Indian Military

PARIS: France provided weapons, munitions and food to Libyan rebels in the Western Mountains in early June to prevent troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from overrunning the region, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.
Citing unidentified sources, Le Figaro newspaper said on Wednesday that France had parachuted "large amounts" of weapons, including rocket launchers, assault rifles, machineguns and anti-tank missiles into the Jebel Nafusa region.
The move, it said, was an effort to give impetus to a rebel push towards Gaddafi's stronghold in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
"There were humanitarian drops because the humanitarian situation was worsening and at one point it seemed the security situation was threatening civilians who could not defend themselves," armed forces spokesman Thierry Burkhard told Reuters.
"France therefore also sent equipment allowing them to defend themselves, comprising light weapons and munitions," he said, adding that the drop in early June had included medicine and food.

It is the first country to acknowledge providing weapons to rebels since strikes started more than three months ago under the mandate of a United Nations resolution to protect civilians.
The rebellion against Gaddafi's 41-year rule has made slow progress since NATO-led countries began its mission, but rebels say they are advancing closer to the Libyan capital.
"If the French action was undertaken in the name of humanitarian protection then it is clearly permissible, but if it was taken to enhance the rebels' ability to make a drive on Tripoli it would seem to contravene the spirit of the UN resolution," Eurasia Group director Cliff Kupchan said.
Rebels based in the Western Mountains region southwest of the capital made their biggest breakthrough in weeks on Sunday to reach the town of Bir al-Ghanam about 80 km (50 miles) south of Tripoli, where they are fighting pro-Gaddafi forces.
UN diplomats have said that any arms transfers to the rebels without the prior consent of the United Nations Security Council Libya sanctions committee is a violation of the embargo. But an objection would have to be raised with the committee, which is deemed unlikely.
A UN diplomat familiar with the sanctions committee confirmed to Reuters it had received no notifications regarding French arms transfers to the rebels, nor had Paris asked for permission to do so.
Le Figaro said France's decision had been taken without consulting its NATO partners and it quoted a high-level source saying it was "because there was no other way to proceed".
A French military source said that no planes could fly in the area without NATO knowing about it.
Officials at the foreign ministry official said it did not handle operational affairs and could not comment on the report.
Government spokesman Francois Baroin also declined to comment.
Le Figaro said it had seen a confidential map stamped by French intelligence services showing various areas in the mountains including Yafran and Nalut under the control of rebels where weapons could be sent.
Speaking after a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and rebel chief Mahmoud Jibril, National Transitional Council information minister Mahmoud Shammam on Wednesday said he had no comment on the report.
"We welcome all help be it aid, logistics or weapons and we want to defend ourselves to end this fight," Shammam said.
"But our weapons can in no way be compared to Gaddafi's arsenal. We have light to medium arms and lack munitions. If France were to give us help it would be welcome."