The Guardian newspaper quoted a British official as saying that United Kingdom's spy agency MI6 had told Prime Minister David Cameron that Gaddafi was hiding in hospitals by night hoping they are the least likely targets for NATO air attacks. Moreover, the Libyan leader's senior commanders are unable to communicate with one another as many of them have stopped using mobile phones to avoid electronic surveillance, the report said.
NATO has carried out 2,600 bombing sorties over the past two months, which reached a new peak in Tripoli early on Tuesday when, according to NATO officials, 28 bunker-busting bombs were dropped on Gaddafi's compound. The British daily quoted the official as saying the sense that the Libyan leader has been rattled by the bombing is one of the reasons Cameron and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy have approved the deployment of attack helicopters as part of the NATO air campaign.
British diplomatic sources told the newspaper, "There is clearly a link between the upping of the military pressure and what we assess is his state of mind. The more he thinks things are moving against him the better. There is a picture building up of this man who is very paranoid and a regime that's increasingly feeling under pressure and beginning to fracture. The judgement we are making is that it is the right time to turn up the heat."
"One striking thing is the fact that Gaddafi appears to be moving from hospital to hospital and spending each night in a different hospital. We are getting the sense that a lot of senior commanders have stopped using their phones. They are clearly worried they are being listened to and that is having an impact on their ability to communicate," they added.
