Libyan rebels hope French weapons will break Misrata stalemate

A Libyan rebel controls an anti-aircraft machine gun on the outskirts of Misrata. Rebels are in discussion with France to supply guns and ammunition. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images

Libyan rebels in Misrata said on Thursday night that they are in discussions with France to supply weapons and ammunition to fighters in the besieged coastal enclave.

The frontlines have remained in stalemate for more than a month, with the city enduring nightly bombardments from rockets, and rebel fighters saying they lack the heavy weapons to break the ring of government forces around the city.

"We are in discussion with France to supply us with the guns," said rebel military spokesman Ibrahim Betalmal. "We are trying to do our best to get ammunition and guns from France and inshallah [God willing] we are going to get those guns. These are negotiations with France, not with Nato."

The news comes after reports from Paris said France airdropped weapons and ammunition to rebel forces battling pro-Gaddafi forces in the western mountains who are pushing towards Tripoli from the Tunisian border.

Rebels in Misrata say their efforts to expand the pocket around the battered city are frustrated because of a lack of artillery, mortars and tanks. For the past four weeks successive rebel offensives pushing west towards Tripoli have been turned back by pro-Gaddafi forces dug in around the town of Zlitan.

Nato has stepped up air strikes against government positions in the past two weeks and has used warships for shore bombardment, but they have not been coordinated with rebel troop movements.

Betalmal said negotiations were being handled by the rebel government, the National Transitional Council, and refused to speculate on what kind of weapons might be offered or when they might arrive. The UN has imposed an arms embargo on Libya and Nato warships patrol the coastline to intercept ships suspected of bringing weapons to either government or rebel forces.

"We notice that Nato over the past two weeks has increased air strikes for which we are grateful," said Betalmal.

Libya's opposition leader had earlier on Thursday said that rebels needed more weapons and funding, as China and Russia raised concerns over revelations that France had supplied arms.

Mahmoud Jibril, of the Transitional National Council, said foreign deliveries of military hardware would give the rebels a chance to "decide this battle quickly [and] to spill as little blood as possible".

French military spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said on Wednesday that France had airlifted weapons to Libyan civilians in a mountain region south of Tripoli. The deliveries of guns, rocket-propelled grenades and munitions took place in early June in the western Nafusa mountains, when Gaddafi's troops had encircled civilians.

Gaddafi's prime minister Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi predicted that France "will suffer for this", saying that the weapons could end up in the hands of terrorists.

"Many more French citizens will die because of these acts," al-Mahmoudi told a small group of reporters in Tripoli, according to a partial transcript of his remarks obtained by the Associated Press.

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