BRUSSELS – As opposition forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi continued to advance west on Monday, March 28, NATO has agreed to take command of military operations in the oil-rich Arab country.
"NATO allies have decided to take on the whole military operation in Libya under the United Nations Security Council resolution," said Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Reuters reported.
"Our goal is to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat from the Gaddafi regime,” he said.
The decision, which could take up to 72 hours to implement, puts the 28-member military alliance in charge of operations against Gaddafi’s troops as well as implementing a no-fly zone and an arms embargo.
The operations will be led by Canadian General Charles Bouchard, NATO said.
“NATO will implement all aspects of the UN resolution. Nothing more, nothing less," Rasmussen said.
NATO member-states have been divided over the alliance’s role in the UN-mandated operations against Gaddafi’s regime.
France, which led an international campaign to pass a UN resolution authorizing the use of force against Gaddafi’s regime, has opposed giving the US-led NATO political control over military operations in an Arab country.
In arguing against a prominent NATO role, France has cited the alliance's poor reputation in the Arab world as a result of the war in Afghanistan and the perception that NATO is dominated by the United States.
But Turkey, a Muslim-majority country, has called for limits to any alliance involvement to avoid casualties among Muslim civilians.
NATO taking charge will encourage participation from more countries in the alliance which had been reluctant to join in the offensive against Libya.
"You will be able to rely on a great number of allies who up to this point, while wanting to participate in the operation were unwilling to do so until it came under NATO," a senior US administration official said.
"So what we will see now is more countries participating, and that will allow the United States to be part of a much larger effort, rather than having to take the lead. That's why we wanted to hand it off in a matter of days, and we've now done that."
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the United States would begin reducing the military forces it had committed to the Libya mission "beginning this week or within the next week or so."
Problems
As Gaddafi’s opponents continued to advance, analysts predict major problems for the NATO.
Daniel Keohane of the European Institute for Security Studies said fighting there could result in large numbers of casualties.
"If rebel forces were seen to be seeking revenge on Gaddafi supporters, it could cause huge political problems for the alliance because the U.N. mandate to protect civilians should apply across the board," he told Reuters.
Keohane said the risk of causing civilian casualties in towns like Tripoli could lead to disputes in the NATO council as to what is a legitimate target.
"It will be very difficult to determine who is who and when protecting civilians becomes taking sides," he said.
"That will be the key question."
The warning comes as opposition forces on said Monday that they captured Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte.
"It's confirmed Sirte has fallen into pro-democracy hands," said the rebel spokesman, Shamsiddin Abdulmolah.
He said the rebels had not faced much resistance from pro-Gaddafi forces.
There was no independent confirmation of the claim.
As Gaddafi's birthplace, Sirte has great symbolic importance.
If it fell, the rebels would gain a great psychological boost and the road towards Tripoli would lie open.
