• – These ships, supported by radar monitoring planes (AWACS), and land-based fighter aircraft would intercept violating aircraft from a distance with “over-the-horizon” missiles.
• – There is no historical precedent for this sort of no-fly zone.

The group also estimates a 6 month No-Fly Zone could cost as much as $9 Billion. Here’s a look at the costs of previous No-Fly Zones:

• 3 months of air superiority over Serbia cost $2.4 billion
• No Fly Zone over Iraq cost $1.3 billion per year
• Libya is 6.5 times larger than the No Fly Zone over Iraq.

CSBA (Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments) estimates a 6 month No Fly Zone could cost as much as $9 billion.