The war in Libya is entering a new phase that NATO believes -- and hopes -- will lower the curtain on the Gadhafi regime.
The rebel provisional government offered amnesty today to the apparently scared, dwindling ranks of Libyans still loyal to Moammar Gadhafi. The offer came as NATO sent the regime a message in the form of a bold daytime air strike on Tripoli.
Rebels in Misurata have been told French and British attack helicopters will soon join the fight.
"Yesterday two French men, who usually come to take coordinates so that Nato knows where to attack, came to the front. They told me this is the 'third stage'," said Ahmed Ibrahim, a senior rebel said, according to The Telegraph of London.
Hoping the end game (as far as the fighting goes) is in sight, the Transitional National Council dangled a carrot in front of Gadhafi loyalists today: Any defectors accused of crimes before the revolution's Feb. 17 start date will get a fair trial, while those who commit crimes after that date will be granted total amnesty.
"Those still betting on Moammar Gadhafi's regime should wake up to reality and abandon it and join the righteous and just cause," said TNC leader Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, a former judge and justice minister in the Gadhafi regime.
NATO demonstrated with a daytime raid on Tripoli today the confidence it has that Gadhafi forces are worn down and are limping. NATO warplanes destroyed guard towers and storage depots behind the high walls of Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziyah complex.
The strikes began overnight and continued after sunrise, re-affirming the alliance's resolve that the Gadhafi regime is in its final act.
"We are joined in our resolve to finish the job," President Obama said after meetings at the Group of Eight summit of industrialized nations in France that centered on the Libyan conflict.
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
French & Brits Slam NATO Over Libya
Updated 4:45 p.m. est
Qatar confirmed today it sold more than $100 million worth of oil for the Libyan rebels and provided gasoline, diesel and propane to the anti-Gadhafi government.
A shipment last week of 1 million barrels of crude oil sailed from the rebel-controlled eastern Libyan port of Tobruk. The shipment was worth about $120 million, the Associated Press reported.
Qatar also shipped four tankers full of gasoline, diesel and other refined fuels to rebels in their de facto capital of Benghazi in eastern Libya, according to the official Qatar News Agency.
The announcement came a day before Qatar hosts the Libya contact group, a gathering of Western and Arab leaders, senior rebels officials and others who support the revolt against Moammar Gadhafi.
Former Libyan intelligence chief and foreign minister, Musa Kusa, is also traveling to Doha for the meetings. Kusa is the top Libyan official to defect in recent weeks from the Gadhafi government, and may be able to provide the rebels with some insight into Gadhafi, if they let him.
end update
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NATO again finds itself under fire for its efforts in Libya, with the criticism this time coming from the governments of the two lead protagonists who pushed for the air campaign.
The French and British are making a concerted effort this week for NATO to step up strikes on Moammar Gadhafi's forces and weapons, urging alliance members to pony up more planes to rain down a crushing blow on the regime.
"We know we are having an effect. Pro-Gadhafi forces cannot fight where they want, they cannot fight how they want and they cannot use the weapons they want," NATO Brig. Gen. Mark van Uhm, a senior NATO military officer said today in response to the criticism.
But British Foreign Secretary William Hague nonetheless urged alliance countries today to join the United Kingdom in upping the number of aircraft involved in the Libya mission.
"We must maintain and intensify our efforts in NATO," Hague said in Brussels, where European and NATO ministers are meeting this week. "A huge amount has been achieved in Libya, but clearly there is more to be done."
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told French radio NATO needs to focus on destroying Gadhafi's heavy weaponry.
”NATO must play its role fully. It wanted to take the lead in operations, we accepted that. It must play its role today which means preventing Gaddafi from using heavy weapons to shell populations,” Juppe said, promising to bring up the issue with European Union foreign ministers today and with NATO ministers later this week.
The pressure for NATO to strike harder at Gadhafi came as Libyan defector Musa Kusa was headed to Doha to meet tomorrow with Qatari officials and high-ranking members of the rebels' Transitional National Council. There is some speculation Gadhafi's former foreign minister and spymaster may make a move to join the rebel movement.
