Britain to send advisers to Libyan rebels

Photo by: STR

AP

Photo

A man passes graffiti caricatures related to Moammar Gadhafi and Brega, during a funeral in Benghazi, Tuesday, April 19, 2011. The writing on the wall reads "the greatest rat of all," in Arabic. Europe is ready to send an armed force to Libya to ensure delivery of humanitarian aid and Britain said Tuesday it will dispatch senior military officers to advise the opposition - signs that Western nations are inching closer to having troops on Libyan soil.

Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya

Britain is sending up to 20 military advisers to help Libya’s ragtag rebel force break a military stalemate with Moammar Gadhafi’s army, even as NATO acknowledges that airstrikes alone cannot stop the daily shelling of the besieged opposition-held city of Misrata.

Gadhafi’s troops have been pounding Misrata indiscriminately with mortars and rockets, a NATO general said Tuesday, and residents reported more explosions and firefights in Libya’s third-largest city. Hospitals are overflowing, and 120 patients need to be evacuated from the city that has been under siege for nearly two months, the World Health Organization said.

The plight of Misrata’s civilians and the battlefield deadlock are raising new questions about the international community’s strategy in Libya. The leaders of the U.S., Britain and France have said Gadhafi must go but seem unwilling to commit to a more forceful military campaign. NATO’s mandate is restricted to protecting civilians.

Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, chairman of NATO’s military committee, said that even though the military alliance’s operations have done “quite significant damage” to the Libyan regime’s heavy weaponry, what Gadhafi has left is “still considerable.”

Asked if more airpower is needed, Di Paola said any “significantly additional” allied contribution would be welcome.

The rebels seized control of most of eastern Libya shortly after the uprising began in February, while Gadhafi is entrenched in the west, but the front line hasn’t changed dramatically since then.

“I am very optimistic. We will win,” Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, said on state television, referring to the fighting.

“The balance changes every day in our favor,” he said in a joking but defiant manner during a televised town hall meeting that lasted two hours.

Frustration over the stalemate has spurred talk in the West of new tactics, including dispatching military personnel to Libya.

Britain took the lead Tuesday, saying it is sending up to 20 senior soldiers who will help organize the rebels, many of whom have had little military training or battle experience. However, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain would not arm the opposition or assist in military operations.

Britain already has sent nonlethal support, including 1,000 sets of body armor and 100 satellite phones.

Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said Britain’s attempt to help the rebels is futile.

“This is not in the interest of the U.K.,” Kaim told The Associated Press. “This is an impossible mission. To organize who? They [the rebels] are different groups. There is no leader. They are not well-organized, and I am sure it will be a failure.”

Allies also would consider supplying Libya’s rebels with technical equipment such as radar or systems to intercept and block telecommunications, said Italian Foreign Minster Franco Frattini.

He said this would be discussed at a meeting next month of the international contact group on Libya.

However, both Italy and France remain opposed to sending ground troops.