Libya, an oil-rich nation in North Africa, spent more than 40 years under the firm, if erratic, leadership of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. But in February 2011, the unrest sweeping through much of the Arab world erupted in several Libyan cities. Though it began with a relatively organized core of antigovernment opponents in Benghazi, its spread to the capital of Tripoli was swift and spontaneous. Colonel Qaddafi lashed out with a level of violence unseen in either of the other uprisings, but an inchoate opposition cobbled together the semblance of a transitional government, fielded a makeshift rebel army and portrayed itself to the West and Libyans as an alternative to Colonel Qaddafi's corrupt and repressive rule.
Momentum shifted quickly, however, and the rebels faced the possibilty of being outgunned and outnumbered in what increasingly looked like a mismatched civil war. Then as Colonel Qaddafi’s troops advanced to within 100 miles of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in the west, the United Nations Security Council voted to authorize military action, a risky foreign intervention aimed at averting a bloody rout of the rebels by loyalist forces. On March 19, American and European forces began a broad campaign of strikes against Colonel Qaddafi and his government, unleashing warplanes and missiles in a military intervention on a scale not seen in the Arab world since the Iraq war.
The attacks prompted two of Colonel Qaddafi's sons to float a proposal that would remove him from power, which the rebels rejected. Meanwhile, their ragtag forces surged forward and back, unable to make progress against the army despite the help from above but no longer in grave peril. In mid-April, Britain, France and Italy said they would send military liaison officers to help the rebels, a tacit admission that the airstrikes had failed to disable the government's forces. Suffering deepened in the besieged rebel-held city of Misurata in western Libya, as government forces pounded it with artillery, rockets, cluster bombs and land mines. But in mid-May the rebels retook the city's airport and appeared to be on the verge of lifting the siege, as NATO officials expressed greater confidence that their bombing campaign was degrading the government's forces.
In late May, Colonel Qaddafi rebuffed a mediation effort by South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, saying he would fight on. His words appeared to reflect a darkening sense of isolation, brought on by 10 weeks of NATO bombing, rebel advances in the east, Western leaders’ recent reaffirmation of demands for Colonel Qaddafi to quit, and the fact that Russia, an old ally of Libya, had joined those demands.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
June 3 The House of Representatives voted to harshly rebuke President Obama for continuing to maintain an American role in NATO operations in Libya without the express consent of Congress, and called for detailed information about its cost and objectives. The resolution, which passed 268 to 145, was offered by Speaker John Boehner to siphon off swelling Republican support for a measure sponsored by Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, which calls for a withdrawal of the United States military.
June 1 In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance would extend its mission for 90 days, saying “This decision sends a clear message to the Qaddafi regime: We are determined to continue our operation to protect the people of Libya.” Antigovernment unrest was reported in Tripoli for the first time in months.
May 31 In talks with South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, the Libya leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi “emphasized” that he will not leave Libya despite air attacks and international pressure, according to Mr. Zuma, who went to Tripoli to mediate on behalf of the African Union.
May 27 Russia has offered to use its contacts in the Libyan government to facilitate Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s departure from power, top officials announced at a meeting of the Group of 8 countries. The announcement, which came after intensive talks between President Barack Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev, represents a marked shift in Russia’s tone on the conflict.
May 24 In the heaviest attack yet on the capital since the start of the two-month-old NATO bombing campaign, alliance aircraft struck at least 15 targets in central Tripoli, with most of the airstrikes concentrated on an area around Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s command compound.
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May 22 The European Union’s foreign policy chief visited Benghazi, and rebels said the high-profile trip was evidence of growing international recognition for their cause.
May 20 NATO officials expressed increased confidence that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s military position was weakening, and that allied airstrikes had prevented his forces from making sustained attacks on rebel forces and had driven him into hiding.
May 17 The oil minister of Libya fled to neighboring Tunisia over the weekend, the Tunisian Interior Ministry said, in what appeared to be another high-level defection from the increasingly isolated government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
May 16 The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague sought arrest warrants for Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya, his son and his brother-in-law on charges of orchestrating systematic attacks against civilians that amount to crimes against humanity.