"The more representative of Libya that the (TNC) are, the more broadly aligned they are, the less regional they are, the better that is for them," the Financial Times quoted a British official as saying. "There is therefore merit in them extending their base to get together with Musa Kusa. But the (TNC) will do so on their terms and we are not setting the agenda for them."
The rebels rejected an African Union-brooked peace deal this week because it did not include Gadhafi relinquishing power.
Qatar confirmed today it sold more than $100 million worth of oil for the Libyan rebels and provided gasoline, diesel and propane to the anti-Gadhafi government.
A shipment last week of 1 million barrels of crude oil sailed from the rebel-controlled eastern Libyan port of Tobruk. The shipment was worth about $120 million, the Associated Press reported.
Qatar also shipped four tankers full of gasoline, diesel and other refined fuels to rebels in their de facto capital of Benghazi in eastern Libya, according to the official Qatar News Agency.
The announcement came a day before Qatar hosts the Libya contact group, a gathering of Western and Arab leaders, senior rebels officials and others who support the revolt against Moammar Gadhafi.
Former Libyan intelligence chief and foreign minister, Musa Kusa, is also traveling to Doha for the meetings. Kusa is the top Libyan official to defect in recent weeks from the Gadhafi government, and may be able to provide the rebels with some insight into Gadhafi, if they let him.
end update
---[
NATO again finds itself under fire for its efforts in Libya, with the criticism this time coming from the governments of the two lead protagonists who pushed for the air campaign.
The French and British are making a concerted effort this week for NATO to step up strikes on Moammar Gadhafi's forces and weapons, urging alliance members to pony up more planes to rain down a crushing blow on the regime.
"We know we are having an effect. Pro-Gadhafi forces cannot fight where they want, they cannot fight how they want and they cannot use the weapons they want," NATO Brig. Gen. Mark van Uhm, a senior NATO military officer said today in response to the criticism.
But British Foreign Secretary William Hague nonetheless urged alliance countries today to join the United Kingdom in upping the number of aircraft involved in the Libya mission.
"We must maintain and intensify our efforts in NATO," Hague said in Brussels, where European and NATO ministers are meeting this week. "A huge amount has been achieved in Libya, but clearly there is more to be done."
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told French radio NATO needs to focus on destroying Gadhafi's heavy weaponry.
”NATO must play its role fully. It wanted to take the lead in operations, we accepted that. It must play its role today which means preventing Gaddafi from using heavy weapons to shell populations,” Juppe said, promising to bring up the issue with European Union foreign ministers today and with NATO ministers later this week.
The pressure for NATO to strike harder at Gadhafi came as Libyan defector Musa Kusa was headed to Doha to meet tomorrow with Qatari officials and high-ranking members of the rebels' Transitional National Council. There is some speculation Gadhafi's former foreign minister and spymaster may make a move to join the rebel movement.
"The more representative of Libya that the (TNC) are, the more broadly aligned they are, the less regional they are, the better that is for them," the Financial Times quoted a British official as saying. "There is therefore merit in them extending their base to get together with Musa Kusa. But the (TNC) will do so on their terms and we are not setting the agenda for them."
The rebels rejected an African Union-brooked peace deal this week because it did not include Gadhafi relinquishing power.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
More Signs Gadhafi's Grip Is Slipping
Updated 6:45 p.m. edt
Rebels have pulled back to just west of Ajdabiya after a crushing, constant artillery barrage from loyalist forces who were supposedly running out of ammunition, CNN's Ben Wedeman reported late today.
Moammar Gadhafi's forces struck the rebel caravan on the main coastal road, with some precision, Wedeman said. There was no sign of NATO warplanes as the rebels once again pulled back, he said.
Gadhafi's forces were thought to be running short of ammunition because of disruptions to his supply lines, but it clear his army in the East had ample stockpiles of shells and rockets.
The offensive by Gadhafi loyalists did not immediately threaten the provisional rebel capital of Benghazi, but with only Ajdabiya in its path the regime was once again taking back precious oil ports of the east and the valuable territory around them.
