Cameron is ready to arm the rebels as air strikes set to continue until Gaddafi goes but war of words rages with Nato on whether move would be legal




'The Libyan people cannot reach a new future on their own'

Libyan opposition sets out vision for 'free and civil society'



Government troops force rebels back from Gaddafi's home town Sirte



Obama says regime change 'would be a mistake'

Gaddafi's son Khamis 'appears on TV' after claims he had been killed

The war so far has cost the U.S. $550million



Britain is actively considering arming the Libyan rebels after their leaders pleaded with David Cameron for weapons to beat Colonel Gaddafi.

Members of Libya’s opposition told the Prime Minister yesterday they could defeat the dictator in days if the West beefs up their firepower.

They also demanded that Gaddafi stand trial for his crimes, as diplomats appeared at odds over plans to offer the Libyan dictator safe passage into exile.

Foreign Secretary William Hague and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both said arming the rebels would be legal. But Britain and America were pitched into a row with Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who said UN Resolution 1973 did not allow the arming of the rebels.



Airstrike: Explosions as coalition missiles fall on Tajoura, near Tripoli

He said Nato was seeking to enforce the arms embargo, not breach it, and added: ‘We are there to protect people, not to arm people.’

But the case for arming the rebels became more pressing yesterday, with Gaddafi’ s forces pushing them back after making advances at the weekend.



Opening a London summit on Libya, Mr Cameron said Colonel Gaddafi was ‘in flagrant breach’ of UN resolutions. ‘People in Misrata continue to suffer murderous attacks from the regime,’ he said.

‘Gaddafi is using snipers to shoot people down and let them bleed to death in the street. He has cut off food, water and electricity to starve people into submission.’



Air strike: The power of an explosion is shown by the bright white coloured plume that rose from the impact zone while another missile drops towards its target



Ray of light: The dramatic raid on a Gaddafi ammunition depot in the town of Mizdah caused damage as far as 15km away

The bombing raid took place while international leaders in London were exploring ways to tackle the dictator and his loyalists



Retreat: Rebel forces were driven back east to Bin Jawwad after a heavy assault by regime forces when they were just 60 miles east of the city

UK Government lawyers have given the green light for arms drops to the opposition forces. The move could lead to a dramatic escalation of Britain’s involvement in the Libyan conflict. It could see the UK supply heavy machine guns as well as shoulder-launched anti-tank weapons to destroy Gaddafi’s armoured vehicles. Another row is brewing over the fate of Colonel Gaddafi. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

1

2

Next Hundreds of thousands of Syrians on streets to support Assad... Clegg admits Libya could become a hardline Islamist state if... The tiny Italian fishing island which now has MORE migrants...

Woman gang-raped by Gaddafi's troops is CHARGED with... Share this article Share Mr Hague and Mrs Clinton both made clear that international efforts are under way to persuade the Libyan dictator to go into exile. Yesterday President Obama also appeared to send out mixed messages on Gaddafi’s future.

He said that although he supported Gaddafi’s removal, ‘broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake’. A UN envoy is due to travel to Libya shortly to talk to the dictator to persuade him to leave the country. Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said he is urging the African Union to provide Gaddafi with a bolthole – though he admitted that ‘no offers are on the table’ from possible host countries. DIFFERENT VIEWS: WHAT THEY SAID... ‘It is our interpretation that (UN Security Council resolution) 1973 amended or overrode the absolute prohibition on arms to anyone in Libya, so that there could be a legitimate transfer of arms if a country should choose to do that.’

HILLARY CLINTON



Arming the rebels would be allowed ‘to give people aid in order to defend themselves in particular circumstances’.

WILLIAM HAGUE



‘The Resolution... requires the enforcement of an arms embargo. Nato has decided to participate in the enforcement of this arms embargo. We are there to protect people, not to arm people.’

NATO SECRETARY GENERAL Anders Fogh Rasmussen



‘Libya – and the world – would be better off with Gaddafi out of power... But broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake.’

PRESIDENT OBAMA



‘(Arming the rebels) is not part of the UN resolution, which France sticks to, but we are ready to discuss it.’

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER ALAIN JUPPE Panic: The rebels were trying to make their way to Gaddafi's home town, Sirte

Full retreat: Rebels flee as shelling from Gaddafi's forces start landing on the front line outside Bin Jawwad

Mr Cameron yesterday met Mahmoud Jibril, head of Libya’s rebel Interim National Council in No 10.

The group’s spokesman Mahmoud Shammam, who also saw Mr Cameron, said: ‘We asked everybody to help us in many ways. One of them is giving our youth some real weapons.

‘Our people have very light arms. You can see that just regular cars are fighting with machine guns. We don’t have arms at all otherwise we finish Gaddafi in a few days. But we don’t have arms.

‘We ask for the political support more than we are asking for the arms. But if we get both that would be great.’

Britain has signed up to an arms embargo on Libya. But Government lawyers have told the Prime Minister that UN Resolution 1973, which gives Nato the right to use ‘all necessary means’ to protect civilians, would permit the West to supply arms.

'FLICKERS' OF AL QAEDA IN BENGHAZI

NATO’S top commander in Europe warned that ‘flickers’ of Al Qaeda have been found among the Libyan rebels – raising doubts about whether Britain should openly back those fighting to oust Gaddafi.

Admiral James Stavridis, Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander, told a Senate hearing in Washington that intelligence assessments have picked up evidence of militants joining the fight against Gaddafi.

He said devotees of Osama Bin Laden and the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah have both been detected in the rebel forces based in Benghazi. ‘We have seen flickers in the intelligence of potential Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, we’ve seen different things,’ Admiral Stavridis said.

He said the leaders of the anti-Gaddafi Interim National Council appeared to be ‘responsible, but his warning raises the prospect that if the UK and U.S. do arm the rebels, weapons could find their way into the hands of extremists.

A divided country: Protests were held by both pro- and anti-Gaddafi supporters near the conference

Anti-Gaddafi

Anger: Some protesters had to be taken away after scuffles broke out at the conference in central London



Mrs Clinton added: ‘It is our interpretation that UN Resolution 1973 amended or overrode the absolute prohibition of arms to anyone in Libya so that there could be legitimate transfer of arms if a country chose to do that.’

Mr Hague said: ‘It is consistent with the resolution to give aid in order to defend themselves in particular circumstances.’



That could mean providing the rebels with the military hardware to take out tanks and armoured personnel carriers that were attacking civilians.

Rebel leaders told Mr Cameron the tyrant must stand trial in Libya or at The Hague for his crimes and that the Libyan people would not accept a plan to let Gaddafi slink away into a comfortable exile.

But Mrs Clinton made clear that the U.S. is likely to defy that call and encourage a safe passage deal for the tyrant as part of a ‘political resolution’.

Working for Libya: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Arab League, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen and up to 40 foreign ministers were attending the talks in London today