France air drops arms to Libya rebels

TRIPOLI (AFP) - France said Wednesday it had air dropped arms to Libyan rebels in mountains south of Tripoli who are eyeing an assault on the capital, a day after anti-regime forces captured a network of weapons caches. But the increasingly emboldened rebels suffered a deadly assault from veteran strongman Moamer Kadhafi's forces in the third-largest city Misrata, where rockets killed one civilian and wounded six late Tuesday, residents said. In London, meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday the cash-strapped rebels had received the first $100 million (70 million euros) from a fund set up by international donors. France's Le Figaro daily said Wednesday it had seen a secret intelligence memo and talked to well-placed officials, saying air drops were designed to help rebels encircle Tripoli and encourage a popular revolt in the city itself. It said the arms were dropped in the Nafusa mountains region, where Berber tribes have risen to join the revolt against Kadhafi's four-decade rule and seized several towns. The crates contained assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, it said, and also European-made Milan anti-tank missiles, a powerful addition to the rebel arsenal that can destroy a tank or a bunker. "If the rebels can get to the outskirts of Tripoli, the capital will take the chance to rise against Kadhafi," said an official quoted in the report. Colonel Thierry Burkhard, spokesman for the French general staff, later told AFP the shipments were essentially light arms such as assault rifles to help civilian communities protect themselves from regime troops. He said France had become aware in early June that rebel-held Berber villages in the Nafusa mountains region had come under pressure from Kadhafi loyalist forces. "We began by dropping humanitarian aid: food, water and medical supplies," he said. "During the operation, the situation for the civilians on the ground worsened. We dropped arms and means of self-defence, mainly ammunition." Burkhard described the arms as "light infantry weapons of the rifle type" and said the drops were carried out over several days "so that civilians would not be massacred". Following that announcement, Britain's minister for international security strategy, Gerald Howarth, said London will not follow suit.