BENGHAZI, Libya — U.S. Sen. John McCain called for increased military support for Libya’s rebels Friday, including weapons, training and stepped-up airstrikes, in a full-throated endorsement of the opposition in its fight to oust Moammar Khadafy.
In the Libyan capital, meanwhile, a senior official said government troops would step back and allow local armed tribesmen to deal with rebels in the besieged city of Misrata.
The action came a day after the U.S. began flying armed drones to bolster NATO airstrikes. Having the tribesmen take up the fight could make it harder for the Predators to distinguish them from Misrata’s civilians or the rebels.
McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the United States and other nations should recognize the opposition’s political leadership as the “legitimate voice of the Libyan people.” The White House disagreed, saying it was for the Libyan people to decide who their leaders are.
McCain also called the rebels “patriots” with no links to al-Qaeda, in contrast to what some critics have suggested, and added they should receive Khadafy’s assets that were frozen by other countries.
The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said in Iraq that although the timing was hard to predict, the eventual ouster of Khadafy and his family from power “is certain.”
Rebels in the western city of Misrata raised their tricolor flag atop an eight-story building in celebration after driving pro-government snipers out of the structure Thursday. The battle-scarred building commands a strategic view of the central part of Libya’s third-largest city and the key main thoroughfare of Tripoli Street. The snipers had terrorized residents and pinned down rebel fighters.
As a result, the number of civilian casualties dropped dramatically Friday for the first time in several weeks, said one rebel who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation.
In Tripoli, Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said tribal leaders had given the army an ultimatum, saying it must step aside if it cannot retake control of Misrata, which has been besieged by Khadafy’s forces for two months.
The tribal leaders would fight the rebels if they don’t surrender, Kaim said late Friday night.
Asked whether that meant troops would get out of the way, he said: “This is how I imagine it would happen.”
However, he said negotiations between the military and tribal leaders are continuing.
Hundreds of people have been killed in clashes between rebels and government forces in Misrata, a city of 300,000. The international community has accused Libyan forces of firing indiscriminately at civilian areas with tanks, rockets and mortars.
On Thursday, the U.S. began flying armed drones that are “uniquely suited for urban areas,” said U.S. Marine Gen. James Cartwright. The drones can fly lower and counter the pro-Khadafy forces’ tactic of traveling in civilian vehicles that are difficult to distinguish from those of rebel forces.
Kaim denounced the U.S. move as a “dirty game.”
At a news conference in the rebels’ stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya, McCain said he did not think that the United States should send in ground troops, but it should be much more involved in the air campaign and “facilitate” the arming and training of the rebels.
“We need to urgently step up the NATO air campaign to protect Libyan civilians, especially in Misrata,” he said.
