Is it a war, an action, an intervention? Whatever you want to call it bombs are being dropped, missles fired, aircraft assualts, artillery and tanks deployed, ships and submarines firing tactical warheads….. sounds like a damn war to me. But I digress, here’s a roundup. Reports are Colonel Gaddafi suffered a massive personal setback today when one of his sons was allegedly killed in a suicide air mission on his barracks. Khamis, 27, who runs the feared Khamis Brigade that has been prominent in its role of attacking rebel-held areas, is said to have died on Saturday night. The rebels are reporting a Libyan air force pilot crashed his jet into the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli in a kamikaze attack, Algerian TV is reporting the claim by an anti-Gaddafi media organization.
Khamis is alleged to have died of burns in hospital. The regime denied the reports. It was claimed he died in the same compound hit by RAF cruise missiles hit by coalition forces last night. Loyalists have been photographed with shrapnel from the missile that struck the building and throughout the day there has been no information on Gaddafi’s whereabouts. Libyan state TV has claimed that 64 people were killed in the weekend attacks, causing friction between the west and the Arab world but the Ministry of Defence said it wasn’t aware of civilian casualties. But it exposed fractures between the U.S. and British positions, with U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates saying getting rid of Gaddafi would be unwise while the UK refuses to rule out any course of action.
(Daily Mail) As David Cameron took to the floor of the House of Commons today to justify the actions, Downing Street emphasised its legal position this afternoon saying there was “a clear and unequivocal legal basis for deployment of UK forces and military assets to achieve the resolution’s objectives”. He said there were two aims to the strikes carried out against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces by an international coalition, including a Royal Navy submarine and RAF aircraft. ‘The first was to suppress the Libyan air defences and make possible the safe enforcement of a no-fly zone. The second was to protect civilians from attack by the Gaddafi regime. ‘Good progress has been made on both fronts.’ He added: ‘Coalition forces have largely neutralised Libyan air defences and as a result a no-fly zone has effectively been put in place over Libya.
‘It is also clear that coalition forces have helped to avert what could have been a bloody massacre in Benghazi. In my view they did so just in the nick of time.’ The Chief of the Defence Staff’s Strategic Communications Officer Major General John Lorimer said: ‘We are satisfied that our attacks and those of our partners have been highly effective in degrading the Libyan air defence and command and control capability.’ Meanwhile, Gaddafi has ordered his troops to round up civilians from nearby towns to be used as human shields towns to avoid targets being hit by allied forces, it was claimed today. A rebel spokesman in Misrata, the only big rebel stronghold in western Libya, said that residents were being bussed there from nearby towns, but those reports could not be independently verified.
British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said yesterday he would sanction a ‘bunker buster’ attack on the Libyan leader’s lair as long as casualties could be avoided. He vowed to destroy the Libyan dictator’s entire military infrastructure and senior officials privately admitted they want to engineer regime change. The chief of defence staff, Sir David Richards, said Gaddafi was “absolutely not” a target. ‘It’s not allowed under the UN resolution,’ he said. Mr Fox’s U.S. counterpart, Robert Gates, said it was “unwise” for foreign forces to try to kill Colonel Gaddafi. He said the allied operation should be carried out based on the norms of the UN Security Council. ‘I think that it’s important that we operate within the mandate of the UN Security Council resolution,’ he said. David Cameron told Parliament this afternoon that the role of the allied forces was to enforce the UN security resolution and it was up to the Libyans to decide what would come after the attacks. He added that there would not be a repeat of Iraq. He said that it was clear what the resolution allowed for saying it was to impose a no-fly zone and protect civilians. He added that the UK government would abide by what UN resolution 1973 said. Mr Cameron said that the allies, which he branded “the coaltion of the willing” have managed to neutralise Libyan air defences and prevented a bloodbath.
‘We have managed to avert what could have been a bloody massacre in Benghazi and I would say that came just in the nick of time,’ he said.
The intervention has been backed by ‘a very diverse coalition’ according to Gates but changing the goal could complicate matters. He added: ‘If we start adding additional objectives then I think we create a problem in that respect. I also think it’s unwise to set as specific goals things that you may or may not be able to achieve. David Cameron outlining to Parliament what the UK’s role would be saying we ‘can’t stand by as a dictator kills his own people’ ‘I think this is basically going to have to be resolved by the Libyans themselves. Whether or not there is additional outside help for the rebels I think remains to be seen.’
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that a UN resolution resembled mediaeval crusades after the second wave of air strikes. ‘The resolution is defective and flawed,’ he said. ‘It allows everything. It resembles mediaevil calls for crusades.’
Cruise missiles hit Gaddafi’s compound, reducing an administrative building about 150 metres away from his tents. It is not known where the dictator was at the time of the bombing and his whereabouts remained a mystery this morning. Air assaults over the weekend by the allied forces rained Tomahawk cruise missiles and satellite guided bombs on his air air defences, severely impacting on the leader’s air defences.
British, US and French planes also hit tanks heading towards the rebel capital, Benghazi about 12 miles south of the city
The arrival of foreign forces has given the rebels hope that they will soon topple the dictator and the people of Benghazi were given respite a day after heavy attacks killed at least 120 people as pro-government forces pushed east. Ezzeldin Helwani, 35, said: ‘I feel like in two days max we will destroy Gaddafi.’
Mohammed al-Misrati, a rebel spokesman, said that they welcomed the foreign intervention and it would not divide the country. He said they were ‘battling a gang of mercenaries.’ William Hague: Has said he ‘would not get drawn into details about what or whom may be targeted’ Last night Libyan army spokesman Colonel Milad al-Fokhyi ordered a ceasefire, but there was no letup in military activity while Gaddafi said there would be no let up on Benghazi and opened weapons stores to all Libyans saying ‘We promise you a long war.’ Amr Moussar, the secretary general of the Arab League was yesterday quoted as criticising the operations for going too far. However he has since said he was misquoted and William Hague said his comments had been taken out of context.
As B-2 stealth bombers were deployed on a 25-hour round trip from Missouri to Libya to drop 45 2,000lb bombs, the future role of the U.S. in the conflict was played down. Last night Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he expects control of the operation to be headed by Britain, France or Nato “in a matter of days”.
Fears of damage to U.S. credibility and heavy domestic and international pressure pushed President Obama into military action. Turkey was blocking Nato action, which requires agreement by all 28 members of the alliance.
Since the start of the military assault from the allied forces on Saturday there has been a decrease in the number of civilians fleeing Libya. A spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said some Libyans who had escaped to France on Friday and Saturday returned to their country after the no-fly zone had been imposed. The number of internally displaced people, however, continues to grow.
