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Turmoil in Libya (2011) and post-Gaddafi blowback

NavyShooter said:
Interesting....

I didn't know it was 12....
Somebody may have checked Jane's before doing the press release for the number of tubes on a BM21 or whatever they figured it was. Or they counted the distant booms and the closer booms and divided by two. That's how we do it in the artillery intelligence world, not.

Sounds like the bad guys are getting desperate.
 
"distant"  ....  ?????

Who said the boom/splashes were "distant"....

Don't believe everything in the media.  LOL

 
NavyShooter said:
"distant"  ....  ?????

Who said the boom/splashes were "distant"....

Don't believe everything in the media.  LOL
When I said distant, I meant the sound of the rockets firing, while nearer referred to the detonations of the incoming rounds.
 
old medic said:
Apache helicopters to be sent into Libya by Britain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/23/apache-helicopters-libya-britain

Strike helicopters in Libya is within UN mandate: France
The Associated Press
Date: Monday May. 23, 2011
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110523/france-libya-110523/

BRUSSELS — France and Britain will deploy attack helicopters in Libya as soon as possible...

NATO helicopters join Libya mission
Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times/June 5, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-helicopters-20110604,0,3673618.story

French and British helicopters attack targets around Port Brega, the first use of such aircraft in the NATO campaign. Rebel leaders hail the move, but it is unclear whether it will signal a new rebel offensive.

Reporting from Tripoli, Libya—
French and British attack helicopters hit targets in Libya in the first use of such aircraft as part of the NATO-led campaign against the government of Moammar Kadafi, authorities said Saturday.

The helicopters, including British Apaches firing Hellfire missiles and 30-millimeter cannon rounds, struck targets around Port Brega, a strategic oil port that is the easternmost city still under the control of Kadafi's forces. The targets hit included a radar installation and a military checkpoint, officials said.

The helicopters flew from British and French ships in the Mediterranean and returned to the vessels afterward, authorities said. No injuries to the crews or damage to the aircraft was reported.

"This successful engagement demonstrates the unique capabilities brought to bear by attack helicopters," said Canadian air force Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, NATO commander for the Libya mission.

Meanwhile, more explosions rocked Tripoli on Saturday, apparently the latest in a punishing series of NATO-led bombing raids on the Libyan capital. There was no immediate word on damage or injuries.

The deployment of attack helicopters in Libya after much debate could represent a significant escalation of the 3-month-old conflict that pits rebels against forces loyal to Kadafi, who has led the oil-rich nation for more than four decades. Rebels who first rose against Kadafi in February now control most of eastern Libya, while Kadafi remains in power in Tripoli and much of the west.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces are acting under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians from Kadafi's forces, a mission that has limited the mobility of his troops and in effect aided the rebels' cause.

Rebel leaders who have been pushing NATO to step up attacks hailed the helicopter deployment. Until the helicopter strikes, the Western-led alliance had deployed fast-flying jet fighters and drone aircraft and fired missiles from offshore vessels.

Although helicopters have indisputable strengths — they can get closer to targets than high-altitude jet fighters and hover over the battlefield — the aircraft are also more vulnerable to ground fire, including ground-to-air missiles. The fear that a helicopter with a foreign crew could be shot down is probably one reason why NATO, which says it has no troops on the ground, took so long to decide to deploy them.

It was unclear whether a limited number of helicopters will be decisive in the battle for Libya or will drive Kadafi from power, a stated goal of NATO powers. Rebels have made recent advances in the western mountains and in the western coastal city of Misurata, 120 miles east of Tripoli. But the major east-west front outside Port Brega has been static for several months. And Kadafi has declared that he will not leave.

Last week NATO said it was extending its mission in Libya for another 90 days, signaling that a military campaign initially expected to last weeks could drag on for months more.

Port Brega is an important oil refining and shipping center and lies along the strategic coastal road from Benghazi, the rebel stronghold, to Tripoli, which passes through Libya's major population centers.

Port Brega changed hands several times during the early days of the uprising against Kadafi. But the city wound up under government control while the next city to the east, Ajdabiya, about 50 miles away, remained in rebel hands. The front line separating the government and rebel armies is said to be about halfway between the two cities.

Whether the helicopter attacks signal the beginning of a long-anticipated rebel offensive toward Port Brega and the west remains to be seen.

Photo:
A British Apache attack helicopter takes off from the deck of the Royal Navy's HMS Ocean, which is deployed off the north African coast. British and French forces launched helicopter strikes against Moammar Kadafi's forces in Libya on Saturday. (British Ministry of Defense / EPA / June 4, 2011)
 
See here, please.

I repeat: Libya is a strategic sideshow, at best. And, compared to China-India the en tire Islamist problem is a sideshow, too.
 
NavyShooter said:
Interesting....

I didn't know it was 12....
NavyShooter said:
"distant"  ....  ?????

Who said the boom/splashes were "distant"....
That's what happens when you don't get the paper on a timely basis  ;D

Joking aside, though, if quoted correctly, that's what someone in a uniform (in this case, someone on the ship) told at least one media outlet:
.... Lt. Michael McWhinnie, who is on the vessel, told CBC News on Thursday that 12 BM-21 rockets were fired in the direction of the Halifax-based ship.

None of the rockets hit the ship and there were no injuries.

"‪It is important to understand that NATO maritime forces are aware of the military weapon systems possessed by the Gadhafi regime and operate with consideration of their capabilities," McWhinnie said ....
Also, this from CEFCOM, again if properly quoted:
About 12 rockets were fired this week at a Canadian frigate deployed to Libya, the Department of National Defence said.

