WASHINGTON // Nato military operations over Libya today enter their second month with forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi still effective and pushing an offensive against opposition forces. As European countries start sending military advisers, the international effort is beginning to show signs of going beyond its original mission.
Trying to assuage concerns of mission creep, the US maintains it will not send any ground troops into Libya and that any US involvement on the ground will be for purely humanitarian reasons. But some US legislators are publicly worrying that the situation in Libya could develop into a stalemate unless greater military force is applied.
Analysts say that absent, the political objectives of the intervention are unlikely to be secured. UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which sanctioned the intervention, called on coalition members to use all available means short of a full-fledged invasion to protect Libyan civilians.
But with fighting increasingly moving to urban warfare in Misrata in the west of the country and other cities, airpower alone is proving less effective at stopping government troops from defeating rag-tag opposition forces.
Barack Obama, the US president, most European leaders and the Libyan opposition, have also repeatedly called on Col Qaddafi to step aside.
The Libyan leader is unlikely to relinquish power willingly. And though Abdul Ati al Obeidi, Libya's foreign minister, in interviews with foreign media on Tuesday said that the government was willing to hold free elections that could determine whether Col Qaddafi stayed or "should retire", he rejected the suggestion that Col Qaddafi first had to resign.
The Libyan opposition, however, remains adamant that there can be no resolution if Col Qaddafi remains in power.
"It is impossible for Qaddafi or his family to stay in Libya or rule any part of Libya," Ali Aujali, the former Libyan ambassador to the US and now a representative of the opposition Transitional National Council in Washington, said on Tuesday.
"If it takes long or short [time], Qaddafi and his family have no future in Libya. That's the most basic thing."
Analysts say the international coalition now either needs to move the political goalposts or adapt the military engagement.
"The inherent problem of the campaign all along has been that the military force allocated to it, airpower, is insufficient to achieve the political goals that continue to be thrown around," said Nathan Hughes, the director of military analysis at Stratfor, a Texas-based global intelligence company.
This emerging picture on the ground is what on Monday prompted John McCain, the ranking Republican member on the US Senate's Armed Forces Committee, for the second time in a week to warn that greater airpower was needed.
"All we need to do is get sufficient air power in there to really nail Qaddafi's forces, and we can succeed," Mr McCain said on a local radio station.
Mr Hughes said that airpower alone was insufficient and loosening the rules of engagement from the air risked increasing the number of civilian casualties incurred by coalition air strikes. This could undermine regional support for the campaign.
"A big political consideration, at least ostensibly, for most of the western governments involved in this was support from Arab governments. And support on the Arab street remains a critical question. If you get more aggressive, this thing could easily turn around on the coalition. They could become the bad guy. Real quickly."
Compounding the problem for the coalition, said Mr Hughes, was that the opposition had not proven a capable fighting force and that providing arms and training to make them more effective would take too long. The "couple of advisers" that Britain and France intend to send in are not going to have any effect.
"It's easier to remove airpower from the equation, just leave, then it is to commit ground troops and get enmeshed in the problem," Mr Hughes said.
But international involvement is already too deep for the coalition to simply walk away, said Marina Ottaway, the director of the Middle East Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank.
"I think it's going to be very difficult to avoid mission creep, because we went in for humanitarian reasons, we went in to protect civilians, and therefore it's almost impossible to stop at this point."
Ms Ottaway said the protection of civilians is an "urgent short-term issue" that the coalition cannot escape. The US administration, as the main power in Nato, will sooner or later have to take a clear position on what to do next.
"Obama is still pretending that the operation in Libya was a limited operation that had a beginning and an end and there is no mission creep. But this is what's happening at this point and it is going to be a terrible dilemma for Obama to really decide what he is going to do in the end," she said.
okarmi@thenational.ae
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
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Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
THE SPECS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Company%20Profile
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
'Will%20of%20the%20People'
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HOW TO WATCH
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