France sends weapons to Libyan rebels

TRIPOLI — France has air dropped arms to Libyan rebels in mountains south of Tripoli who are eyeing an assault on the capital, it said Wednesday, a day after anti-regime forces captured a network of weapons caches.But the increasingly emboldened rebels were under a deadly assault from veteran strongman Moamer Kadhafi's forces in the third-largest city Misrata, where rockets killed one civilian and wounded six late Tuesday, residents said.In London, meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday the cash-strapped rebels had received the first $100 million (70 million euros) from a fund set up by international donors.France's Le Figaro daily said Wednesday it had seen a secret intelligence memo and talked to well-placed officials, saying the air drops were designed to help rebels encircle Tripoli and encourage a popular revolt in the city itself.It said the arms were dropped from planes above the Djebel Nafusa region, where Berber tribes have risen to join the revolt against Kadhafi's four-decade rule and seized several provincial towns.The crates contained assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, it said, and also European-made Milan anti-tank missiles, a powerful addition to the rebel arsenal that can destroy a tank or a bunker."If the rebels can get to the outskirts of Tripoli, the capital will take the chance to rise against Kadhafi," said an official quoted in the report.Later Wednesday, Colonel Thierry Burkhard, spokesman for the French general staff, told AFP the shipments were essentially light arms such as assault rifles to help civilian communities protect themselves from regime troops.Burkhard said France had become aware in early June that rebel-held Berber villages in the Djebel Nafusa region had come under pressure from Kadhafi loyalist forces."We began by dropping humanitarian aid: food, water and medical supplies," he said. "During the operation, the situation for the civilians on the ground worsened. We dropped arms and means of self-defence, mainly

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