Libya: RAF strikes around Tripoli intensify as Col Gaddafi loses grip on power In the last 48 hours

[jakeXT]

Source: Telegraph

As rebel forces advanced on the capital it appears that air attacks were made in coordination with the land thrust.

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In the early hours of Saturday morning RAF Tornado GR4s made a precision strike on a key communications facility in south west Tripoli to “maintain constant pressure on the former regime” military sources said.

Five precision guided Paveway IV bombs were dropped on the site of former regime intelligence organisations headed by Abdullah Senussi, concealed in a building known as the Baroni Centre.

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The Royal Navy has also provided attack submarines, the helicopter carrier Ocean, a minesweeper and at least one destroyer. In recent week Liverpool, a Type 42 destroyer, has engaged Libyan forces with its 4.5in gun as well as providing illumination rounds for Apache helicopter attacks.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8714937/Libya-RAF-strikes-around-Tripoli-intensify-as-Col-Gaddafi-loses-grip-on-power.html

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Surveillance and Coordination With NATO Aided Rebels


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The cumulative effect not only destroyed Libya’s military infrastructure but also greatly diminished the ability of Colonel Qaddafi’s commanders to control forces, leaving even committed fighting units unable to move, resupply or coordinate operations.

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“NATO got smarter,” said Frederic Wehrey, a senior policy analyst with the RAND Corporation who follows Libya closely. “The strikes were better controlled. There was better coordination in avoiding collateral damage.” The rebels, while ill-trained and poorly organized even now, made the most of NATO’s direct and indirect support, becoming more effective in selecting targets and transmitting their location, using technology provided by individual NATO allies, to NATO’s targeting team in Italy.

“The rebels certainly have our phone number,” the diplomat said. “We have a much better picture of what’s happening on the ground.”

Rebel leaders in the west credited NATO with thwarting an attempt on Sunday by Qaddafi loyalists to reclaim Zawiyah with a flank assault on the city.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/world/africa/22nato.html

[Duende azul]

1. NATO "precision strikes" - We all know how that works.

How many people in Somalia could be fed with the money spend for only one of these precision strikes?
NATO has it's priorities in order.

Nothing of this is legitimate. And it never was.

Will the NATO apologists be here to report on the disaster and the transgressions that will follow?

[sofa king]

2. I get the impression that NATO is trying to wrap it up.

They seem to have thrown more money and effort at the problem. An alternative explanation could be that some minimum level of training and effectiveness has been reached by the rebels, allowing them to make some progress.

Either way, the timing of the break-in seems to be coinciding with Syrian success in crushing its own revolt. NATO may be trying to wrap this up so that they can bring their attentions to Syria. Syria is a touchy subject because if the Israelis make any offensive move toward them, even for humanitarian reasons, it will instantly change the political dynamic in the Middle East for the worse.

[jakeXT]

3. The mandate ends in September

ROME, July 28 (Itar-Tass) — Moscow, Rome and the Vatican hope for the beginning of a Libyan political process till September 30 when the U.N. mandate for NATO’s military operation expires, Russian presidential special representative for Africa Mikhail Margelov told journalists.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c53/194105.html