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Russian Prime
Minister, Vladimir Putin said on Monday a U.N. resolution authorising
military action in Libya resembled “mediaeval calls for crusades” after
Western forces launched a second wave of air strikes.

As diplomatic
tempers over the campaign flared, officials in Tripoli said a missile
intended to kill Muammar Gaddafi had destroyed a building in his
fortified compound, which was heavily bombed in 1986 by the Reagan
administration.

“It was a barbaric
bombing,” said government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim, showing pieces of
shrapnel that he said came from the missile.

“This contradicts
American and Western (statements) … that it is not their target to
attack this place.” There was no comment on the strike from attacking
forces.

In an appearance on
Libyan television on Sunday, Gaddafi promised his enemies a “long war”
after the U.N.-authorised intervention in the uprising against his
41-year rule of this oil producing north African desert state.

“The resolution is
defective and flawed,” said Russia’s Putin, whose country did not use
its power to veto the resolution at the United Nations. “It allows
everything. It resembles mediaeval calls for crusades,” Mr Putin added.

China’s official
newspapers on Monday stepped up Beijing’s opposition to air attacks on
Libya, accusing nations backing the strikes of breaking international
rules and courting new turmoil in the Middle East. China also did not
veto the U.N. resolution.

Libyan rebels welcomed the second wave of attacks.

“The committee
rejects foreign troops on the ground but we encourage the bombardment of
Gaddafi’s army,” Ahmed El-Hasi, a spokesman for the February 17
opposition coalition, said in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi
where the uprising began.

He said rebels
coordinated with international powers on air strikes. “There is a
connection between us. One, to pinpoint the position of Gaddafi’s
troops, and two, to pinpoint the position of our fighters so they don’t
get hit with bombardments.” Accounts from the rebel-held western city of
Mistrata appeared to show Gaddafi forces, in a change of tactics forced
on them by air attacks, were trying to mingle with the civilian
population, making it hard to target them from the air. Rebels said
women and children were being used as “human shields”.

“Eat us alive”

The first strikes on
Saturday halted the advance of Mr Gaddafi’s forces on Benghazi and
targeted Libya’s air defences in order to let Western warplanes patrol
the skies of Libya.

The second wave of
Western air strikes also hit Mr Gaddafi’s troops around Ajdabiyah, a
strategic town in the barren, scrub of east Libya that rebels aim to
retake and where their fighters said they need more help to take the
battle to the enemy.

“If we don’t get more help from the West, Gaddafi’s forces will eat us alive,” rebel fighter Nouh Musmari told Reuters.

The U.N. mandated
intervention to protect civilians caught up in a one-month-old revolt
against Mr Gaddafi also drew criticism from Arab League chief Amr
Moussa, who questioned the need for a heavy bombardment, which he said
had killed many civilians.

Mr Moussa said on Monday however that the League respected the U.N. resolution while stressing the need to protect civilians.

The United States,
carrying out the air strikes in a coalition with Britain, France, Italy
and Canada among others, said the campaign was working and dismissed a
ceasefire announcement by the Libyan military on Sunday evening.

Henri Guaino, one of
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s closest aides, said strikes were not
aimed at ousting Mr Gaddafi but said they were likely to last “a little
while”.

Underlining its
commitment to avoiding civilian casualties, Britain’s Defence Ministry
said one air force mission was called off because of civilians in the
target area.

“As the RAF GR4
Tornados approached the target, further information came to light … As
a result the decision was taken not to launch weapons,” a ministry
spokesman said.

The intervention in
Libya is the biggest in an Arab country since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Withdrawal of Arab support would make it harder to pursue what some
analysts say could in any case be an open-ended campaign with an
uncertain outcome.

Italy said it had
warplanes in the air, after U.S. and British warships and submarines
launched 110 Tomahawk missiles on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Gaddafi’s compound

Late on Sunday
night, Libyan officials took Western reporters to Mr Gaddafi’s compound
in Tripoli, a sprawling complex that houses his private quarters as well
as military barracks, anti-aircraft batteries and other installations,
to see what they said was the site of a missile attack two hours
earlier.

A short walk from a
brightly lit tent where Mr Gaddafi receives his guests, the three-storey
building stood in ruins, and a circular hole was visible on its gutted
facade. The United States says it does not have Mr Gaddafi on its target
list.

The wrecked building
was close to a house in the compound which was attacked by the Reagan
administration and which was never rebuilt.

Outside in a symbol of defiance, a giant golden fist crumples a model of a U.S. warplane.

With Mr Gaddafi
having vowed to fight to the death, there were fears his troops might
increasingly try to force their way into cities, seeking shelter from
air attacks among civilians.

In Misrata, a rebel
spokesman said pro-Gaddafi forces had killed seven people there on
Sunday. Residents said water supplies were cut off and Libyan troops had
encircled the city.

“The Gaddafi forces
are forcing people from Zawiyah, al Mahjoub and Al Ghiran out of their
houses and giving them Gaddafi’s pictures and the (official Libyan)
green flag to chant for Gaddafi,” Hassan, a rebel spokesman, told
Reuters.

“They are bringing
them to Misrata so they can enter the city and control it by using the
civilians as human shields because they know we are not going to shoot
woman and children and old people,” he said by telephone from Misrata.

No-fly zone in place

The U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said the no-fly zone was now in place.

But Defense
Secretary Robert Gates said the United States would not have a
“pre-eminent role” in maintaining it, and expected to turn over “primary
responsibility” within days, perhaps to Britain or France.

U.S. officials,
eager to avoid similarities to the invasion of Iraq and the toppling of
Saddam Hussein, have been playing down Washington’s role and emphasising
that overthrowing or killing Mr Gaddafi is not the goal of the attacks
on Libya.

Mullen told CBS television the endgame of the campaign was “very uncertain” and acknowledged it could end in a stalemate.

Mr Gates told
reporters: “I think this is basically going to have to be resolved by
the Libyans themselves.” French planes fired the first shots of the
intervention on Saturday, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles near
Benghazi.

France sent an
aircraft carrier towards Libya and its planes were over the country
again on Sunday, defence officials said. Britain said its planes had
targeted Libya’s air defences, mainly around the capital Tripoli.

Other countries, including Qatar, also dispatched aircraft to participate in the operation, U.S. officials said.