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Five NATO members refuse to back US-UK bombardment of Libya

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Brussels, June 9, IRNA -- Five NATO members refuse to back the US-UK bombardment of Libya after US, UK and France launched more than 10,000 air sorties against infrastructure of Libya.

In a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Wednesday, the United States, Britain and France prodding behind closed doors for other NATO nations to join in the air campaign, there were few signs that the five countries that were the main targets of the appeals — Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Turkey — were willing to forsake their political reservations and commit themselves more deeply.

An American official accompanying Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to the NATO meeting in Brussels said the recent step-up in the air campaign had both a military and a psychological component.

“We are steadily but surely eroding his capacity,” said the official in reference to Libyan Gaddafi.

But the pressures are not on the Libyan leader alone. Concerns about the mounting costs of the campaign and air crew exhaustion have led to a push to get some NATO members more involved in the effort.

The United States’ role has centered on tasks including midair refuelling, aerial surveillance and pilotless drones, while most of the actual strikes have been by Britain and France, backed by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy and Norway.

Gates, in a closed session of the defense ministers’ talks, urged the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey — which are participating in the air campaign, but which have forbidden their aircraft to strike at ground targets — to do more.

Gates also called on Germany and Poland to commit military forces.

But the resistance to wider involvement was strong. “Germany sticks to its position: No military engagement,” said Deputy Defense Minister Christian Schmidt.

His Spanish counterpart, Carme Chacon Piqueras, said her country would continue to help enforce the no-fly zone over Libya, but not attack.

“It will be the same contribution, the same format,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the ground war, new fighting on Wednesday at Misurata, the contested city 130 miles east of Tripoli, killed at least 10 rebels and wounded about 30 others, according to accounts by Western reporters in the city.

It appeared to have been the most intense fighting since rebel forces drove Gaddafi fighters from the city and captured its airport nearly a month ago. It was unclear which side initiated the fighting.