Libya - Latest Updates ( Archived) (926)

Paldi5: US and NATO mulling some action... Obama very involved.



Report: NATO may attack Libya if violence continuesAfter Obama says 'suffering and bloodshed is outrageous, unacceptable,' European official tells al-Quds al-Arabi NATO, US warplanes stationed in Italy may be ordered to take down Libyan planes. Wall Street Journal: Washington fears Gaddafi may use mustard gas against protestors

Roee Nahmias Published: 02.24.11, 11:34 / Israel News
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NATO forces may attack forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi if the Libyan air force continues to bomb anti-government protesters, the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reported Thursday, citing a European official claiming the US had threatened to intervene in the violence.The source said NATO and US warplanes stationed in Italy may be ordered to take down Libyan planes, and that electronic warfare against them may already have been implemented.


The source told al-Quds al-Arabi that NATO forces may launch an aerial attack on Libya or fire missiles from warships positioned in international waters near Tripoli. Libyan army weapons caches may also be targeted, the source said.

US President Barack Obama said late Wednesday that the violent crackdown in Libya violated international norms and that he had ordered his national security team to prepare the full range of options for dealing with the crisis.

"It is imperative that the nations and peoples of the world speak with one voice," he told reporters in his first public comments on the turmoil in Libya.

The State Department said freezing Libyan assets, including those belonging to Gaddafi, were among the options being considered, and some US lawmakers have urge direct action such as imposing no-fly zones.

"The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and it is unacceptable," Obama said at the White House with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at his side. "These actions violate international norms and every standard of common decency. This violence must stop."

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Washington fears Gaddafi may use mustard gas and other chemical-weapons agents against anti-government protestors. The newspaper quoted US officials as saying Tripoli also maintains control of aging Scud B missiles, as well as 1,000 metric tons of uranium yellowcake and vast amounts of conventional weapons.

DeVino: more from the BBC.

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1256: A security service spokesman goes on Libyan TV to offer an amnesty to protesters who lay down their arms: "The General Libyan People's Committee calls on people who have any weapons which they received illegally to surrender them. He who submits his weapon and shows remorse will be exempt from legal prosecution. The committee calls on citizens to help them by informing them about those who misled young people, or supplied them with money, equipment or intoxicating substances and hallucinatory pills. A monetary reward will be given to anyone who reports them or provides any information which will help us arrest them."