Tripoli/Washington, Apr 12:  France and Britain today asked NATO to intensify military operations against the Libyan regime to protect civilians as Gaddafi's forces pounded the key western town of Misurata amid the collapse of a peace initiative by African leaders.
 NATO is not doing "enough", the French Foreign Minister Allen Juppe said, as he clamoured for heavier strikes to destroy heavy weaponry used by Gaddafi's forces in Libya to break the present stalemate on the ground.
 "NATO must play its role fully. It wanted to take the lead in operations," Juppe said, adding that Libyan civilians remain at risk.
 William Hague, the UK's Foreign Secretary, called upon NATO to step up military operations against the Libyan regime and called on the embattled leader to quit.
 "We must maintain and intensify our efforts in NATO," Hague echoed Juppe.
 "That is why the United Kingdom has in the last weeks supplied additional aircraft capable of striking ground targets threatening the civilian population... Of course it would be welcome if other countries also did the same," he was quoted as saying by BBC on arrival at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
 France, UK and the US under the banner of NATO are leading the drive against pro-Gaddafi forces in Libya.
 Juppe said NATO should target heavy weapons besieging Misurata where an increasingly bloody siege by Gaddafi's troops led rebels to dismiss the African Union call for a ceasefire as meaningless.
 "It must play its role today which means preventing Gaddafi from using heavy weapons to shell civilian populations," Al Jazeera quoted Juppe as telling France Info radio ahead of traveling to Qatar for a Libya contact group meeting tomorrow.
 Libyan rebels have been pushed back in recent weeks despite air raids by NATO on the forces of Gaddafi.
 Government forces shelled Misurata, which has been the scene of heavy bombardments for more than a month.
 Government forces began a renewed attack yesterday on Misrata, the lone rebel bastion in western Libya, hours after news emerged of an AU ceasefire plan.
 Earlier this week, the rebels had pushed back an advance by Gaddafi's forces into the town, 214 kilometres east of Tripoli that has been under siege of Gaddafi's forces for over six weeks.
 The Red Cross was set to open a Tripoli office and plans to send a team to Misurata to help civilians trapped by fighting, reports said.
 In the eastern battlefront, reports said three rebel fighters may have been killed overnight near the town of Ajdabiya, the gateway to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
 The government forces were rapidly pushing ahead in the battle till yesterday, when a major NATO strike destroyed 25 tanks on the outskirts of Ajdabiya and Misurata, helping the opposition stem their advance.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST