Allies Expand Libya Attacks, Say Leader Qaddafi Not Targeted
March 20, 2011, 8:57 PM EDTBy Alaa Shahine and Flavia Krause-Jackson
(For more on the Middle East turmoil, see EXTRA and MET.)
March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Allied officials said their attacks have effectively grounded Muammar Qaddafi’s air force, adding that they are not targeting the Libyan leader himself.
Vice Admiral Bill Gortney told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday that Libya’s military had not flown an aircraft in two days and the coalition is in full control of airspace. It was possible that a Libyan jet or helicopter would still take off but it would be targeted by coalition patrols over the country, he said.
Qaddafi denounced the coalition allied against him -- including the U.S., the U.K. and France -- as “the party of Satan” after Tomahawk missiles were fired at Libyan targets and fighter jets patrolled the North African country’s skies. The military action continued with B-2 bombers attacking airfields and air-defense sites, CBS reported.
“We will not leave our oil to America or France or Britain or the enemy Christian states that are now aligned against us,” the Libyan leader, who has ruled since 1969, said on state television yesterday. “We will not leave our land. We will fight for every inch of our land and liberate every inch of it.”
The coalition ordered Qaddafi to withdraw his forces from major cities after weeks of fighting with rebels that has left hundreds dead in the bloodiest of popular uprisings to have swept the Middle East this year.
Oil climbed in New York after the allied attacks, and as continuing unrest in the region renewed concerns the turmoil may spread and disrupt supplies. Futures advanced as much as 2.1 percent after Qaddafi vowed to repel allied forces pounding military installations.
Qaddafi Residence
Al-Jazeera television showed live footage of Libyan anti- aircraft missiles firing into the night. Witnesses said the weapons were near Qaddafi’s residence, it said, without saying who the witnesses were.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters traveling with him to Russia that the military campaign against Qaddafi should be limited to the terms of a United Nations resolution rather than being broadened to target the leader directly.
Qaddafi and his residence were not targeted in the allied attack, Vice Admiral Gortney said at the Pentagon briefing. “We are not going after Qaddafi,” he said. “If he happens to be at a place, if he’s inspecting a surface-to-air missile site” on the target list, he may be inadvertently hit.
Gortney said Spain, Belgium, Denmark and the Arab nation of Qatar have joined the coalition. The U.S., the U.K., France, Italy and Canada have amassed at least 25 ships off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea.
Cease-Fire Report
U.K. armed forces launched Tomahawk missiles from a submarine in the Mediterranean against Libyan air defense system targets, the Ministry of Defence said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday.
Libya’s armed forces announced they were imposing a nationwide cease-fire.
White House national security adviser Tom Donilon, briefing reporters during President Barack Obama’s trip to Brazil, said the administration’s view is that the report of a cease-fire either “isn’t true” or that the cease-fire has been “immediately violated.” He said the coalition lined up against the Libyan leader will monitor Qaddafi’s actions, not his words.
“Qaddafi has lost legitimacy in Libya,” Donilon said, and will be “increasingly isolated” internationally.
Opening Phase
The opening phase of the military strikes had “a pretty significant effect very early” and Qaddafi’s forces have been pushed back from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program yesterday.
“The initial operations have been very effective, taking out most of his air-defense systems, some of his air fields,” Mullen said. “Yet there is still, I think, a great deal to be done.”
Asked in an NBC “Meet the Press” interview if the mission could be accomplished with Qaddafi still in power, Mullen said: “That’s certainly potentially one outcome.”
Italy made eight warplanes available for action in Libya, Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa told RAI television. The government in Rome has frozen more than 6 billion euros ($8.5 billion) of Libyan assets, an Italian official said, speaking on the condition of not being further identified.
Talks are under way for an emergency meeting of Arab League nations to discuss the situation in Libya, the Egyptian government-owned Middle East News Agency cited Secretary General Amr Moussa as saying.
Arab Participation
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Paris that Arab participation was “extraordinarily important.” More can be expected from the Middle East states, she said.
A United Nations resolution passed March 17 permits “all necessary measures” short of an occupation to protect civilians from the violence. Western leaders haven’t said what they’ll do if the no-fly zone fails to force Qaddafi to comply.
The U.K.’s Foreign Office said in a statement that “we will continue to work with our Arab partners to enforce the resolution for the good of the Libyan people.”
The U.K. has deployed a number of Typhoon aircraft to the Gioia Dell Colle airbase, in southern Italy, “where they are on standby for future tasking,” defense spokesman Major General John Lorimer said.
--With assistance from Julianna Goldman in Rio de Janeiro, Nadeem Hamid, David Lerman, Tony Capaccio, Brendan McGarry, Katarzyna Klimasinska and Kevin Brancato in Washington, Kitty Donaldson and John Fraher in London, Vivian Salama and Shaji Mathew in Dubai, Helene Fouquet in Paris and Ahmed Namatalla in Cairo. Editors: Kevin Costelloe, Andrew J. Barden
To contact the reporters on this story: Alaa Shahine in Dubai at asalha@bloomberg.net; Flavia Krause-Jackson in Rome at fjackson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net; Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