May 15 Two months into the NATO bombing campaign against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces, Britain’s top military commander has said that the Libyan leader could remain “clinging to power” unless NATO broadened its bombing targets to include the country’s infrastructure.
May 12 A day after rebels reclaimed the airport in the contested western city of Misurata, explosions echoed across Tripoli early as NATO warplanes struck a large compound belonging to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and other areas of the capital. President Obama and his legal advisers are deliberating about how the United States military may lawfully continue participating in NATO’s bombing campaign in Libya after the air war soon reaches a legal deadline for terminating combat operations that have not been authorized by Congress.
May 11 Rebels in the besieged city of Misurata stormed the city’s airport, reclaiming it from the military of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in one of the most significant rebel victories in the Libyan conflict. The western area of Misurata appeared by nightfall to be out of range of the most common of the Qaddafi forces’ heavy weapons, which have killed large numbers of rebel soldiers and civilians over the last two months.
May 10 A string of killings in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, still unsolved, have raised the specter of a death squad stalking former Qaddafi officials. The killings have unsettled an already paranoid city, where rebel authorities have spent weeks trying to round up people suspected of being Qaddafi loyalists, and could pose a challenge to a movement trying to present a vision of a new country committed to the rule of law.
May 9 Rebel fighters made significant gains against forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in both the western and eastern areas of the country, in the first faint signs that NATO airstrikes may be starting to strain the government forces.
May 8 Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi struck the fuel terminal of the rebel-controlled city of Misurata with ground-to-ground rockets, igniting a fire that threatened the city’s fuel supply.
May 6 France, which has taken a lead role in supporting rebels fighting Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya, expelled 14 Libyan diplomatic officials. The Foreign Ministry made the announcement shortly after Western nations announced plans to provide the insurgents with financial support. Earlier in the week, Britain expelled Libya’s ambassador and other diplomats from London.
May 5 The United States announced that it would try to release some of the more than $30 billion in assets seized from Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, as international officials said they would create a fund to give money directly to the Libyan rebels. The meeting seemed to bolster a NATO-led military intervention that to critics appeared stalled.
May 4 Behind the rebel resistance in the besieged city of Misurata lies a clandestine network of rebel workshops, where makeshift weapons have been designed, assembled and pushed out.
May 3 Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a key regional powerbroker, told reporters that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi had chosen “blood, tears, oppression” and must “immediately step down.” Turkey has historic and business ties to Libya and has tried to act as an intermediary between Colonel Qaddafi’s government and rebels seeking his ouster. But Mr. Erdogan now appeared to draw a line, telling a televised news conference that Colonel Qaddafi had violently resisted calls for change and must leave power for the good of the country and the Libyan people.
May 1 Even as Col. Muammar Qaddafi denied killing civilians, shells continued to rain down on Misurata, where clinics and hospitals have confirmed at least 530 deaths from war-related trauma. This count does not include many people who did not reach medical care before they died, and were buried by their families. Estimates for the conflict as a whole have ranged as high as 30,000.
April 30 A NATO airstrike struck a house in Tripoli containing several of Col. Muammar Qaddafi's family members and killed his youngest son, Seif al-Arab Muammar el-Qaddafi, and three of the colonel’s grandchildren. Col. Qaddafi and his wife had been staying in the house, but were reported to be unharmed. The attack came shortly after Mr. Qaddafi gave a speech offering to hold talks with the rebels, but not to leave the country.
April 29 Libyan forces in more than a dozen military vehicles and armed with anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers crossed into Tunisia as fighting with rebels raged along the western frontier, witnesses said. Tunisia's government was furious after clashes broke out on its territory and demanded Libya halt all incursions.
April 27 NATO warplanes attacked a rebel position on the front lines of Misurata, killing 12 fighters in what the rebels called a friendly fire accident. The American ambassador to Libya, speaking in Washington, said that estimates of the death toll from the violence range from 10,000 to 30,000.
April 26 NATO planners said the allies are stepping up attacks on palaces, headquarters, communications centers and other prominent institutions supporting the Libyan regime, a shift of targets that is intended to weaken Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s grip on power and frustrate his forces in the field. The strikes are meant to reduce the regime’s ability to harm civilians by eliminating, link by link, the command, communications and supply chains required for sustaining military operations. The hope is that they will lead to mass defections or a coup.