Opposition leaders say NATO's lone Muslim member nation, Turkey, with its lukewarm support for the no-fly zone, is behind the diminished air strikes, CNN correspondent Reza Sayah reported. The rebels plan to let Turkey know of their growing frustration over the lack of air cover, he said.
Meanwhile, authorities want to question ex-Libyan foreign minister and spymaster Musa Kusa over his alleged role in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Though he has not been granted immunity, the U.S. yesterday took him off the list of Gadhafi's top aides whose assets were frozen to pressure the regime into folding. The Telegraph of London reports Kusa is believed to be cooperating with British intelligence.
"Mr. Kusa is thought to be helping MI6 understand the inner workings of the regime of Col Moammar Gadhafi including the Libyan leader’s sources of finance and the make-up of his armed forces," the newspaper reported. "He is also thought to be trying to persuade other members of the regime to join him in exile."
end update
---[
Update 11 a.m. edt
Libyan Rebels retreated today from Brega under heavy shelling from Moammar Gadhafi's artillery just one day after the insurgents boasted of having loyalist regime forces surrounded in the eastern oil town.
But according to Agence France Press, "as the first sleepy-looking insurgents arrived cautiously to take up the position they had left late yesterday, artillery and gunfire met them, sending them racing in retreat."
The ragtag band of rebels light arms are no match for Gadhafi's big guns and tanks, and their motor pool looks like something out of the "Mad Max" movies. They continue to complain that they need more air strikes and better equipment to beat back the loyalists.
“When you see this, the situation is very bad. We cannot match their weapons,” Kamal Mughrabi, 64, a retired soldier who joined the rebel army, told the Associated Press. “If the planes don’t come back and hit them we’ll have to keep pulling back.”
end update
---[
There remains reasons to be optimistic that a diplomatic solution may oust Moammar Gadhafi from power, but there are few indications the rebel army stalled in Brega will bust out make a sweep toward Tripoli anytime soon.
On the positive side for the hapless rebel army, they have kept Gadhafi from recapturing the oil patch in Eastern Libya, likely expediting the demise of the regime by cutting into another of its financial pipelines. Gadhafi's supply lines and armor have been pummeled by NATO warplanes.
And amid defections and emissaries trying to make a deal, Libya's oil minister became the latest senior Gadhafi official to suggest the handwriting is on the wall regarding the country's leadership.
"There will be changes of course, whether we like it or not," said Shukri Ghanem said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
In another diplomatic boost, Italy became the third nation along with France and Qatar to recognize the rebels' Transitional National Council as the legitimate government of Libya.
But adding to the diplomatic disarray, a Libyan government spokesman said reforms are fine, but Gaddafi must stay in power to avoid another Iraq or Somalia.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague acknowledged the United Kingdom is providing rebels with mobile phones, the Daily Mirror reports.
The Ottawa Citizen has a bit more insight into who's who among the rebels.
Following up on the woman who bravely told the world how she was attacked by Gadhafi's militia, Eman al-Obeidy said on CNN's "AC360" show in a telephone interview she is no longer in the custody of Gadhafi forces, but she still fears for her life.
"My life is in danger, and I call on all human rights organization ... to expose the truth and to let me leave now. I am being held hostage here," wailed the woman who stormed into a Tripoli hotel where journalists were staying, telling them she was beaten and raped by forces loyal to Gadhafi last month before she was taken away by secret police.
"They have threatened me with death and told me I will never leave prison again, if I go to the journalists or tell them anything about what's happening in Tripoli," al-Obeidy told Anderson Cooper.
Closer to home, the FBI has begun questioning Libyans, gathering information agents hope will help deter any potential terror payback from Gadhafi, should he survive, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Rebels have pulled back to just west of Ajdabiya after a crushing, constant artillery barrage from loyalist forces who were supposedly running out of ammunition, CNN's Ben Wedeman reported late today.
Moammar Gadhafi's forces struck the rebel caravan on the main coastal road, with some precision, Wedeman said. There was no sign of NATO warplanes as the rebels once again pulled back, he said.
