UK rules out troops on ground in Libya
Source: Agencies |
April 9, 2011, Saturday
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BRITAIN'S Foreign Secretary William Hague insisted yesterday that international allies would not deploy ground troops in Libya, even if a military stalemate drags on between Moammar Gadhafi's forces and rebel fighters.
Hague told BBC radio that Britain would not consider deploying troops, or supplying weapons to the rebels, even if the country's opposition continued to struggle to advance on Gadhafi's strongholds in western Libya.
"There is going to be no ground invasion of Libya, that is forbidden by the United Nations resolution - it is not what the opposition want, and it is not what we want," Hague said.
However, he insisted that Gadhafi would be soon ousted. "I think time is against the Gadhafi regime. There is no future for Libya now with the Gadhafi regime," Hague said.
NATO acknowledged yesterday that its airstrikes had hit rebels using tanks to fight government forces in eastern Libya, but said it would not apologize for the deaths as no one told them that the rebels had tanks.
British Rear Admiral Russell Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation, said in the past, only forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi had used heavy armored vehicles.
Harding says the military situation between Libya's eastern coastal towns of Brega and Ajdabiya remains fluid, with the two sides engaged in a series of advances and retreats, making it difficult for pilots to distinguish between them.
NATO jets attacked a rebel convoy between these two towns on Thursday, killing at least five fighters and destroying or damaging a number of armored vehicles.
The strikes, including an attack earlier this week, provoked angry denunciations of NATO by the rebels. At the same time, NATO officials have expressed frustration with the Libyan insurgents, who now view the alliance, whose mandate is limited to protecting civilians in Libya, as their proxy air force.
NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed regret over the loss of life. NATO last week took control over the international airstrikes that began on March 19 as a US-led mission.
Harding said yesterday that NATO jets had conducted 318 sorties and struck 23 targets in Libya over the past 48 hours.
Some attacks targeted Gadhafi's forces in the besieged city of Misrata.
Hague told BBC radio that Britain would not consider deploying troops, or supplying weapons to the rebels, even if the country's opposition continued to struggle to advance on Gadhafi's strongholds in western Libya.
"There is going to be no ground invasion of Libya, that is forbidden by the United Nations resolution - it is not what the opposition want, and it is not what we want," Hague said.
However, he insisted that Gadhafi would be soon ousted. "I think time is against the Gadhafi regime. There is no future for Libya now with the Gadhafi regime," Hague said.
NATO acknowledged yesterday that its airstrikes had hit rebels using tanks to fight government forces in eastern Libya, but said it would not apologize for the deaths as no one told them that the rebels had tanks.
British Rear Admiral Russell Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation, said in the past, only forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi had used heavy armored vehicles.
Harding says the military situation between Libya's eastern coastal towns of Brega and Ajdabiya remains fluid, with the two sides engaged in a series of advances and retreats, making it difficult for pilots to distinguish between them.
NATO jets attacked a rebel convoy between these two towns on Thursday, killing at least five fighters and destroying or damaging a number of armored vehicles.
The strikes, including an attack earlier this week, provoked angry denunciations of NATO by the rebels. At the same time, NATO officials have expressed frustration with the Libyan insurgents, who now view the alliance, whose mandate is limited to protecting civilians in Libya, as their proxy air force.
NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed regret over the loss of life. NATO last week took control over the international airstrikes that began on March 19 as a US-led mission.
Harding said yesterday that NATO jets had conducted 318 sorties and struck 23 targets in Libya over the past 48 hours.
Some attacks targeted Gadhafi's forces in the besieged city of Misrata.
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