NATO Takes charge in Libya

 

Nato's Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has said it has decided to take on the whole military operation in Libya "with immediate effect". The alliance will enforce "all aspects" of the UN resolution authorising action to protect civilians. "Nothing more, nothing less," Mr Rasmussen added. 
Libyan rebels have been advancing westwards, capturing towns abandoned by Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces.  Explosions were also heard in Sirte and the capital, Tripoli, on Sunday night. It is not clear what the causes of the blasts were, though state TV said the cities were being bombed by "Crusader and colonialist" forces. A government spokesman also said the town of Sabha had been targeted.

Sirte, the Libyan leader's stronghold, is only 100km (60 miles) west of the town of Nufaila, which rebel forces said they had reached. Foreign journalists said the city was swarming with soldiers on patrol.
The rebels earlier retook the eastern coastal towns of Ras Lanuf, Brega, Uqayla and Bin Jawad, only a day after seizing control of Ajdabiya.

Nato's plan to take responsibility for operations in Libya had already been agreed by military representatives of the 28 member states, but it needed ambassadors to provide political approval at a meeting in Brussels.
Nato will now take over command of all aspects of the aerial campaign In a communique hailing the "very significant step", Mr Rasmussen said that in the past week the alliance had "put together a complete package of operations in support of the United Nations resolution by sea and by air".  We are already enforcing the arms embargo and the no-fly zone, and with today's decision we are going beyond. We will be acting in close co-ordination with our international and regional partners to protect the people of Libya."
Mr Rasmussen said Nato's goal was to "protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack from the Gaddafi regime". Nato will implement all aspects of the UN Resolution. Nothing more, nothing less," he added. [Col Gaddafi's] ability to move armour, to move toward Benghazi or a place like that, has pretty well been eliminated” Nato's top operational commander, Gen Charles Bouchard of Canada, would "begin executing this operation with immediate effect", he concluded.

There were disagreements notably between France and Turkey about political control of the mission, but they have now been resolved.  But the precise rules of engagement have not been revealed.
Alongside the Nato command structure will be a separate, high-level committee of representatives of all countries taking part in the military action, including Arab states. It will give what one official called "broad political guidance." While Nato ambassadors discussed the international military operation, rebel forces in eastern Libya took advantage of the devastating effect of the air and missile strikes on Col Gaddafi's forces to advance westwards.

"Gaddafi's forces are now scared rats," Mohammed Ali al-Atwish, a rebel fighter in Bin Jawad, told the AFP news agency.  In the last 24 hours, the rebels have pushed hundreds of kilometres to the west. The next big city in their path is Sirte. It is Col Gaddafi's hometown and one of the very few places untouched by the spirit of rebellion.  "They are dropping their weapons and uniforms and dressing as civilians. We are no longer concerned about Gaddafi's forces at all." They claim that they could be in Sirte by Monday, but the further they advance towards Tripoli, the greater the fight the regime is likely to put up, the AFP correspondent says.


So here is the dilemma: if the rebels do manage to get that far and the people of Sirte do not rise up, either because they are loyal to Gaddafi or too afraid to act, what do the allies do? If civilians are not being threatened, they arguably have no mandate for action and that would stall the rebels advance and leave them exposed and vulnerable to attack and that could mean an open-ended engagement for the coalition.
If the coalition launches attacks anyway to weaken Col Gaddafi's forces, that will convince many that this really is about regime-change and that could create splits within the alliance.

 The rebel advance may be quietly cheered in London, Paris and Washington, but it also potentially brings a host of problems for the coalition.
A rebel commander said pro-Gaddafi forces were in full retreat, running for their lives Meanwhile, Col Gaddafi's troops have continued heir bombardment of Misrata, the only significant rebel-held city left in the west. On Sunday evening, a resident told the AFP that eight people had been killed and 26 wounded - five of them critically - as Col Gaddafi's forces advanced on the al-Jazeera residential area in the west of the city.
"They used mortars and heavy anti-aircraft guns," he said. "The injuries are mainly from the explosions, I am talking about severed limbs and big injuries in the trunk area. There are also crush injuries due to the collapse of buildings."
 A rebel spokesman reported that fighting was continuing for control of the main road through the city.
Libyan state TV earlier said Misrata was "secure" and life was "going back to normal". Security forces had arrested "terrorist gangs", it said. Meanwhile, the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council said the rebels could begin exporting oil in less than a week. Spokesman Ali Tarhouni said oil fields in territory under opposition control were already producing more than 100,000 barrels of crude a day. He said the Gulf state of Qatar had agreed to help bring it to market.
To what degree are we giving aid for oil? Were our motives truly humanitarian. Honestly, I think it was some from column A and some from column B.