Tripoli:
Anti aircraft gunfire echoed around the Libyan capital for a third night on Monday.
Arcs of tracer fire in the sky above Tripoli marked what appeared to be the start of a another night of coalition attacks.
International forces intend to extend a no-fly zone to Tripoli, hundreds of miles distant from the area of recent fighting between forces loyal to Moammar Gaddafi and the rebels seeking to topple him, the US commander in the region said on Monday.
Meanwhile the government has criticised a cruise missile attack on the compound in Tripoli where Gaddafi and his family live.
The destruction within the compound has generated questions about the objective of the military campaign.
"This is not a military place. It doesn't have weapons. It doesn't supply weapons. It's an official building," government spokesman Musad Ibrahim said.
The air campaign by US and European forces have unquestionably rearranged the map in Libya and rescued rebels from the immediate threat they faced only days ago of being crushed under a powerful advance by Gaddafi's forces.
The first round of air strikes smashed a column of regime tanks that had been moving on the rebel capital of Benghazi in the east.