NATO Sees Limit to Airstrikes’ Power to Stop Qaddafi Forces
NATO Sees ‘Limit’ to Airstrikes’ Power to Stop Qaddafi Force
Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images
A Libyan rebel takes cover behind a destroyed military vehicle during heavy clashes with fighters loyal to Moamer Kadhafi in Tripoli street in central of Misrata, 120 kms (75 miles) east of Tripoli, Libya.
A Libyan rebel takes cover behind a destroyed military vehicle during heavy clashes with fighters loyal to Moamer Kadhafi in Tripoli street in central of Misrata, 120 kms (75 miles) east of Tripoli, Libya. Photographer: Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images
A NATO commander said “there is a limit” to the alliance’s ability to stop the Libyan regime’s shelling of Misrata, as the U.K. sent a team of military advisers to assist rebels fighting to end Muammar Qaddafi’s 42- year rule.
Qaddafi’s troops have been using artillery and rockets in Misrata, under siege for about 50 days, with rebels holding part of the city and the port area that is their only supply link. Unicef, the UN Children’s Fund, said a ship carrying first aid kits, drinking water and other supplies for up to 25,000 people was expected to reach the port today, and the World Health Organization described Misrata Hospital as “overwhelmed,” with 120 civilian patients in need of emergency evacuation.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization reported its warplanes hit a mobile rocket launcher, which was firing into the city, and a loyalist convoy of armored vehicles heading there. NATO Brigadier General Mark van Uhm said that Qaddafi’s forces fire “indiscriminately” and that allied airstrikes seek to protect civilians under the United Nations Security Council mandate.
“But there is a limit to what can be accomplished by airpower to stop fighting in a city,” he said yesterday at a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels. NATO must limit strikes in urban areas to avoid inadvertently causing civilian casualties, he said.
Oil Sales
The Italian government is helping Libyan rebels sell oil from opposition-held parts of the country, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said at a press conference in Rome after meeting with the head of Libya’s rebel council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil.
The rebels have agreed to honor existing treaties between Italy and Libya, Frattini said. Oil exports from Libya, which has Africa’s biggest oil reserves, dropped by about 1.3 million barrels a day to a “trickle,” the Paris-based International Energy Agency said last month.
Oil rose for the fourth time in five days. Crude oil for May delivery rose $1.03, or 1 percent, to settle at $108.15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other regional developments, Syria’s cabinet endorsed a draft decree to lift a 48-year-old emergency law, the main demand of protesters challenging President Bashar al-Assad’s rule. Syrian activists said at least 18 protesters have died in clashes in the three days since Assad ordered the cabinet to make changes aimed at calming dissent.
Regional Turmoil
In Yemen, protesters were injured by gunfire and stones as clashes erupted between with police in the center of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, during a crackdown on an anti-government demonstration, witnesses said in telephone interviews.
In Bahrain, Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa said in a posting on Twitter that troops from Persian Gulf allies will remain in Bahrain to counter Iranian influence. Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy called in security forces from Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-led neighbors to forcefully suppress Shiite protests, which it blamed in part on Shiite Iran.
The U.K is sending a contingent of “experienced British military officers” to help Libyan rebels organize communications and logistics, Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement from London. As many as 20 military personnel will be involved, the Associated Press said.
“Developments change on the ground so what we have to do to implement the UN resolution does change over time,” Hague said in a Sky News television interview. “I expect other countries also to be involved in this but they must make their own announcements.”
British Officers
British officers won’t be involved in training or arming rebels or planning military operations, the government said. They will operate “within the legal authority” of the five- week-old United Nations mandate authorizing military action, Hague said on ITV. UN Security Council resolution permits “all necessary measures” to protect civilians “excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.”
The U.S. supports the U.K. action, said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to follow suit and bring our capabilities to bear in areas where they’re already bringing their capabilities to bear,” he told reporters.
As the situation deteriorates in Misrata, the third largest city, the rebels are struggling to take and hold cities in Libya’s central coastal areas, the focus of most of the fighting since the uprising began in mid-February. NATO has targeted tanks -- some 40 near Misrata alone -- which has prompted many Qaddafi forces to shift to pickup trucks, which are difficult to be targeted for airstrikes since they are similar to those used by the rebels.
‘Up and Down’ Situation
“At the moment on the ground, I don’t know if it’s a stalemate; certainly it’s not necessarily moving forward,” Admiral Giampaolo di Paola, the chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, said yesterday in Rome. “The eastern front is constantly moving up and down.”
NATO is seeking to reduce Qaddafi’s ability to sustain attacks by hitting supply lines and targets considered “command and control” locations, van Uhm said.
Allied targets reported by NATO yesterday included the headquarters south of Tripoli of the elite 32nd brigade, which has been commanded by Muammar Qaddafi’s youngest son, Khamis. That military force has spearheaded operations threatening civilians, NATO said.
More Warplanes
Five days after NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told alliance foreign ministers in Berlin that commanders needed more ground-attacks jets, van Uhm said the alliance had more military assets than it did last week. He declined to say what the new assets were or which countries had supplied them.
NATO aircraft flew 53 “strike” missions seeking to identify and engage ground targets on April 18, down from 60 a day earlier.
The World Food Program said it moved wheat, flour and other food aid into western Libya for the first time since conflict erupted in February. The Rome-based UN agency said eight trucks crossed into Libya from Tunisia April 18 and that the Libyan Red Crescent will deliver the supplies to the “crisis-affected population, particularly women and children,” in Tripoli, Zintan, Yefrin, Nalut, Mezda, Al Reiba and Al Zawia.
The trucks carried enough food to feed 50,000 people for 30 days, the WFP said yesterday.
To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net; Jeffrey Donovan in Rome at jdonovan26@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page