Thursday, March 31, 2011

U.S. Hands NATO Libya Air Campaign

U.S. Africa Command handed over control of the Libya air campaign to NATO early this morning, NATO and AFRICOM confirmed.

"On Thursday morning at 0600 GMT (2 a.m. EDT), NATO took sole command of international air operations over Libya," Rasmussen said.

The handover came after participating nations in the mission, called "Operation Unified Protector" transferred their military assets to NATO's control.

"In line with the mandate of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, NATO's focus is on protecting civilians and civilian-populated areas against the threat of attack," Rasmussen said.

But it was Twitter and AFRICOM that tipped off some of us that the transition had gone down this morning.

At about 4 a.m. EDT, AFRICOM Tweeted: "@USAfricaCommand: Many thanx to 1000s Twitter followers past 2 weeks-w/ #AFRICOM handover 2 NATO & focus on conflict prevention, please consider staying w/ us."

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