Some Libyan rebels want aid from West
Nation & World | Some Libyan rebels want aid from West | Seattle Times Newspaper
Rebel leaders in eastern Libya called Tuesday for international military intervention to help topple Moammar Gadhafi, as the realization...
BENGHAZI, Libya — Rebel leaders in eastern Libya called Tuesday for international military intervention to help topple Moammar Gadhafi, as the realization dawned that people power alone may not be enough to dislodge their nation's autocratic leader from his last remaining strongholds.
The rebels said they do not want ground forces, but they increasingly are coming around to the view that help in the form of a no-fly zone, as well as airstrikes and supplies of weaponry, will be necessary to ensure Gadhafi's fall.
U.S. military officials said the rebels have not asked them for help, and on Tuesday played down the likelihood of the United States setting up a no-fly zone.
But in the eastern city of Benghazi, the center of the resistance, some members of the committee formed to run the city said they expected to issue a formal request to the international community Wednesday for military assistance. And in Misurata, about 120 miles east of Tripoli, a spokesman for newly formed committees set up to run the town said residents want foreign help to withstand an offensive by Gadhafi's militias.
"A no-fly zone would limit his movements, his ability to move mercenaries from south to north and to recruit mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa," said a member of the media committee, Saadoun, who requested that he be identified only by a nom de guerre because Misurata remains hotly contested.
The United States made clear that it's reluctant to become involved militarily in the crisis, saying two Navy assault vessels deploying in the Mediterranean with helicopters and hundreds of Marines would be limited to humanitarian aid and evacuation operations for now.
"All of the options beyond the humanitarian assistance and ... evacuation are complex," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who noted that a U.N. resolution slapping sanctions on the Gadhafi regime "provides no authorization for the use of force."
"We also have to think about, frankly, the use of the U.S. military in another country in the Middle East," Gates said at a Pentagon news conference.
Other military officials said they were reluctant to establish a no-fly zone because it would involve military action to neutralize Gadhafi's air defenses.
"You would have to remove the air-defense capability in order to establish the no-fly zone. So it — no illusions here — it would be a military operation," Marine Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It wouldn't simply be telling people not to fly airplanes."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also acknowledged the sensitivity of such action. She told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Obama administration knew the Libyan opposition was eager to be seen "as doing this by themselves on behalf of the Libyan people — that there not be outside intervention by any external force."
The state of play in Misurata illustrates the risk of a protracted standoff, or even that Gadhafi loyalists may be able to reassert themselves.
Regime opponents are in full control of the town center, and several thousand held a large, peaceful demonstration in the main square Wednesday, according to residents and the spokesman. They also claim control over most of the vast military air base to the south.
But militias loyal to Gadhafi have retained control of a portion of the base, and there are near-daily confrontations between rebels and the militias on the airfield.
Misurata lies on the coast between Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte and the capital, Tripoli, where the Libyan leader still appears to command enough support to hold at bay the popular uprising that has engulfed other parts of the country.
Saadoun said the people of Misurata have enough weapons captured from army units that defected to defend the town center, but not enough to dislodge militias from the outskirts.
In another sign that Gadhafi's forces may be recovering from the initial shock of the sudden uprising, the strategic mountaintop town of Gharyan, overlooking Tripoli, has been recaptured by government loyalists after falling to the opposition Friday, said a town resident who was quoted by The Associated Press.
Zawiyah, another town nominally in rebel hands but ringed by Gadhafi loyalists, repelled an attack by government forces overnight Monday, with both sides using tanks, anti-aircraft guns and automatic weapons, the news agency reported.
Benghazi, 600 miles from the capital, is securely in rebel hands. Opinions there are divided on whether to call for foreign help, even as the town's February 17 Revolution Guidance Committee, which now runs the city, appeared ready to appeal for international intervention.
"We don't want another Afghanistan or Iraq," said one committee member who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak. "But there is no balance. He has all the weapons and the money."
By Leila Fadel and Liz Sly
The Washington Post
Information from McClatchy Newspapers and The New York Times is included in this report.
original article here: Nation & World | Some Libyan rebels want aid from West | Seattle Times Newspaper
Rebel leaders in eastern Libya called Tuesday for international military intervention to help topple Moammar Gadhafi, as the realization...