April 25 NATO warplanes struck Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s compound and bombed a state television facility in an escalation of the air campaign to aid the rebellion against his four decades in power. The attack suggested that nonmilitary targets would be hit in an effort to break down the instruments of Colonel Qaddafi’s broader control.
April 24 Rebel leaders said they had consolidated their control of the western city of Misurata, taking over the last two government outposts there even as government forces continued to shell the city from its outskirts.
April 23 In a sudden shift after nearly two months of heavy siege, government forces withdrew from the western city of Misurata. The departure came so quickly that even rebel leaders puzzled over whether the withdrawal was a true military victory, a subterfuge by pro-Qaddafi forces who might return in plain clothes, or a strategic redeployment to new fronts in the mountains along the western border with Tunisia. The government said the army had ceased operations in order to give tribal leaders a chance to negotiate a resolution to the siege.
April 22 The government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi suffered setbacks on multiple fronts as rebels in the western mountains seized a Tunisian border crossing, fighters in the besieged city of Misurata said they were gaining ground and President Obama authorized the use of armed drones for close-in fighting against the Qaddafi forces.
April 21 Libyan rebels said they had control of a post on the Tunisian border, forcing government soldiers to flee over the frontier and possibly opening a new channel for opposition forces in Col. Moammar el-Qadaffi's bastion in western Libya. And a survey of weapons carried by hundreds of rebels fighting on two fronts presents a picture of an uprising that is both underequipped and in custody of many weapons with no utility in the war. The rebels also possess weapons that if sold, lost or misused, could undermine their cause. President Obama authorized the use of armed Predator drones against Libya government forces fighting the rebellion, as NATO struggles to regain momentum since taking command of the operation from the United States.
April 20 The French and Italian governments said that they would join Britain in sending a small number of military liaison officers to support the ragtag rebel army in Libya, offering a diplomatic boost for the insurgent leader, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, as he met with President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.
April 19 Britain will send experienced military officers to Libya to advise rebels fighting forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. The soldiers marching orders are to help the rebels’ makeshift force “improve their military organizational structures, communications and logistics,” Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, said in a statement.
April 15 Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, surrounding Misurata and vowing to crush the rebellion there, fired into residential neighborhoods with heavy weapons, including cluster bombs, which were banned by much of the world. And divisions in NATO over the intensity of the air campaign emerged again on the second day of a gathering of foreign ministers. While the British foreign secretary said efforts to persuade more countries to adopt a tougher military posture toward the forces of Colonel Qaddafi were “making a bit of progress,” the Italian defense minister said his country would not order its pilots to open fire over Libya.
April 14 NATO foreign ministers gathered to wrestle with increasingly complex questions raised by the stalled conflict in Libya, seeking a formula for political progress in the absence of any decisive military gains. Pentagon officials disclosed that American warplanes had continued to strike targets there even after the Obama administration said the United States was stepping back from offensive missions and letting NATO take the lead.
April 13 NATO, Arab and African ministers met with Libya’s rebels here in a show of support for insurgents who are seeking to overthrow Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi against a backdrop of division over the pace of coalition air attacks on pro-Qaddafi forces. France and Britain have openly called on the alliance and its partners to intensify airstrikes on Libyan government troops to protect civilians, prompting an unusual public retort from NATO’s command.
April 11 African Union negotiators faced a chilly reception upon arriving in eastern Libya to try brokering a cease-fire with Libyan rebels, a day after Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s military forces appeared to falter in their assault against the rebel side in the battle for the strategic city of Ajdabiya.
April 9 Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi pressed a coordinated ground attack on Ajdabiya, bringing the front lines of the battle with Libyan opposition forces back to the doorstep of this strategically vital rebel city.
April 6 Stung by criticism from rebel leaders, NATO officials said that the pace of attacks on the forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was increasing, after a slight slowdown as the coalition handed off responsibility earlier in the week. Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, the head of the rebel army, had lashed out at his Western allies during a news conference in Benghazi, accusing NATO of tardiness and indecision.
