A Qatari fighter jet became the first from an Arab country to fly a sortie over Libya as international airstrikes continued to destroy military machinery and weapons belonging to the forces of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
A tiny but petroleum-rich Gulf nation, Qatar has close ties to the U.S. military, experience at mediating international conflicts and also houses the Arab world's most popular news outlet, Al-Jazeera.
The United Arab Emirates has also pledged to add 12 warplanes to the effort, meaning a total of two countries from the Arab League will participate in the UN-mandated mission.
On Friday, British and French warplanes also destroyed artillery and other military machinery belonging to the Libyan regime near the eastern rebel-held city of Ajdabiya.
Many city residents have fled Ajdabiya in the wake of the fighting that has raged in the city for more than a week, with Gadhafi's forces using a campaign of relentless shelling to try to force the rebels out.
CTV's Beijing Bureau Chief Ben O'Hara Byrne said rebels in the city are reportedly able to move more freely in the wake of the latest coalition strikes.
Maj. Gen. John Lorimer, Britain's senior military spokesperson, said that while the countries enforcing the no-fly zone "have not been able to stop all Col. Gadhafi's attacks," his forces are "losing aircraft, tanks, guns that they cannot replace."
Gadhafi's "ability to use these weapons against his own people is diminished daily," Lorimer said.
Diplomatic efforts
Meanwhile in Ethiopia, an African Union official called for a transition period that would eventually lead to democratic elections. A delegation from the Libyan government said they were ready to negotiate with the rebels, who have been seeking to oust Gadhafi since Feb. 16.
The embattled Libyan regime has accused coalition forces of killing civilians with thundering airstrikes that have struck targets near the outskirts of Tripoli, while Western military officials dismissed the claims as government propaganda.
Gadhafi's government brought journalists to Tripoli's Tajoura neighbourhood on Friday, showing them a bullet-ridden home where the windows had been smashed, but the walls were still standing.
The man who lives in the home, Rajab Mohammed, claimed that a bomb hit just outside.
"There were bullets everywhere," said Mohammed, who struggled to explain the source of the bullet holes on the outside of the house.
The journalists who were taken to the site in Tajoura were driven past two military bases that had clearly been hit, with smoke still rising from the twisted and damaged buildings as they passed by.
A U.S. official told The Associated Press that ships in the Mediterranean had launched 15 Tomahawk cruise missiles overnight, targeting garrisons near the Libyan capital.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Friday that "there are no confirmed civilian casualties so far from the coalition airstrikes, and missile strikes, in all the operations since Saturday. Civilian casualties are being caused solely by the Gadhafi regime."
Libyan state television has previously shown footage of charred bodies that rebels say were actually retrieved from a morgue and falsely cast as civilian casualties.
New leadership emerging in coalition
The United States is still leading attacks on Gadhafi's military assets, but tentative plans are afoot to have NATO take that over as well.
O'Hara-Byrne said the U.S. is eager to cede control of operations to a broader coalition of nations, lest it be blamed for being involved in "yet another attack on another Muslim nation," in addition to its engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NATO agreed Thursday to take control of the no-fly zone patrols that were authorized by the UN Security Council.
On Friday, officials in Washington and Ottawa confirmed that NATO had named a Canadian -- Lt.-Gen. Charles Bouchard -- to head the alliance's military campaign in Libya.
A defence official told The Associated Press Friday that NATO staff are now drawing up plans for replacing the coalition air force in carrying out airstrikes against Gadhafi's forces.
NATO's top decision-making body has yet to approve these plans, but is due to meet on Sunday to discuss the issue.
Gadhafi appears to be running out of friends within the African Union as well.
Jean Ping, the AU commission chairman, said Friday that Libya will inevitably face political reforms and the democratic aspirations of its people are "legitimate."
"We are convinced, at the African Union level, that there is a sufficient basis for reaching a consensus and making a valuable contribution to finding a lasting solution in Libya," he said.
With files from The Associated Press
