Coalition Partners Assume More Responsibility in Libya

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2011 — Coali­tion task force oper­a­tions in Libya con­tin­ue to go well, and part­ner nations are pick­ing up more of the work­load, the chief of staff of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn told reporters today.
“Our efforts have been going well,” Navy Rear Adm. Ger­ard P. Hue­ber told Pen­ta­gon reporters by tele­phone from the USS Whit­ney in the Mediter­ranean Sea on the sixth day of oper­a­tions. “This is a mul­ti­phased oper­a­tion. Our coali­tion part­ners are assum­ing more and more respon­si­bil­i­ty.”

The 13-mem­ber coali­tion has achieved its objec­tive to set up a no-fly zone over Libya, and no Libyan air­craft has flown in the past 24 hours, Hue­ber said. Libyan forces have not used sur­face-to-air mis­siles in four days, he added. 

Of 175 sor­ties that flew over Libya yes­ter­day, 113 were by U.S. forces and 63 were by coali­tion part­ners, Hue­ber said. Three days ago, U.S. forces flew 85 per­cent of mis­sions, he noted. 

Sor­tie airstrikes have ren­dered Libya’s air defense “severe­ly degrad­ed or destroyed,” the admi­ral said. 

Hue­ber said the coalition’s mis­sion is clear, as man­dat­ed in U.N. Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil Res­o­lu­tion 1973: to pro­tect civil­ians from attacks or the threat of attacks, to estab­lish a no-fly zone to pro­tect civil­ians and pre­vent mass atroc­i­ties, and to enforce the trade embar­go against Libya. 

To end the mis­sion, Libyan leader Moam­mar Gad­hafi must stop Libyan forces from fir­ing on civil­ians, he said. But forces loy­al to Gad­hafi con­tin­ue to advance on Beng­hazi on Libya’s north­east­ern coast, and are not pulling back from Mis­ura­ta on the north­west­ern coast and Ajd­abiya, just south of Beng­hazi, Hue­ber said. Wide­spread reports indi­cate Gadhafi’s forces con­tin­ue to fire on civil­ians and civil­ian sites in those cities, he added. 

“He must stop advanc­ing on those cities,” Hue­ber said. “Clear­ly, Gadhafi’s forces have not met those require­ments and are in clear vio­la­tion” of the U.N. Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil resolution. 

“We are pres­sur­ing Gadhafi’s forces that are attack­ing those civil­ian pop­u­la­tions,” he added. 

The coali­tion start­ed out small, but quick­ly estab­lished the no-fly zone, obtained mar­itime supe­ri­or­i­ty, put the embar­go in place, inter­dict­ed ground forces, sup­pressed ene­my air defens­es and put human­i­tar­i­an oper­a­tions in place, Hue­ber said. 

“This is a ful­ly inte­grat­ed coali­tion oper­a­tion,” he said. “Coali­tion ships, air­craft and staff are focused on the sin­gle mis­sion of enforc­ing [Res­o­lu­tion] 1973.” 

The coali­tion has “accom­plished quite a lot togeth­er,” the admi­ral said, “and will con­tin­ue to work togeth­er” until the resolution’s objec­tives are met. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter

Team GlobDef

Seit 2001 ist GlobalDefence.net im Internet unterwegs, um mit eigenen Analysen, interessanten Kooperationen und umfassenden Informationen für einen spannenden Überblick der Weltlage zu sorgen. GlobalDefence.net war dabei die erste deutschsprachige Internetseite, die mit dem Schwerpunkt Sicherheitspolitik außerhalb von Hochschulen oder Instituten aufgetreten ist.

Alle Beiträge ansehen von Team GlobDef →