April 5 Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi battered rebel fighters on the road outside the strategic oil town of Brega with rocket fire, mortars and artillery, driving them many miles to the north and leaving them in disarray. Colonel Qaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, promised in a television interview to usher in a new era of constitutional democracy in which his father would be a mere figurehead “like the queen of England.”
April 4 The United States began to remove its warplanes from front-line missions in Libya and focus on a support role there. The changeover came as diplomatic maneuvering quickened with Turkey announcing efforts to secure a cease-fire and Italy saying it was recognizing the rebels seeking to oust Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, only the third country to do so. The Obama administration also dropped financial sanctions against Moussa Kousa, the top Libyan official who fled to Britain, saying it hoped the move would encourage other senior aides to abandon Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the country’s embattled leader.
April 3 At least two sons of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi are proposing a resolution to the Libyan conflict that would entail pushing their father aside to make way for a transition to a constitutional democracy under the direction of his son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi. At the same time, as the struggle with Colonel Qaddafi threatened to settle into a stalemate, the rebel government here was showing growing strains that imperil its struggle to complete a revolution and jeopardize requests for foreign military aid and recognition.
April 1 A senior aide to one of Col Muammar el-Qaddafi’s sons held secret talks in London with British authorities, adding to the confusion swirling around the Tripoli regime. East of Brega, the Libyan rebels prepared for a further attempt to wrest the momentum of ground fighting away from Colonel Qaddafi’s forces after days of see-sawing advances and retreats. In Washington, President Obama’s top two national security officials signaled that the United States was unlikely to arm the rebels. Members of the NATO alliance said they had sternly warned the rebels not to attack civilians. Timeline: Qaddafi
March 31 Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces pushed rebels into a panicked retreat and seized valuable oil towns they ceded just days ago under allied airstrikes. Libya’s foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, defected to London, dealing a blow to Colonel Qaddafi’s government even as his forces made military advances. American officials revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and to contact and vet the beleaguered rebels.
March 30 Leaders of four dozen countries meeting in London agreed that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi would have to relinquish power, even though regime change is not the stated aim of the United Nations resolution authorizing military action against his forces. With the momentum of ground combat tilting in favor of forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi, rebels seeking to oust him embarked on a large-scale withdrawal from the coastal oil town of Brega, falling back toward the strategically located city of Ajdabiya. The Obama administration engaged in a fierce debate over whether to supply weapons to the rebels, with some fearful that providing arms would deepen American involvement in a civil war and that some fighters may have links to Al Qaeda.
March 29 In his first major address since ordering American airstrikes, President Obama defended the American-led military assault in Libya, saying it was in the national interest of the United States to stop a potential massacre and that the assault would be limited. An array of diplomats and public figures gathered in London to shape their political vision of a post-Qaddafi era. In Libya, rebels seeking the ouster of Colonel Quaddafi traded rocket fire with loyalist forces, who have blunted the insurgents’ westward advance. At the same time, American warplanes appeared to have opened a new line of attack on pro-Qaddafi forces, firing on three Libyan vessels off the contested western port of Misurata.
BACKGROUND
Colonel Qaddafi took power in a bloodless coup in September 1969 and has ruled with an iron fist, seeking to spread Libya’s influence in Africa. He has built his rule on a cult of personality and a network of family and tribal alliances supported by largess from Libya’s oil revenues.
The United States withdrew its ambassador from Libya in 1972 after Colonel Qaddafi renounced agreements with the West and repeatedly inveighed against the United States in speeches and public statements.
After a mob sacked and burned the American Embassy in 1979, the United States cut off relations. But the relationship did not reach its nadir until 1986, when the Reagan administration accused Libya of ordering the bombing of a German discothèque that killed three people. In response, the United States bombed targets in Tripoli and Benghazi.
The most notorious of Libya's actions was the bombing in 1988 of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. Libya later accepted responsibility, turned over suspects and paid families of victims more than $2 billion.
After a surprise decision to renounce terrorism in 2003, Colonel Qaddafi re-established diplomatic and economic ties throughout Europe. He had also changed with regard to Israel. The man who once called for pushing the ''Zionists'' into the sea advocated the forming of one nation where Jews and Palestinians would live together in peace.
