Victories in those cities marked a comeback for phiten necklace

"They are trying to weaken our spirits. They are not trying to protect civilians," he said.

NATO, which has 28 member countries, took control Sunday of enforcing a resolution approved by the UN phiten necklace Security Council on March 17. The resolution called for the protection of Libyan civilians as Gadhafi attacked the opposition, and the enforcement of a no-fly zone over the country.

Previously the coalition enforcing the resolution had been led by the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

"Our goal is to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack from the Gadhafi regime," the organization's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement Sunday. "NATO will implement all aspects of the UN resolution. Nothing more, nothing less."

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech about the situation in Libya at 7:30 p.m. ET Monday following calls from all quarters for the U.S. leader to clarify why he sent phiten necklace troops to enforce the U.N.-authorized military mission.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday accused Gadhafi of placing the bodies of people his regime has killed at the sites of some missile strikes by the U.S.-led coalition.

"The truth of the matter is we have trouble coming up with proof of any civilian casualties that we have been responsible for," Gates told CBS "Face the Nation."

"But we do have a lot of intelligence reporting about phiten necklace Gadhafi taking the bodies of the people he's killed and putting them at the sites where we've attacked."

While the opposition rolled westward, the city of Misrata -- between the rebels' current position and Tripoli -- remained under siege by government forces for the 11th consecutive day, a witness told CNN Sunday.

A doctor working at a hospital in Misrata said eight civilians were killed and 22 injured in violence Sunday. CNN could not independently confirm his report.

French warplanes on Sunday led airstrikes on armored vehicles and on a large munitions depot in the regions of summer fashion shop 2011 Misrata and Zintan, according to the French Ministry of Defense.