Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has urged his supporters to attack rebel strongholds and take the weapons France has supplied to them.
In a telephone address played over loudspeaker to thousands of his supporters in Tripoli, Mr Gaddafi encouraged them to march on the Nafusa mountains and 'seize the weapons that the French have supplied.'
'If later you want to pardon them (the rebels), that's up to you,' he went on to say.
Mr Gaddafi also warned the NATO-led alliance to stop its air war or face 'catastrophe.'
France admitted this week that it had supplied rebels with weapons but insisted they were for 'self-defence' in line with a UN resolution, after Russia and others voiced concern.
'Civilians had been attacked by Gaddafi's forces and were in an extremely vulnerable situation and that is why medicine, food and also weapons of self-defence were parachuted,' Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.
Mr Juppe added that 'it is not a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions' under which France and other allies launched air strikes and imposed embargoes to protect civilians from Gaddafi.
France's military said that French officials delivered 'light arms', including machine guns and rocket launchers, while providing humanitarian aid in Libya, but denied claims it supplied anti-tank missiles.
Russia yesterday demanded an explanation from France over the arms drops.
China urged nations involved in the Libyan conflict to stick to the UN mandate authorising military action.
UN Security Council Resolution 1970, passed in February, prohibited states from providing any kind of arms to Libya.
Resolution 1973 in March authorised nations 'to take all necessary measures' to help protect civilians.
Mr Juppe is due to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow later today.