Rather than trying to destabilize his Arab neighbors, he founded a pan-African confederation modeled along the lines of the European Union. On Feb. 2, 2009, Colonel Qaddafi was named chairman of the African Union. His election, however, caused some unease among some of the group's 53-member nations as well as among diplomats and analysts. The colonel, who has ruled Libya with an iron hand, was a stark change from the succession of recent leaders from democratic countries like Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria.
The most significant changes had been the overtures Colonel Qaddafi has made toward the United States. He was among the first Arab leaders to denounce the Sept. 11 attacks, and he lent tacit approval to the American-led invasion of Afghanistan. To the astonishment of other Arab leaders, he reportedly shared his intelligence files on Al Qaeda with the United States to aid in the hunt for its international operatives. He had also cooperated with the United States and Europe on nuclear weapons, terrorism and immigration issues.
In August 2009, Colonel Qaddafi embarrassed the British government and drew criticism from President Obama with his triumphant reaction to the release from prison of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Mr. Megrahi was given a hero's welcome when he arrived in Libya, and Colonel Qaddafi thanked British and Scottish officials for releasing Mr. Megrahi at a time that they were trying to distance themselves from the action.
Colonel Qaddafi, born in 1942, is the father of many sons who are now jockeying to succeed him. Experts say his eldest, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, is the current leader. Educated in Britain, well-dressed and fluent in English, he has been a bridge between the Libya power centers and the West.
Prior to the 2011 unrest, the only hint of potential change in Libya came from Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, who spoke of dismantling a legacy of Socialism and authoritarianism introduced by his father 40 years ago. Seif Qaddafi proposed far-reaching ideas: tax-free investment zones, a tax haven for foreigners, the abolition of visa requirements and the development of luxury hotels.
Seif Qaddafi liked to boast that his country could be “the Dubai of North Africa,” he said, citing Libya’s proximity to Europe (the flight from London to Tripoli is under three hours), its abundant energy reserves and 1,200 miles of mostly unspoiled Mediterranean coastline. Libya is wealthier than debt-ridden, oil-poor Dubai. Its $15,000 gross domestic product per person ranks it above Poland, Mexico and Chile, according to the World Bank. The government’s sovereign fund, a reserve of oil revenues, boasts $65 billion. And the government has announced plans to invest $130 billion over the next three years to improve infrastructure.
But the reality of daily life in Tripoli remained far removed from those lofty notions. The streets were strewn with garbage, there were gaping holes in the sidewalks, tourist-friendly hotels and restaurants were few and far between. And while a number of seaside hotels were being built, the city largely ignored its most spectacular asset, the Mediterranean.
Unemployment is estimated as high as 30 percent and much of the potential work force is insufficiently trained.
Uprising in Libya
In February 2011, protests broke out in several parts of Libya on a so-called Day of Rage to challenge Colonel Qaddafi's 41-year-old iron rule — the region’s longest. Thousands turned out in the restive city of Benghazi; in Tripoli; and at three other locations, according to Human Rights Watch. The state media, though, showed Libyans waving green flags and shouting in support of Colonel Qaddafi.
Trying to demonstrate that he was still in control, Colonel Qaddafi appeared on television on Feb. 22, 2011, speaking from his residence on the grounds of an army barracks in Tripoli that still showed scars from when the United States bombed it in 1986.
Colonel Qaddafi, who took power in a military coup, has always kept the Libyan military too weak and divided to rebel against him. About half of Libya's relatively small 50,000-member army is made up of poorly trained and unreliable conscripts, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Many of its battalions are organized along tribal lines, ensuring their loyalty to their own clan rather than to top military commanders — a pattern evident in the defection of portions of the army to help protesters take the eastern city of Benghazi. Some Libyans and scholars outside the country say this system of tribal alliances, long Colonel Qaddafi’s most potent weapon, is now emerging as perhaps a potential vulnerability.
His own clan dominates the air force and the upper level of army officers, and they are believed to have remained loyal to him, in part because his clan has the most to lose from his ouster.
