ANOTHER UPDATE: LIBYA
The eastern opposition is now universally flying the tri-color, pre-Qaddafi flag and a semblance of order has returned in eastern and central Libya. More government officials have resigned, including the Libyan Justice Minister who has now formed a 3-month, transitional government. His government has several endorsements including the envoys to the UN and US.
The road from Benghazi to Tripoli is entirely in opposition control with the exception of the city of Sirte which divides the road about halfway through (Sirte is from Qaddafi's tribe). Sirte is arguably the last Qaddafi-controlled city outside of Tripoli itself. Rumors are swirling that eastern rebels are assembling a volunteer army to push westward into Sirte and Tripoli in order to embolden the relatively unarmed protesters in those cities. 22 volunteers had tried the same a day or two ago, but were all caught and executed.
The big news is that western cities have begun falling to the rebels, too, including Libya's third largest city, Misurata. Zlitan, Sabratha, and Zawaiya have also fallen.
The map below is several days old, and since it was posted the cities mentioned above are now rebel-controlled:
"U.S. officials have been pushing European countries to take the lead in world powers' response to Gadhafi, arguing that the Europeans have closer ties and more leverage. U.S. officials also want to limit military involvement in what could be a protracted civil war, coming at a time when U.S. forces are overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan...'This is predominately a European problem, in the sense that they are the ones who have the most at stake,' said a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive diplomacy."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jewishworldreview.com/0211/obama_europe_libya.php3
Thanks to Adamantine for the link.
Note: The 10-nation (full members) EU military organization, the Modified Brussels Treaty Powers, aka Western European Union (WEU), comes to mind. Fwiw.