Yesterday, a NATO missile strike reportedly killed one of Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi's sons. The Libyan government said Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, as well as three of Col Gaddafi's grandchildren, died in the attack on a villa in Tripoli. The NY Times calls this "the sharpest intensification yet of the NATO air campaign intended to pressure the Libyan leader from power." However, Al Jazeera reports there's "growing scepticism" over whether Saif al-Arab Gadhafi was killed.
Sue Turton of Al Jazeera "said there were 'an awful lot' of suggestions in Libya that the news of the deaths could be fabricated. 'One of the main spokesmen for the Transitional National Council, Abdul Hafez Goga, is saying he thinks it could all be fabrication, that it may well be Gaddafi is trying to garner some sympathy,' she said." She added, "Back in 1986, Gaddafi once claimed that Ronald Reagan, then US president, had launched a strike on his compound in Tripoli and killed his daughter. Many journalists since then dug around and found out that the actual child that had died had nothing to do with Gaddafi, that he sort of adopted her posthumously." Another Al Jazeera reporter pointed out that Saif al-Arab Gadhafi is "one of the low-profile of his children and has been largely invisible since the conflict began... He hasn't been visible in any significant form. He hasn't appeared on TV or made any speeches, he hasn't been on any crowd-rallying marches."
Russia has denounced the air strike and asked for an "immediate cease-fire and political settlement." Allies started entering Libya airspace over a month ago. Now, after this latest NATO missile strike, the United Nations says it is withdrawing its staff from Tripoli "following a mob attack on its offices... UN buildings and some foreign missions were targeted by angry crowds," according to BBC News.
