France: Air Strikes Coming 'Soon'
The New York Times reports:
Hours after the United Nations Security Council voted to authorize military action and the imposition of a no-flight zone on Libya supposed to contain forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, French and British officials said on Friday that military action would start soon. News reports said warplanes from the two countries would spearhead the attack.
Eurocontrol, Europe’s air traffic control agency, said in Brussels on Friday that Libya had closed its airspace.
In London, Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament that Britain, a leading backer of the no-flight resolution, would deploy Tornado and Typhoon warplanes along with aerial refuelling and surveillance aircraft. He said the planes would move “in the coming hours” to bases where they could start implementing the no-flight zone. He added that he would attend a meeting in Paris on Saturday with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Arab leaders.
“This is about protecting the Libyan people and saving lives,” Mr. Cameron said. “The world has watched Qaddafi brutally crushing his own people. We expect brutal attacks. Qaddafi is preparing for a violent assault on Benghazi.”
“Any decision to put the men and women of our armed forces into harm’s way should only be taken when absolutely necessary,” he said. “But I believe that we cannot stand back and let a dictator whose people have rejected him kill his people indiscriminately. To do so would send a chilling signal to others.”
Amr Moussa, the Secretary General of the Arab League, which had supported the idea of a no-flight zone, told Reuters on Friday: “‘The goal is to protect civilians first of all, and not to invade or occupy.”
On the ground, forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi unleashed a barrage of fire against the rebel-held town of Misurata in the west of the country, news reports said, while one of the colonel’s sons, Seif el-Islam, was quoted as saying government forces would encircle the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in the east.
François Baroin, a French government spokesman, told RTL radio that airstrikes would come “rapidly,” perhaps within hours, following the United Nations resolution late Thursday authorizing “all necessary measures” to impose a no-flight zone.
But he insisted the military action “is not an occupation of Libyan territory.” Rather, it was designed to protect the Libyan people and “allow them to go all the way in their drive, which means bringing down the Qaddafi regime.”
The action seemed to have divided Europeans, with Germany saying it would not participate while Norway was reported as saying it would. In the region, Turkey was reported to have registered opposition, but Qatar said it would support the operation.Reuters quoted Saif el-Islam as saying the Libyan Army would surround but not enter Benghazi and that “anti-terror” forces would be sent in to disarm rebels there. His comments were reported on Al Jazeera television. It was not clear where or when he had spoken.
In Tripoli, government minders in Tripoli told journalists on Friday that they could not leave their hotel for their own safety, saying that in the aftermath of the United Nations vote, residents might attack or even shoot foreigners. The extent of the danger was unclear.
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