Sirens Sound at Key NATO Base in Turkey as Iran Tensions Rise
Air raid sirens were heard early Friday morning at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, a strategic NATO facility hosting U.S. troops near the city of Adana.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Friday said he believed Muammar Gaddafi (pictured) had fled Tripoli, adding that reports that the Libyan leader had been wounded during the conflict were credible. Photo by EPA/BGNES
Libyan leader dictator Muammar Gaddafi has most likely left the capital Tripoli and has most likely been wounded, according to Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
Frattini told reporters in Tuscany he had been told by Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Catholic bishop in Tripoli, that "Gaddafi was most probably outside Tripoli and probably even wounded" by NATO airstrikes.
Speaking in an interview for Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the Italian Foreign Minister said the dictatorship regime in Tripoli, which has been tangled in a civil war with rebels for some two months now, and has been bombed by international forces led by NATO, is falling apart.
"There is certainly an effect that all this is provoking - the disintegration of the regime from the inside, which is what we wanted. International pressure has apparently provoked a decision by Kadhafi to seek refuge in a safer place. I am of the view that he has probably fled from Tripoli but not from the country,'' Frattini told Corriere della Sera.
Italy's Foreign Minister made it clear Italy expected formal charges against Muammar Gaddafi by the International Criminal Court, possibly before the end of May.
He further accused Gaddafi'sregime of deliberately sending boats with refugees towards Italy, saying this was "a criminal instrument'' that should be taken up by prosecutors from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The United States has temporarily eased restrictions on the purchase of certain Russian oil shipments currently stranded at sea, as global energy markets face growing strain due to the ongoing war involving Iran.
A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq on Thursday while taking part in Operation Epic Fury, the name given by the Pentagon to American military operations connected to the war with Iran. U.S. Central Command confirmed the incident
The widening conflict linked to the war with Iran has claimed the life of a French soldier in Iraq, while drone attacks and missile launches continued to shake the Middle East on Friday
Air raid sirens were heard early Friday morning at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, a strategic NATO facility hosting U.S. troops near the city of Adana.
Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei declared that the Strait of Hormuz should remain closed, describing the move as an important instrument for exerting pressure on Iran’s adversaries.
Serbia’s MiG-29 fighter jets have been equipped with new Chinese-made air-launched weapons, marking a notable expansion of the country’s strike capabilities.
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