International stalemate on Libya conflict

International calls for Gaddafi to step down as attacks continue NATO warned Tuesday it would bomb former civilian facilities in Libya, including factories, warehouses and agricultural sites, which are being used by Moamer Gaddafi's forces to launch attacks. NATO hit a concrete factory in recent days near the eastern city of Brega where regime forces were hiding and firing multi-barrel rocket launchers, said alliance military spokesman Colonel Roland Lavoie."Pro-Gaddafi forces are increasingly occupying facilities which once held a civilian purpose," Lavoie told reporters in a video news conference from the operation's headquarters in Naples, Italy.
The sites include stables, agricultural facilities, commercial and industrial warehouses, factories and basic food processing plants.
"By occupying and using these facilities the regime has transformed them into mililtary installations from which it commands and conducts attacks, causing them to lose their formerly protected status and rendering them valid and necessary military objectives for NATO," he said.
The new targets mark a shift in strategy in NATO's four-month air war in Libya..
UN's special envoy to Libya, Abdel-Elah Al-Khatib, met with members of the Libyan rebel government on Monday in search of a political solution to the five-month-long civil conflict in the African state. Khatib is expected to visit Tripoli on Tuesday for further negotiations. British Foreign Secretary William Hague demanded that Moamer Gaddafi step down but said the Libyan leader may be allowed to remain in the North African country.
On Sunday, British aircraft bombed a key intelligence building used by Col Gaddafi's forces, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
The MoD insisted that it was a "wholly legitimate" target as it had long been used as a cover for the "nefarious activities" of the Gaddafi regime, despite being described as an engineering academy by the Libyan authorities.
More than 710 regime targets have been destroyed by the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Army Air Corps since military action began on 19 March, the MoD said.
Libya's capital is wracked by shortages of medicine, fuel and cash despite "aspects of normalcy," UN factfinders said, as the top US military officer deemed NATO's air campaign at a "stalemate."
In Washington, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen told a press briefing the NATO campaign had hit an impasse.
He added that NATO has "dramatically attrited (reduced) his forces" and "additional pressure has been brought," even if Kadhafi has not been ousted.
"In the long run, I think it's a strategy that will work... (toward) removal of Kadhafi from power," Mullen said.
Asked if the United States would arm the rebels, Mullen said there has been "no decision to arm the NTC (National Transitional Council) on the part of the United States."
Libya accused NATO of a deadly raid on a medical clinic Monday morning as Britain joined France in saying strongman Moamer Gaddafi may be allowed to remain in his oil-rich country if he gives up power. Government minders said the air strike had killed at least seven people. In other parts of Zliten the reporters were shown three damaged food storage buildings and another still on fire, which the government minders also blamed on NATO.
A NATO official responded that alliance warplanes struck military targets near Zliten on Monday but there was no immediate confirmation that a clinic had also been hit.“NATO struck a number of targets near Zliten that were military in nature. These targets were a command and control node and a vehicle storage facility that contained military vehicles," he said
The top US military officer Admiral Michael Mullen meanwhile spoke of "stalemate" in NATO's Libya campaign but still voiced optimism the strategy would lead to the departure of Gaddafi.
In London, meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday demanded that Gaddafi step down but said the Libyan leader may be allowed to remain in the North African country.
Speaking ahead of talks with French counterpart Alain Juppe, Hague said Britain would prefer for Gaddafi to quit Libya and stressed that France and Britain were "absolutely united" in NATO's current mission against Kadhafi.
"What is absolutely clear, as Alain (Juppe) has said, is that whatever happens, Gaddafi must leave power," said Hague.