Coalition launches attack on Libya

Operation Odyssey Dawn – the biggest international military intervention in the Arab world since the Iraq war - has recently started, Euronews reports.

French planes fired the first shots, reportedly destroying military vehicles in the east. US officials say more than 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired from British and American ships. According to the Pentagon it is still too early to determine the success of the strikes.

“The goals of these initial operations are essentially twofold,” US Vice Admiral William Gortney said. “First, to prevent further attacks by regime forces on Libyan citizens and opposition groups, especially in and around Benghazi. And second, to degrade the regime’s capability to resist the no-fly zone we are implementing under that United Nations resolution,” Euronews cites the US military official.