Libya attacks under way Sunday 20 March
A Tornado jet takes off from RAF Marham air base in Norfolk, United Kingdom, as the
attacks on Libya get under way. Photograph: Chris Radburn/Press Association
12.12pm: A no-fly zone is now officially in place over Libya. The US chair of the Joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, told the NBC news station that Libyan government air defences had been "taken out" and there was no sign of Libyan aircraft.
11.56am: Full report from our Libyan reporting team of the Western allies air and missile strikes against Gaddafi's military in Operation Odyssey Dawn.
11.40am: Human Rights Watch has shown support for UN-sanctioned intervention, citing a notorious incident during Gaddafi's decades-long rule in Libya:
Since the Libyan uprising began on 17 February [we have] documented cases in which government forces opened fire on peaceful protesters and the arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance of scores of people. Gaddafi's deplorable human rights record over 41 years in power enhances the deep anxiety for the safety of the civilian population. Since he assumed power in 1969, Gaddafi has repeatedly used arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearances, and political killings to maintain control.
The most notorious incident occurred in 1996 after a failed prisoners' revolt at Tripoli's Abu Salim prison. Security forces later killed an estimated 1,200 prisoners. The government recently started a process to compensate the families of some of those killed, but it has failed to punish any of the responsible security forces.
"The world should not ignore the serious abuses by Libyan security forces over the past month, as well as Gaddafi's demonstrated disregard for human rights over four decades," says Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director. Ian Black
11.14am:Our Middle East editor Ian Black has filed more from Tripoli this time on the way in which events are being covered in the Libyan press.
Libya's state media has gone into patriotic overdrive for the first day of the war. The three main TV stations are providing far more commentary than news, which is largely restricted to official statements from the armed forces. News bulletins end with a stirring message such as: "Forward! The struggle continues." The main diet remains clips of pro-Gaddafi rallies with soundtracks of nationalist songs and slogans. Talking heads are a speciality: think BBC2's Newsnight but with speakers representing only the government point of view and a poodle-like moderator instead of a Paxman figure.
A French terrorism expert named Alain Chevalierias appeared on al-Jamahiriya to talk about al-Qaida who he described as...Click for Full Text!