BENGHAZI, Libya — Rebel leaders in eastern Libya called Tuesday for international military intervention to help topple Moammar Gadhafi, as the realization dawned that people power alone may not be enough to dislodge their nation's autocratic leader from his last remaining strongholds.
The rebels said they do not want ground forces, but they increasingly are coming around to the view that help in the form of a no-fly zone, as well as airstrikes and supplies of weaponry, will be necessary to ensure Gadhafi's fall.
U.S. military officials said the rebels have not asked them for help, and on Tuesday played down the likelihood of the United States setting up a no-fly zone.
But in the eastern city of Benghazi, the center of the resistance, some members of the committee formed to run the city said they expected to issue a formal request to the international community Wednesday for military assistance. And in Misurata, about 120 miles east of Tripoli, a spokesman for newly formed committees set up to run the town said residents want foreign help to withstand an offensive by Gadhafi's militias.
"A no-fly zone would limit his movements, his ability to move mercenaries from south to north and to recruit mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa," said a member of the media committee, Saadoun, who requested that he be identified only by a nom de guerre because Misurata remains hotly contested.
The United States made clear that it's reluctant to become involved militarily in the crisis, saying two Navy assault vessels deploying in the Mediterranean with helicopters and hundreds of Marines would be limited to humanitarian aid and evacuation operations for now.
"All of the options beyond the humanitarian assistance and ... evacuation are complex," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who noted that a U.N. resolution slapping sanctions on the Gadhafi regime "provides no authorization for the use of force."
"We also have to think about, frankly, the use of the U.S. military in another country in the Middle East," Gates said at a Pentagon news conference.
Other military officials said they were reluctant to establish a no-fly zone because it would involve military action to neutralize Gadhafi's air defenses.
"You would have to remove the air-defense capability in order to establish the no-fly zone. So it — no illusions here — it would be a military operation," Marine Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It wouldn't simply be telling people not to fly airplanes."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also acknowledged the sensitivity of such action. She told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Obama administration knew the Libyan opposition was eager to be seen "as doing this by themselves on behalf of the Libyan people — that there not be outside intervention by any external force."
The state of play in Misurata illustrates the risk of a protracted standoff, or even that Gadhafi loyalists may be able to reassert themselves.
Regime opponents are in full control of the town center, and several thousand held a large, peaceful demonstration in the main square Wednesday, according to residents and the spokesman. They also claim control over most of the vast military air base to the south.
But militias loyal to Gadhafi have retained control of a portion of the base, and there are near-daily confrontations between rebels and the militias on the airfield.
Misurata lies on the coast between Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte and the capital, Tripoli, where the Libyan leader still appears to command enough support to hold at bay the popular uprising that has engulfed other parts of the country.
Saadoun said the people of Misurata have enough weapons captured from army units that defected to defend the town center, but not enough to dislodge militias from the outskirts.
In another sign that Gadhafi's forces may be recovering from the initial shock of the sudden uprising, the strategic mountaintop town of Gharyan, overlooking Tripoli, has been recaptured by government loyalists after falling to the opposition Friday, said a town resident who was quoted by The Associated Press.
Zawiyah, another town nominally in rebel hands but ringed by Gadhafi loyalists, repelled an attack by government forces overnight Monday, with both sides using tanks, anti-aircraft guns and automatic weapons, the news agency reported.
Benghazi, 600 miles from the capital, is securely in rebel hands. Opinions there are divided on whether to call for foreign help, even as the town's February 17 Revolution Guidance Committee, which now runs the city, appeared ready to appeal for international intervention.
"We don't want another Afghanistan or Iraq," said one committee member who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak. "But there is no balance. He has all the weapons and the money."
By Leila Fadel and Liz Sly
The Washington Post
Information from McClatchy Newspapers and The New York Times is included in this report.
original article here: Nation & World | Some Libyan rebels want aid from West | Seattle Times Newspaper
Megjegyzések
Megjegyzés küldése