The US military said there would be no let-up in the allied assault as Kadhafi forces clearly were not living up to declared ceasefires and continued to attack towns such as Misrata and Zintan.

"Our message is simple: stop fighting, stop killing your own people, stop obeying the orders of Colonel Kadhafi," Vice Admiral William Gortney told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

His plea came the day after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the air strikes would fuel a possible mutiny inside Kadhafi's regime and bolster the ranks of opposition forces.

"Let me be clear. When and where regime forces threaten the lives of their citizens, they will be attacked. And when and where regime forces attempt to break the embargo, they will be stopped," Gortney said.

US, French and British warplanes and warships launched military action against Kadhafi's regime on Saturday.

"It's fair to say the coalition is growing in both size and capability every day," said Gortney. "More than 350 aircraft are involved in some capacity. Only slightly more than half belong to the United States.

"Today there are nine other contributing nations to include Qatar, and thousands of coalition military personnel involved in this effort. They're deployed across Europe and the Mediterranean, on bases ashore and any of 38 ships at sea."

Gortney said nations like Qatar would only play a supporting role for the moment, "as they're bedded down," but suggested Qatari jets could be on patrol over the no-fly zone in the coming days.

UN Security Council resolution 1973 -- the fruit of intense diplomacy to avoid Russian and Chinese vetoes while winning Arab support -- allows for "all necessary means" to support the limited aim of protecting Libyan civilians.

It cleared the way for a no-fly zone to be implemented and reporters Thursday were shown slides of that area extending further south.

"We continue to patrol the no-fly zone," said Gortney. "We are looking to further strengthen it with more aircraft on station and more terrain to cover.

"We continue to strike the regime's air command facilities, logistical nodes and ammunition supplies. We are vigorously planning to enable humanitarian assistance by interested governments and non-governmental agencies."

Gortney reiterated that no civilian lives had been lost as a result of the coalition strikes.

"Indeed the only civilian casualties we know for certain are the ones that the Libyan government has caused," he said.

Wary of concern over the boundaries of the mission as mandated by the Security Council, Gortney corrected himself at one point and said communication with the rebels was only happening through diplomatic channels.

earlier related report
Turkey reluctantly joins Libya military campaign
Ankara (AFP) March 24, 2011 - Turkey's parliament Thursday approved sending a naval force off Libya as the Islamist-rooted government moved reluctantly to join military action in the conflict-torn country despite anger at Western-led air raids.

Following harsh criticism of the strikes, the government asked parliament to approve the dispatch of military forces, pledging a submarine, four frigates and an auxiliary ship to a NATO patrol mission to enforce a UN arms embargo against Moamer Kadhafi's regime.

It obtained a one-year authorisation for deployment as part of "multi-dimensional contributions to international efforts aimed at restoring stability and security in Libya", according to the motion parliament approved.

The vote was held in a closed session by a show of hands, with some opposition deputies also lending support to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), parliamentary sources said.

Analysts however said the government, influenced by Islamist sympathies, fell out of pace with NATO allies while resisting military action against Libya even though its participation was "inevitable".

"Turkey was confused and was late... Joining the game was inevitable. It could not have stood against its NATO allies," foreign policy commentator Semih Idiz said.

Turkey, NATO's sole predominantly Muslim member and a key regional player, has slammed the air strikes, led by France, Britain and the United States, ruling out any combat mission and vowing to "never point a gun at the Libyan people".

But with the approval of the naval mission "Turkey will have effectively joined the military operation: if the soldiers are fired on, they will respond", Idiz said.

Turkey's navy chief said two Turkish vessels were already at sea in the Mediterranean and the remaining four others had left their ports Wednesday, heading to the zone of operation.

Late Thursday Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after a conference call with his US, British and French counterparts that NATO would take over command of the international coalition's operations in Libya.

"The coalition formed after a meeting in Paris is going to give up its mission as soon as possible and hand over the entire operation to NATO with its single command structure," Davutoglu said, according to the Anatolia news agency, in responding to journalists in Ankara.

"In effect, Turkey's demands and concerns have been met," he added.

Shortly before the parliament vote, NATO's top operational commander, US Admiral James Stavridis, met behind closed doors with Turkey's army chief following talks with the foreign minister late Wednesday.

France's leadership in the air strikes and its failure to invite Turkey to Saturday's summit in Paris that preceded the raids has irked Ankara, adding chill to bilateral ties, already strained over President Nicolas Sarkozy's vocal opposition to Turkey's EU membership bid.

Under the AKP, Turkey has sought a leadership role in the Muslim world, championing particularly the Palestinian cause and harshly criticising Israel.

Erdogan has slammed the strikes, arguing that, "we have seen in the past that such operations are of no use and that on the contrary, they increase the loss of life, transform into occupation and seriously harm the countries' unity".

"The operation against Libya is confusing the minds and unfortunately you hear extremely unappropriate descriptions such as "a crusade" that raise doubts," he said Thursday.

President Abdullah Gul grumbled that "some who until yesterday were closest to the dictators and sought to take advantage of them... display an excessive behaviour today and raise suspicions of ulterior motives".

Pointing to the AKP's quest for a third straight term in power in elections in June, Idiz warned against inflammatory rhetoric.

Erdogan "should be careful", he said. "The average Turk sees the intervention in Libya as a new attack by Westerners against a Muslim country, similar to those in Afghanistan and Iraq."

In the earlier stages of the turmoil, Ankara made silent efforts to persuade Kadhafi to cede power, hoping for a less turbulent outcome like in Tunisia and Egypt.

"Ankara mishandled the crisis and its policies were contradictory: it opposed foreign intervention but now it is sending a naval force... It has finally accepted the rules of the game," said Cengiz Aktar, an international relations expert.

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