Libya rebels urge U.S. to bring back bombers

Updated 11:44 a.m. ET

DOHA, Qatar - Libya's rebels urged the U.S. military Wednesday to reassert a stronger role in the NATO-led air campaign and Qatar's crown prince told international envoys it was time to help the uprising tip the scales against Muammar Qaddafi's regime.

The appeals reflected the urgent tone for meetings among the U.N. secretary-general and other top Western and Arab envoys as they gathered in Qatar's capital to discuss ways to end the Libyan crisis.

The meetings came as two strong explosions struck the outskirts of the Libyan capital, according to a witness.

The witness, a resident of the capital, Tripoli, said the blasts apparently struck near the airport, where Qaddafi has military camps and forces encircling the capital.

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"Over the past days, we didn't hear any explosions except for planes flying in the sky, but no raids," said the resident, who asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals by the government.

The explosions could be NATO airstrikes on targets held by Qaddafi.

While peace efforts remain the top objective, there also appears to be a shift toward trying to boost the rebels' firepower to protect their territory from government offensives. One proposal noted by Italy — Libya's former colonial ruler — calls for allies to provide defensive weapons.

Qatar's crown prince said it was a "race against time" to give Qaddafi's outgunned opponents the tools to fight.

"It is time to help the Libyan people defend themselves, and to defend the Libyan people," said Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, whose nation is one of the few Arab states contributing to the NATO-led air campaign in Libya and helped the rebels sell oil under their control.

"And what are the rebels except civilians who have taken up arms to defend themselves in a difficult situation and (who fight) an uneven battle?"

Rebel spokesman Mahmoud Shamman said the anti-Qaddafi forces will not bend on their demands that any peace proposal require Qaddafi and his inner circle to leave the country. The rebel conditions for Qaddafi's ouster effectively killed a cease-fire bid by Africa's main political bloc this week.

Shammam also urged NATO to step up its air campaign to hit pro-Qaddafi forces in efforts to protect civilians and appealed for a greater role by the United States, which turned over operations to the military bloc last month. Shammam's comments echoed calls by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and others after government forces shelled the rebel-held city of Misrata in western Libya.

"When the Americans were involved the mission was very active and it was more leaning toward protecting the civilians," said Shammam.

"NATO is very slow responding to these attacks on the civilians. We'd like to see more work toward protecting the civilians," Shammam said before the one-day conference that includes Britain's foreign secretary, U.S. State Department envoy William J. Burns and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

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It also was expected to be the first high-profile forum for Qaddafi's former foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, who defected to Britain last month. But Koussa was absent from the main discussions and rebel officials insisted Koussa has no role in their movement.

Mohamed Ismail Tajouri, a 54-year-old businessman who joined the rebels in their stronghold of Benghazi, said having a rebel delegation attend the Qatar meeting amounts to key international recognition.

"We are proud of this," he told The Associated Press. "This political development is really good for the rebels but the Qaddafi regime is not normal. He is a bloody creature, he won't leave until he spills some blood."

The meeting comes during a relative lull in fighting.

But Qaddafi's forces fired rockets along the eastern front line and shelled the besieged city of Misrata in recent days. International groups are warning of a dire humanitarian crisis in Misrata, Libya's third-largest city and the only city in western Libya that is still partially in the hands of rebels.

In Benghazi, the rebels' stronghold in eastern Libya, rebel spokesman Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga said Tuesday that talks with Koussa were "not on the agenda." Shammam told Britain's Sky News: "We did not invite him here. He is not part of our delegation."

The host for the first meeting of the Libyan Contact Group — the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar — is one of the few Arab countries providing warplanes to the NATO air campaign and has helped Libyan rebels sell oil to buy weapons and supplies.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he believes the Libyan opposition is "steadily becoming better organized," but could not predict how long the military stalemate will persist.

"It will end at some stage with the departure of Qaddafi, with a political process in Libya that is a more inclusive process," he told the BBC.

But an official from the African Union — which tried this week to broker a peace pact — suggested there is no international consensus on trying to force out Qaddafi.

"We cannot as international or regional organizations say, `Go,"' said Noureddine Mezni, a spokesman for the bloc's chairman.

Italy's foreign ministry spokesman, Maurizio Massari, said allies may consider providing "defensive weapons" and equipment to rebels, but did not give details on the type of arms.

"The discussion of arms is certainly on the table," he said. "We are not talking about offensive arms ... Every country will decide. It is a political decision."

In Brussels, NATO said it conducted airstrikes Tuesday on an ammunition depot in Sirte on Libya's central coast and destroyed 12 tanks near the western town of Zintan, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of the capital Tripoli.

On Tuesday, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet complained that France and Britain were carrying "the brunt of the burden" on the airstrikes. He said the reduced U.S. effort — American forces are now in support, not combat, roles in the airstrike campaign — have made it impossible "to loosen the noose around Misrata," which has become a symbol of the resistance against Qaddafi.

"Let's be realistic. The fact that the U.S. has left the sort of the kinetic part of the air operation has had a sizable impact. That is fairly obvious," said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

In Paris, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned talks later Wednesday about the military operation in Libya.

Libyan opposition spokesman Ali al-Issawi said that Qaddafi's soldiers have killed about 10,000 people throughout the country and injured 30,000 others, with 7,000 of the injured facing life-threatening wounds. He said an additional 20,000 people were missing and suspected of being in Qaddafi's prisons. There was no way to independently verify his claims, and the numbers are far higher than rights groups and foreign diplomats have estimated.

Qatar, meanwhile, is helping with a vital fuel link for the rebels.

Qatar said it oversaw last week's sale of more than $100 million in crude oil from rebel-held areas, and has delivered four shipments of fuel to Benghazi, including diesel, propane and gasoline.

Talks on Libya shift to Cairo on Thursday at the Arab League headquarters.

The U.N. secretary-general is expected to join others, including Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, African Union commission chairman Jean Ping and the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton. They are expected to discuss a Turkish peace initiative.