NATO’s head on Thursday dismissed a call from Italy for a suspension of hostilities in Libya and tried to reassure wavering members of the Western coalition that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi can be beaten.
Italy’s ceasefire call exposed the strain on the NATO alliance, nearly 14 weeks into a bombing campaign that has so far failed to dislodge Qaddafi, but is causing mounting concerns about its financial cost and about civilian casualties.
Highlighting the wider consequences of the war in the North African oil-producer, big consuming nations announced a move to release reserves from oil stockpiles to fill the gap left by disruption to Libyan output.
Rebels hailed the latest NATO strike on pro-Qaddafi positions as a boost to their cause, saying over 200 of his men had been killed in bombing that took out weapons being used to pound the rebel-held coastal town of Misrata.
Asked about Italy’s ceasefire call, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a newspaper interview: “No, on the contrary. We shall continue and see it through to the end.”
“We will take the time needed until the military objective is reached: end all attacks against Libyan civilians, return armed forces to barracks and freedom of movement for humanitarian aid,” he told France’s Le Figaro newspaper.
NATO says it is operating under a UN mandate to protect civilians from Qaddafi’s forces as he tries to crush an uprising against his 41-year rule. Qaddafi says NATO’s real aim is to steal the country’s plentiful oil.
The defense bloc said it delivered a blow to Qaddafi forces near Zlitan, a town about 170km east of Tripoli, with an air and naval strike on Wednesday that took out 13 armed vehicles, an armored personnel carrier and a rocket launcher.
“NATO aircraft dropped leaflets warning them to leave the compound. Of course they ignored the warning and over 200 Qaddafi people were killed there,” said a rebel spokesman who identified himself as Mohammed.
“If NATO continues this way, things will be excellent,” he said.
The assault killed a further nine Qaddafi fighters at a checkpoint northwest of Zlitan, he said.
Last weekend, NATO acknowledged for the first time in the campaign that it may have caused multiple civilian casualties, when an air strike hit a house in Tripoli, prompting a riposte attack from Qaddafi in an audio speech broadcast late on Wednesday.
“You said, ‘We hit our targets with precision,’ you murderers!” he said. “One day we will respond to you likewise and your homes will be legitimate targets.”
Qaddafi has said he will fight until the end, but a former foreign minister who has defected said he believed he was negotiating asylum either elsewhere in Africa or Belarus.
“I think that he will leave Libya in a few weeks,” Abdurrahaman Shalgam told Italy’s Corriere della Sera TV.
Qaddafi is “seriously considering” leaving the capital Tripoli following a blistering series of NATO air raids, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing US officials.
US intelligence shows that the Libyan strongman “doesn’t feel safe anymore” in the capital where he has ruled for over four decades, the Journal quoted a senior US national security official as saying.
However, officials told the Journal they did not see the move as imminent and did not believe Qaddafi would leave the country, a key demand of Libyan rebels who have been battling his forces in a weeks-old stalemate.
Qaddafi is believed to have numerous safe houses and other facilities both within the capital and outside of it to which he might relocate.
The news comes as US President Barack Obama faces rising criticism from fellow Democrats and rival Republicans in Congress over his refusal to seek congressional authorization for the three-month-old military operation.
The Obama administration has said approval under the 1973 War Powers Resolution is not required because US participation in the NATO-led air war does not rise to the level of “hostilities,” a logic rejected by critics.
A senior US commander meanwhile said that NATO and Libya’s African allies had not adequately planned for the aftermath of Qaddafi’s possible fall.
“We, the international community, could be in post-conflict Libya tomorrow and there isn’t a plan, there is not a good plan,” the senior US commander in Africa, General Carter Ham, told the Journal.
He predicted that Qaddafi could fall quickly, and said there may be a need for substantial ground forces in the country to preserve order.
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