NATO is shifting into high gear in Libya in a clear bid to deliver a decisive blow against Moamer Kadhafi, hitting Tripoli with a flurry of bombs as key allies are desperate to avoid a lengthy campaign. The Libyan capital was rocked early Tuesday by the heaviest alliance bombardment to date in the heart of the Gaddafi regime, which has defied pressure to quit power two months into a relentless air war.
“The regime has become very apathetic in the last 15 days. It has lost the military initiative and appears on the defensive, which is a sign that we are on the right path,” a senior NATO military official said on Tuesday. “We think that we must speed up and increase the tempo of our operations to let the fruit drop on its own,” the official said, adding that allies hope that by “end of June, beginning July, Gaddafi has fallen.”
After three months of fighting, however, the regime remains entrenched in the west, notably in Tripoli, while the rebels control swathes of the east from their bastion in Benghazi. Worried about getting bogged down in an endless stalemate, NATO allies, who were divided over going into Libya in the first place and face budgetary constraints, have no choice but to increase the pressure, the official said.
The alliance must “speed up the systematic destruction of Tripoli’s military machine with the goal of neutralising Kadhafi’s forces for good,” he said. NATO began to turn up the heat last month with almost daily strikes in and around Tripoli, including an evening air raid on April 30 that the regime says killed one of Kadhafi’s sons and three grandchildren. NATO has not confirmed the deaths. The regime accused NATO of striking a deserted military barracks in Tripoli early Tuesday, killing three civilians and wounding another 150.
But the alliance said its aircraft struck a vehicle storage facility adjacent to Kadhafi’s vast Bab al-Aziziyah compound. NATO has steadfastly denied that Gaddafi himself is in its crosshairs, insisting that it is only aiming at military targets such as command and control facilities that the regime uses to direct its forces. After using combat jets and some unmanned drones to bomb Kadhafi’s military machine, the alliance is about to get helicopters for the first time, giving the alliance high-precision weaponry but exposing it to new risks with the low-flying aircraft.
French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet announced late Monday that both Paris and London were deploying the helicopters. A NATO diplomat said France and Britain, the first nations along with the United States to launch air raids on March 19, are in a hurry to get out of Libya. “They reject the prospect of a lengthy engagement,” the diplomat said. An allied military officer said the two nations even sent dozens of special forces in Misrata to help NATO aircraft target Gaddafi forces, preventing the rebel-held western city from falling into regime hands.
The secret mission has never been made public, but it appears to have been effective. After a two-month siege, the rebels routed pro-Gaddafi who were surrounding the city on May 12. A key date looms at the end of June when NATO’s 28 member states decide whether to extend the mission, which is working under a 90-day military plan. The alliance already had to overcome divisions to go into Libya, with Germany and Turkey voicing opposition to a military intervention to stop Gaddafi from massacring protesters who rose up in mid-February.
