Blog Posts tagged with "Qadhafi"

I hosted the French Chief of Defense last Friday for important talks at my headquarters in Mons, Belgium. One of the key topics was Libya.

DECIMOMANNU - A Dutch F-16 fighter takes off from Sardinia, Italy. The Netherlands contribute to the enforcement of the Operation Unified Protector No-Fly Zone. (NATO photo)

NATO is conducting operations over Libya to support UN resolutions 1970 and 1973, which call for establishing an arms embargo, instituting a "no-fly" zone, and protecting the civilian population of Libya. These missions are going reasonably well, particularly the no-fly zone and arms embargo which are both clear mission successes.

In terms of protecting the people of Libya, over the past four months the alliance has flown over 16,000 sorties including more than 6,500 strikes against Qadhafi’s cumulative system of lethal force – which runs from the muzzle of a weapon, to the tank or armored personnel carrier, to the fuel that goes into it, to the ammo storage site, and ultimately to the command and control system that directs it. We have significantly degraded the regime's ability to hurt and kill the civilian population of Libya.

Our European partners are in the lead in this operation. Given the location of Libya and the potential for mass migration across the Mediterranean, this seems appropriate. The US continues to provide key enablers, including fuel, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, while other nations -- both in the air and at sea -- perform the bulk of the kinetic missions.

Crew members from the Spanish frigate Mendez Nunez board a vessel for inspection as part of NATO's Operation Unified Protector, which includes the enforcement of the arms embargo under UNSCR 1973. (NATO photo)

It seems clear that events are moving against the Qadhafi regime. There are many defections, both military and civilian. The regime's military machine is a shadow of its former capability, when Qadhafi was threatening the gates of Benghazi and predicting "streets running with blood." The civilian population is gaining ground in the mountains, around the important city of Misrata, and on the coastal road. Over thirty countries have recognized the opposition as the sole legitimate government of Libya.

NATO operators are proud to be engaged in supporting these important UN Security Council resolutions, and we have sufficient military capacity to continue. And it is worth noting that while not every member of the alliance is engaged in all of the missions, the entire command structure -- all 28 nations represented -- is the command and control for the operation. We are smoothly integrating several Arab nations as well, a historical first.

From a NATO operational perspective, we'll continue to energetically and aggressively enforce the UN Security Council resolutions. We are also involved with the coordination of humanitarian assistance operations -- nearly a thousand of them so far. And we'll be ready if called upon for further operations in Libya.

Adm. James Stavridis
Commander, U.S. European Command and
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe