Airstrikes help Libyan rebels retake town

TRIPOLI, Libya, March 26 (UPI) -- In the smoldering wake of allied airstrikes, Libyan rebels were able to recapture the eastern oil town of Ajdabiya Saturday, the BBC reported.

Operating under a U.N. mandate, British RAF Tornado aircraft with guided missiles targeted tanks and artillery positions set up by Col. Moammar Gadhafi's army, enabling rebels to retake the town of about 100,000 people, which they lost about a week ago, the report said.

The head of the French military, Adm. Edouard Guillaud, predicted Friday the campaign would be over within weeks.

"There will not be, strictly speaking, a situation of getting bogged down militarily because obviously the solution is political," Guillaud told Radio France Internationale in an interview. "Clearly, it is now a matter of finding political solutions, but that's not my domain."

A BBC correspondent in Ajdabiya said he saw at least 20 tanks and other heavy artillery pieces in ruins as residents danced on them and chanted thanks to U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

In Tripoli, government spokesman Ibrahim Mussa expressed outrage, CNN reported.

"This is immoral, illegal and it was not authorized by the [U.N.] Security Council," Mussa told reporters.

On March 17 the U.N. Security Council authorized allies to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya to ground Gadhafi's air force, which was pummeling rebels. The United States led the international effort, but control is being transferred to NATO this weekend.