As coalition forces bombarded Libya for a third consecutive day Monday, the fragile international coalition supporting the military action showed fresh signs of strain.
U.S. officials said the campaign to destroy dictator Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses and establish a no-fly zone over Libya had nearly accomplished its initial objectives, increasing urgency among the United States and European and Arab nations on the issue of who will take charge of military operations if the Americans give up control in coming days.
While the United States is moving swiftly to hand command to its allies, the firepower of allied warplanes and more than 130 Tomahawk cruise missiles has not succeeded in accomplishing the more ambitious U.S. demands — that Gadhafi withdraw his forces from embattled cities and cease all attacks against civilians.
U.S. and European diplomats also moved Monday to rally wavering Arab support after key Arab officials complained that Western airstrikes appeared to exceed the narrow mandate authorized by the United Nations.
The diplomatic outreach came as the first Arab warplanes to participate in the no-fly zone — up to six French-built Mirage 2000 fighters from Qatar — began making their way toward Libya. Qatar is the only Arab country to firmly commit to contributing military firepower to the effort.
Libyan government forces continued to engage in scattered fighting Monday. Rebel fighters trying to retake the eastern town of Ajdabiya said their advance was halted Monday by tank and rocket fire from government loyalists still controlling entrances to the city. Dozens of fighters fell back to a checkpoint about 25 miles to the north.
In the western city of Misrata, forces loyal to Gadhafi still were at large and using civilians as human shields, Reuters reported, but that could not be confirmed immediately.
Libyan state TV said a new round of strikes began Monday night in the capital, Tripoli.
The air campaign by U.S. and European militaries unquestionably has rearranged the map in Libya and rescued rebels from the immediate threat they faced only days ago. But while the airstrikes can stop Gadhafi's troops from attacking rebel cities — in line with the U.N. mandate to protect civilians — the United States, at least, appeared deeply reluctant to go beyond that toward actively helping the rebel cause to oust the Libyan leader.
President Obama said Monday that "it is U.S. policy that Gadhafi has to go." But, he said, the international air campaign has a more limited goal, to protect civilians.
"Our military action is in support of an international mandate from the Security Council that specifically focuses on the humanitarian threat posed by Col. Gadhafi to his people. Not only was he carrying out murders of civilians, but he threatened more," the president said on a visit to Chile.
Pentagon officials are eager to extract the United States from a third armed conflict in a Muslim country as quickly as possible. But confusion broke out Monday among the allies in Europe over who would carry the military operation forward once the United States stepped back, and from where.
Discussions over NATO's role have run into opposition from key members uneasy with the alliance's imprint on the mission. And the Arab League, whose political support for Western intervention in Libya is considered crucial, also doesn't want it to be a NATO mission, according to diplomats who requested anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.
"If this goes south, if it doesn't succeed quickly, then [U.S. forces] are going to have to assume ... a much broader responsibility for what to do next," said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official now at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "The coalition of the willing, the longer this drags out, could become the coalition of the unwilling."
Diplomats said several U.S. allies are uneasy about the Libya operation.
Turkey was adamantly against NATO taking charge, while Italy hinted Monday it would stop allowing use of its airfields if the veteran alliance is not given the leadership.
Germany and Russia also criticized the way the mission was being carried out.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin railed against the U.N.-backed airstrikes as outside meddling "reminiscent of a medieval call for a crusade."
At NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, members of the alliance came to no agreement on who would take the lead on a no-fly zone or how to proceed on enforcing a U.N. arms embargo against Libya.
A European diplomat said the prime factor driving the discussions is the need to keep Arab nations on board.
"That's why we have to be cautious," the diplomat said.
While the 22-member Arab League endorsed a no-fly zone over Libya earlier this month, only two Arab countries — Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — are publicly known to be contributing military assets, in the form of U.S. F-16s and French-made Mirage warplanes.
Compiled from McClatchy News Service, The Associated Press,
The Washington Post and
The New York Times
U.S. officials said the campaign to destroy dictator Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses and establish a no-fly zone over Libya had nearly accomplished its initial objectives, increasing urgency among the United States and European and Arab nations on the issue of who will take charge of military operations if the Americans give up control in coming days.
While the United States is moving swiftly to hand command to its allies, the firepower of allied warplanes and more than 130 Tomahawk cruise missiles has not succeeded in accomplishing the more ambitious U.S. demands — that Gadhafi withdraw his forces from embattled cities and cease all attacks against civilians.
U.S. and European diplomats also moved Monday to rally wavering Arab support after key Arab officials complained that Western airstrikes appeared to exceed the narrow mandate authorized by the United Nations.
The diplomatic outreach came as the first Arab warplanes to participate in the no-fly zone — up to six French-built Mirage 2000 fighters from Qatar — began making their way toward Libya. Qatar is the only Arab country to firmly commit to contributing military firepower to the effort.
Libyan government forces continued to engage in scattered fighting Monday. Rebel fighters trying to retake the eastern town of Ajdabiya said their advance was halted Monday by tank and rocket fire from government loyalists still controlling entrances to the city. Dozens of fighters fell back to a checkpoint about 25 miles to the north.
In the western city of Misrata, forces loyal to Gadhafi still were at large and using civilians as human shields, Reuters reported, but that could not be confirmed immediately.
Libyan state TV said a new round of strikes began Monday night in the capital, Tripoli.
The air campaign by U.S. and European militaries unquestionably has rearranged the map in Libya and rescued rebels from the immediate threat they faced only days ago. But while the airstrikes can stop Gadhafi's troops from attacking rebel cities — in line with the U.N. mandate to protect civilians — the United States, at least, appeared deeply reluctant to go beyond that toward actively helping the rebel cause to oust the Libyan leader.
President Obama said Monday that "it is U.S. policy that Gadhafi has to go." But, he said, the international air campaign has a more limited goal, to protect civilians.
"Our military action is in support of an international mandate from the Security Council that specifically focuses on the humanitarian threat posed by Col. Gadhafi to his people. Not only was he carrying out murders of civilians, but he threatened more," the president said on a visit to Chile.
Pentagon officials are eager to extract the United States from a third armed conflict in a Muslim country as quickly as possible. But confusion broke out Monday among the allies in Europe over who would carry the military operation forward once the United States stepped back, and from where.
Discussions over NATO's role have run into opposition from key members uneasy with the alliance's imprint on the mission. And the Arab League, whose political support for Western intervention in Libya is considered crucial, also doesn't want it to be a NATO mission, according to diplomats who requested anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.
"If this goes south, if it doesn't succeed quickly, then [U.S. forces] are going to have to assume ... a much broader responsibility for what to do next," said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official now at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "The coalition of the willing, the longer this drags out, could become the coalition of the unwilling."
Diplomats said several U.S. allies are uneasy about the Libya operation.
Turkey was adamantly against NATO taking charge, while Italy hinted Monday it would stop allowing use of its airfields if the veteran alliance is not given the leadership.
Germany and Russia also criticized the way the mission was being carried out.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin railed against the U.N.-backed airstrikes as outside meddling "reminiscent of a medieval call for a crusade."
At NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, members of the alliance came to no agreement on who would take the lead on a no-fly zone or how to proceed on enforcing a U.N. arms embargo against Libya.
A European diplomat said the prime factor driving the discussions is the need to keep Arab nations on board.
"That's why we have to be cautious," the diplomat said.
While the 22-member Arab League endorsed a no-fly zone over Libya earlier this month, only two Arab countries — Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — are publicly known to be contributing military assets, in the form of U.S. F-16s and French-made Mirage warplanes.
Compiled from McClatchy News Service, The Associated Press,
The Washington Post and
The New York Times
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