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NATO Warns Libyan Rebels Against Attacking Civilians

01 April 2011 04:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Members of the NATO alliance have warned Libyan rebels they will be subject to bombardment if they attack civilians, APA reports quoting voanews.com website.

The commander of the NATO operation over Libyan airspace, Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, warned Thursday that anyone attacking non-combatants would be â€œill-advised to continue such activities.â€

A senior NATO spokeswoman said the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the protection of Libyan civilians â€œapplies to both sidesâ€ in the conflict.

Also Thursday, a senior U.S. official told The New York Times that Washington has conveyed a similar message to anti-government forces in Libya. He said NATO â€œwill be compelled to defend civilians,â€ whether they support Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi or the opposition.

NATO assumed full command of air operations over Libya early Thursday. Alliance officials said the allies have supplied 205 aircraft and 21 navy vessels for the military operation that performed more than 90 sorties on Thursday.

In Stockholm, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance does not support U.S. and British suggestions that the U.N. mandate for international military operations in Libya allows arming the rebels. Rasmussen said Thursday that NATO’s mission is to protect the Libyan people, not to arm them.

Alliance officials said they will investigate a Vatican assertion that air strikes in Tripoli late Wednesday killed at least 40 civilians.

In Washington, a White House spokesman said Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, who defected to Britain late Wednesday, likely could â€œprovide critical intelligence about Mr. Gadhafi’s state of mind and military plans.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday that Koussa received no offers of protection from international legal action against him.

Scottish prosecutors confirmed they hope Koussa can shed light on the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people â€“ most of them Americans. Libya acknowledged responsibility for the terrorist attack in 2003, and opposition leaders have long claimed that Koussa was closely involved.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called Koussa’s decision to leave a â€œcompelling storyâ€ of fear and desperation at the center of the â€œcrumbling and rotten Gadhafi regime.â€

U.S. officials have called Koussa’s resignation â€œvery significantâ€ and an example of growing splits inside the Libyan government. The foreign minister has been a close confidante of Mr. Gadhafi and served as his intelligence chief for more than a decade.