Britain’s decision to send experienced military officers to Libya, to advise rebels fighting forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, marks the latest development in the international community’s search for a means to end a bloody military stalemate that has killed hundreds in the contested cities of Misurata and Ajdabiya and left the rebels in only tenuous control of a few major coastal cities.
The soldiers’ marching orders are to help the makeshift rebel forces “improve their military organizational structures, communications and logistics,” Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, said in a statement.
Britain had previously been providing what Mr. Hague described as “nonlethal assistance,” in the form of telecommunications equipment and body armor. He maintained that the new deployment fell within the United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing the international community to protect Libyan civilians but ruling out an occupation force. The military team will work with British diplomats who are already in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital, he said.
The officers will be deployed “quickly,” said Britain’s Defense Ministry, but it declined to provide further details on the timeline or the number of soldiers. The Associated Press reported that there could be as many as 20.
A government official, who did not want to be named as he was not authorized to discuss operational matters, said that though some of the soldiers had special forces backgrounds, they were not directly drawn from Britain’s elite Special Air Service and Special Boat Service teams.
The move was cause for concern among some current and former politicians. Sir Menzies Campbell, former leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, which is now part of a governing coalition with the Conservatives, said Tuesday that the advisers “must not be seen as a first installment of further military deployment.” He added, “Vietnam began with an American president sending military advisers.”
Current members of Parliament have also called for a fresh debate. “This is clear evidence of mission creep,” said John Baron, a Conservative member. “Now we are beginning to put military personnel on the ground, something that wasn’t even discussed when we debated this issue.”
Allied bombing sorties and Tomahawk missiles have failed to tip the balance decisively in favor of a rebel group with disjointed leadership, limited weapons and many inexperienced fighters. And civilian casualties have continued to mount. On Tuesday, the United Nations said that at least 20 children had been killed in the siege of Misurata, a rebel-held city in western Libya.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France will meet the rebel leader Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, formerly Colonel Qaddafi’s justice minister, on Wednesday, Reuters reported, to try and find a means to break the deadlock. Reuters, citing a source close to the opposition, said Mr. Abdel-Jalil would provide details on military targets, including some in Misurata.
But France’s foreign minister, Alain Juppé, told reporters in Paris on Tuesday that he remained “absolutely opposed to a deployment of troops on the ground.” He said that the coalition had underestimated Colonel Qaddafi’s capacity to adapt military tactics to mitigate the airstrikes and cling to power.
"Libyan Opposition Pleads For Military Humanitarian Intervention" Radio VoP Zimbabwe 4/20/2011
In a country where civilians live in chronic fear of ruler Moammar Gadhafi's troops, Libya's main opposition body has pleaded for an international military intervention to create a humanitarian path to protect residents of besieged cities.
Libyans are "being slaughtered every day by the Gadhafi forces," rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah told CNN on Tuesday.
Residents of besieged cities are not getting adequate help because aid agencies are afraid of going to areas such as Misrata, which is being targeted by Gadhafi troops daily, opposition activist Mohamed Ibrahim said.
"Some of them, they come. But most of them, they come near ... they hear the shelling and everything and they go back," he said.
At least 27 people have been killed and 142 have been injured this week, according to an opposition spokesman who wanted to be identified only as "Mohammed" for safety reasons.
On Wednesday, UNICEF -- the United Nations' children's agency -- said 20 children have been killed and "countless others injured" in Misrata alone.
Aid groups have been attempting to pluck desperate people from Misrata, which is hemmed in by Gadhafi's forces on three sides.
The only escape route is by the city's port -- an area witnesses said has been shelled by Gadhafi's forces.
For those left behind, witnesses say, the dire situation continues to deteriorate.
"Misrata is still without of water and electricity and telecommunications," Mohammed said Tuesday. "Shelling has moved out of the industrial areas to the residential areas, and it is still going on."
A rebel spokesman said the opposition's Transitional National Council is not opposed to a humanitarian mission on the ground.
"Something needs to be done so we can stop the bloodshed of our people," Abdulmolah said.
But "we do not want any foreign military presence or any international fighters along with our rebels," the spokesman said.
The appeal comes as Britain prepares to send a contingent of military officers to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in an advisory role.
The team will work with the opposition on improving military organizational structures, communications and logistics, the British Foreign Office said. It will also assist in the delivery of critically needed aid.
"As the scale of the humanitarian crisis has grown, so has the urgency of increasing our efforts to defend civilians against the attack from Gadhafi forces," the British Foreign Office said in a statement Tuesday.
NATO is leading an international military operation that includes targeting Gadhafi's military resources with airstrikes.
The alliance is empowered by a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force to protect Libyan civilians.
NATO said the operation has destroyed seven ammunition bunkers in the Tripoli area as well as equipment in several other parts of Libya this week.
On Wednesday, a statement from British military spokesman Maj. Gen. John Lorimer said NATO attacked three regime battle tanks and a vehicle-mounted artillery piece in and around Misrata on Tuesday.
Abdulmolah said NATO strikes may have also prevented more destruction in eastern Libya, particularly near the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
"We received reports that Gadhafi forces were mobilizing their troops and their mobile missiles/rockets systems from Brega towards Ajdabiya to bomb Benghazi. They were stopped by (Tuesday's) NATO strikes," he said.
But he said the opposition wants "technical assistance" and weapons "because we are facing a merciless tyrant who wants to slaughter his own people just because they asked for freedom and liberty."
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