Distrustful of his own generals, he built up an elaborate paramilitary force — accompanied by special segments of the regular army that report primarily to his family. It is designed to check the army and in part to subdue his own population. At the top of that structure is his roughly 3,000-member revolutionary guard corps, which mainly guards him personally.
But perhaps the most significant force that Colonel Qaddafi has deployed against the current insurrection is one believed to consist of about 2,500 ruthless mercenaries from countries like Chad, Sudan and Niger that he calls his Islamic Pan African Brigade.
The Ongoing Conflict
On Feb. 25, security forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi used gunfire to try to disperse thousands of protesters who streamed out of mosques after prayers to mount their first major challenge to the government’s crackdown in Tripoli. Rebel leaders said they were sending forces from nearby cities and other parts of the country to join the fight.
The ring of rebel control around Tripoli tightened, but in a sign that the fight was far from over, armed government forces massed around the city.
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Colonel Qaddafi and his inner circle of advisers, and called for an international war crimes investigation into “widespread and systemic attacks” against Libyan citizens.
On March 2, rebels in the strategic oil city of Brega repelled an attack by hundreds of Colonel Qaddafi’s fighters. The daylong battle was the first major incursion by the colonel’s forces in the rebel-held east of the country since the Libyan uprising began.
Air power proved to be Colonel Qaddafi’s biggest advantage, and rebels were unable to use bases and planes they captured in the east. Planes and helicopters gave the Qaddafi forces an additional advantage in moving ammunition and supplies, a crucial factor given the length of the Libyan coast between the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and Tripoli.
As Colonel Qaddafi’s forces tried to retake a series of strategic oil towns on the east coast of the country, which fell early in the rebellion to antigovernment rebels, the West continued to debate what actions to take.
Western Involvement
After days of often acrimonious debate played out against a desperate clock, the Security Council authorized member nations to take “all necessary measures” to protect civilians, diplomatic code words calling for military action. Benghazi erupted in celebration at news of the resolution’s passage.
A military campaign against Colonel Qaddafi, under British and French leadership, was launched less than 48 hours later. American forces mounted a campaign to knock out Libya’s air defense systems, firing volley after volley of Tomahawk missiles from nearby ships against missile, radar and communications centers. Within a week allied air strikes had averted a rout by Colonel Qaddafi of Benghazi and established a no-fly zone over Libya.
The campaign, however, was dogged by friction over who should command the operation, with the United States eventually handing off its lead role to NATO, and by uncertainty over its ultimate goal. Western leaders acknowledged that there was no endgame beyond the immediate United Nations authorization to protect Libyan civilians, and it was uncertain whether even military strikes would force Colonel Qaddafi from power.
In a nationally televised speech March 28, President Obama defended the American-led military assault, emphasizing that it would be limited and insisting that America had the responsibility and the international backing to stop what he characterized as a looming genocide. At the same time, he said, directing American troops to forcibly remove Colonel Qaddafi from power would be a step too far, and would “splinter” the international coalition that has moved against the Libyan government.
The question of the opposition’s capabilities is likely to prove decisive to the fate of the rebellion, which no longer appears outmatched by government forces or troubled by tribal divisions that the government sought to exploit.
But as they seek to capitalize on the damage from Western airstrikes, rebel forces in Libya are fired more by enthusiasm than experience. The political leadership has virtually begged the international community to recognize it, but it has yet to impose its authority in regions it nominally controls.
Meanwhile, the American military warned that the insurgents’ rapid advances could quickly be reversed without continued coalition air support.
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General Information on Libya
Official Name: Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Capital: Tripoli (Current local time)
Government Type: Jamahiriya (a state of the masses) in theory, governed by the populace through local councils; in practice, an authoritarian state.
Chief of State: Muammar el-Qaddafi, Col.
Population: 6.037 million (2007, est.)
Area: 679,362 square miles, or slightly larger than Alaska.
Languages: Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities.
Literacy: Total Population: 82.6%; Male: 92.4%; Female: 72% (2003 est.)
GDP Per Capita: $12,300 (2003)
Year of Independence: 1951
Syrian refugees talk with a Turkish soldier in a refugee camp in the Turkish border town of Boynuegin in Hatay province yesterday.
Libya
