Western powers have made a big mistake: Saif Gaddafi

Tripoli/Benghazi, Libya: The son of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi accused Western powers on Sunday of making a "big mistake" by carrying out airstrikes against the country.

"One day you'll wake up and you will find out that you were supporting the wrong people," Saif al-Islam Gaddafi told Amercian network ABC in a telephone interview.

His father vowed a "long war" after the US and European militaries blasted his forces with airstrikes and over 100 cruise missiles early on Sunday, hitting air defences and at least two major air bases and shaking the Libyan capital Tripoli with explosions and anti-aircraft fire.

The strikes gave immediate, if temporary, relief to the besieged rebel capital, Benghazi, in eastern Libya.

Saif said if the US wanted to help the Libyan people they should "liberate Benghazi from the militia and the terrorists".

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"It was a big surprise that, finally, President Obama - we thought he's a good man and friend of the Arab world - is bombing Libya," Saif told ABC.

When asked whether Libya would retaliate against the strikes by attacking civilian airliners, Saif said this was not their "target".

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"Our target is how to help our people in Libya, especially in Benghazi," he said.

Despite the strikes, Gaddafi's troops lashed back, bombarding the rebel-held city of Misrata with artillery and tanks on Sunday, the opposition reported.

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In the overnight barrage, ship-fired Tomahawk cruise missiles and bombs and missiles from an international arsenal of warplanes including American B-2 stealth bombers and F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers rained down on Libyan targets - including ground forces - in the widest international military effort since the Iraq war.

The air assault came as Gaddafi's overwhelming firepower was threatening to crush the month-old rebellion against his 41-year rule.

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State television said 48 people were killed in the strikes.