Air strikes to Libya started after related UNSC resolution. In my opinion sc “Responsibility to protect" principle (R2P) could be applied if Gaddafi would use against opposition weapons of mass destruction - such as mustard gas (almost ten tonnes in his possession), bioweapons, " yellow-cake "uranium, Scud-B missiles, or if he with help of foreign mercenaries starts ethnic cleaning of demonstrating tribes. Information from the field is, again, so contradictory that I do not know if my later criteria realized. In addition, if military option will be used so I think that it should be implemented by Arab League or African union forces not by western powers to avoid operation to be colonialist in character.

Active role of France in the war can be well understood not so much of its the historical dominance in region but more reflecting the coming French presidential election and the extreamely low support figures of Sarcozy.
Implementation of no-fly zone began when French fighters destroyed four tanks. Unconfirmed reports claim that the airstrikes and cruise missiles have hit also civilian targets and that missiles have had also depleted uranium in their warheads. If this is true one can only ask whether Western powers have learned anything from the Balkan wars, from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Arab League chief said on Sunday that Arabs did not want military strikes by Western powers that hit civilians when the League called for a no-fly zone over Libya. In comments carried by Egypt's official state news agency, Secretary-General Amr Moussa also said he was calling for an emergency Arab League meeting to discuss the situation in the Arab world and particularly Libya. "What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians," he said. "He requested official reports about what happened in Libya in terms of aerial and marine bombardment that led to the deaths and injuries of many Libyan civilians."
Some of my recent articles over MENA region:
- Support for Iranian Opposition
- Days of Rage on the Arab street
- PaliLeaks, land swaps and desperate search of peace
- Cyber war has became a tool between political and military options
- Is Yemen the next target for the War on Terror?
- Saudi-Israeli cooperation for attacking Iran
- Fragments of the Middle East peace efforts
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