Gadhafi's forces were thought to be running short of ammunition because of disruptions to his supply lines, but it clear his army in the East had ample stockpiles of shells and rockets.
The offensive by Gadhafi loyalists did not immediately threaten the provisional rebel capital of Benghazi, but with only Ajdabiya in its path the regime was once again taking back precious oil ports of the east and the valuable territory around them.
Opposition leaders say NATO's lone Muslim member nation, Turkey, with its lukewarm support for the no-fly zone, is behind the diminished air strikes, CNN correspondent Reza Sayah reported. The rebels plan to let Turkey know of their growing frustration over the lack of air cover, he said.
Meanwhile, authorities want to question ex-Libyan foreign minister and spymaster Musa Kusa over his alleged role in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Though he has not been granted immunity, the U.S. yesterday took him off the list of Gadhafi's top aides whose assets were frozen to pressure the regime into folding. The Telegraph of London reports Kusa is believed to be cooperating with British intelligence.
"Mr. Kusa is thought to be helping MI6 understand the inner workings of the regime of Col Moammar Gadhafi including the Libyan leader’s sources of finance and the make-up of his armed forces," the newspaper reported. "He is also thought to be trying to persuade other members of the regime to join him in exile."
end update
---[
Update 11 a.m. edt
Libyan Rebels retreated today from Brega under heavy shelling from Moammar Gadhafi's artillery just one day after the insurgents boasted of having loyalist regime forces surrounded in the eastern oil town.
But according to Agence France Press, "as the first sleepy-looking insurgents arrived cautiously to take up the position they had left late yesterday, artillery and gunfire met them, sending them racing in retreat."
The ragtag band of rebels light arms are no match for Gadhafi's big guns and tanks, and their motor pool looks like something out of the "Mad Max" movies. They continue to complain that they need more air strikes and better equipment to beat back the loyalists.
“When you see this, the situation is very bad. We cannot match their weapons,” Kamal Mughrabi, 64, a retired soldier who joined the rebel army, told the Associated Press. “If the planes don’t come back and hit them we’ll have to keep pulling back.”
end update
---[
There remains reasons to be optimistic that a diplomatic solution may oust Moammar Gadhafi from power, but there are few indications the rebel army stalled in Brega will bust out make a sweep toward Tripoli anytime soon.
On the positive side for the hapless rebel army, they have kept Gadhafi from recapturing the oil patch in Eastern Libya, likely expediting the demise of the regime by cutting into another of its financial pipelines. Gadhafi's supply lines and armor have been pummeled by NATO warplanes.
And amid defections and emissaries trying to make a deal, Libya's oil minister became the latest senior Gadhafi official to suggest the handwriting is on the wall regarding the country's leadership.
"There will be changes of course, whether we like it or not," said Shukri Ghanem said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
In another diplomatic boost, Italy became the third nation along with France and Qatar to recognize the rebels' Transitional National Council as the legitimate government of Libya.
But adding to the diplomatic disarray, a Libyan government spokesman said reforms are fine, but Gaddafi must stay in power to avoid another Iraq or Somalia.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague acknowledged the United Kingdom is providing rebels with mobile phones, the Daily Mirror reports.
The Ottawa Citizen has a bit more insight into who's who among the rebels.
Following up on the woman who bravely told the world how she was attacked by Gadhafi's militia, Eman al-Obeidy said on CNN's "AC360" show in a telephone interview she is no longer in the custody of Gadhafi forces, but she still fears for her life.
"My life is in danger, and I call on all human rights organization ... to expose the truth and to let me leave now. I am being held hostage here," wailed the woman who stormed into a Tripoli hotel where journalists were staying, telling them she was beaten and raped by forces loyal to Gadhafi last month before she was taken away by secret police.
"They have threatened me with death and told me I will never leave prison again, if I go to the journalists or tell them anything about what's happening in Tripoli," al-Obeidy told Anderson Cooper.
Closer to home, the FBI has begun questioning Libyans, gathering information agents hope will help deter any potential terror payback from Gadhafi, should he survive, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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