The rockets landed far enough away from HMCS Charlottetown that there was no damage to the ship or any injuries or casualties to the crew, said spokeswoman Capt. Jennifer Stadnyk.

On Monday, the crew of the Charlottetown observed about a dozen BM21 rockets fired at them, all of which landed in the water well away from the ship. The BM21 is a 122-millimetre rocket fired from a vehicle-mounted launching system with a range of up to 40 kilometres. The Charlottetown did not return fire and has not come under fire since the incident, Stadnyk said ....

All that said, stay safe, folks!
 
It's hard to look a PAO in the face and believe anything he says.

But, he said it, so it must  be true and correct.

 
                                            Shared with provisions of the Copyright Act

China steps into Libya crisis
5 June 2011
http://www.bfbs.com/news/navy/china-steps-libya-crisis-48259.html

China has made its first confirmed contact with Libyan rebels in the latest diplomatic setback for Muammar Gaddafi.

Meanwhile France has said it is working with those close to the veteran ruler to persuade him to leave power.

The meeting in Qatar between a Chinese diplomat and the leader of the rebel National Transitional Council follows a spate of defections by high profile figures this week including top oil official and former prime minister Shukri Ghanem.

Libyan rebels and NATO have made Gaddafi's departure a condition for agreeing a ceasefire in a conflict that has killed thousands, but he emphatically told visiting South African President Jacob Zuma this week he would not leave Libya.

The NATO-led military alliance extended its mission to protect civilians in Libya for a further 90 days this week.

Chief of the Defence Staff Strategic Communication Officer Major General John Lorimer said on Friday: "NATO's Operation Unified Protector continues apace to protect Libyan civilians under threat of attack and enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973."

He said: "Royal Air Force Tornado aircraft yesterday (Thursday) patrolled over Yafran, where Colonel Gaddafi's forces continue to attack the peoples of the western highlands. Our aircraft identified a small formation of regime armour deployed in the area and destroyed two main battle tanks and two armoured personnel carriers with Paveway guided bombs."
 
Rare daytime NATO airstrikes hit Libyan capital
Article Link
The Associated Press  Tue. Jun. 7 2011 7:50 AM ET

TRIPOLI, Libya — Low-flying NATO military craft hit Tripoli at least a dozen times Tuesday in rare daytime strikes on the Libyan capital that were designed to step up pressure on Moammar Gadhafi to leave power.

The morning air raids shook the ground in a series of sharp explosions that thundered over the capital. Some of the strikes were believed to have targeted a military barracks near Gadhafi's sprawling central Tripoli compound, said spokesman Moussa Ibrahim. Others hit the compound itself, Libyan television reported. Pro-Gadhafi loyalists in the capital fired weapons into the air but after the NATO strikes had ended.

NATO officials have warned for days that they were increasing the scope and intensity of their two-month campaign to oust Gadhafi after more than 40 years in power. The alliance is assisting a four-month old rebel insurgency that has seized swaths of eastern Libya and pockets in the regime's stronghold in the west.

"Instead of talking to us, they are bombing us. They are going mad. They are losing their heads," said Ibrahim.

The spokesman said the daylight strikes were particularly terrifying because families were separated during the day. Libyan school children are taking final exams at the end of the school year.

More on link
 
Canadian directing war in Libya calls it ‘a knife-fight in a phone booth'
PAUL KORING ALLIED JOINT FORCES COMMAND, NAPLES, ITALY— From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Jun. 13, 2011
Article Link

For the self-effacing helicopter pilot from Chicoutimi, the deputy commander’s office in the prestigious but hardly over-worked NATO’s regional command in Naples could have been a very pleasant last posting, a fitting swan song to a stellar 30-year-plus military career.

Exquisite Capri is close, the food is sublime, the living is easy and the Med is far from a hardship posting like Afghanistan or Haiti, nor is it the bureaucratic jungle of Ottawa.

Instead, Charles Bouchard, the Canadian three-star air force general, is running NATO’s trickiest war to date: 10,000-plus sorties, taking out Libyan tanks, fighting in alleyways with no boots on the ground while sending food and medicine to both sides and keeping the United States out of the uncomfortable limelight of commanding hostilities in a third Muslim nation.

It’s a war suddenly in the spotlight. In Ottawa, MPs want to know about mission creep: How a no-fly zone turned into daily, methodical destruction of most everything that props up the Libyan regime. Some countries are running out of bombs, sparking new U.S. accusations that NATO means Europeans playing mutual defence on the cheap while the United States pays the bills and bears the burdens.
More on link
 
Meanwhile, the Brits are busy, too:
Members of the UK Armed Forces saw further action in Libya yesterday as RAF aircraft conducted strikes against two of Colonel Gaddafi's ammunition depots.

While participating in NATO's Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR, Tornado and Typhoon ground attack aircraft conducted strikes against two depots at Waddan and Al Qaryat Ash Sharqiyah, destroying in total some nine underground storage bunkers.

Major General Nick Pope, the Chief of the Defence Staff's Strategic Communications Officer, said:

    "At sea, a NATO vessel conducting surveillance operations to enforce the maritime embargo detected high speed inflatable boats approaching Misurata; these craft have previously been used by Gaddafi's special forces in attempts to attack the harbour.

    "The British Army Apaches aboard HMS Ocean were duly alerted and intercepted the boats, destroying two with 30mm cannon fire. They then successfully engaged a ZSU-23-4 self-propelled anti-aircraft system on the coast near Zlitan, as well as a number of armed vehicles in and around regime checkpoints."

On Saturday, RAF aircraft destroyed four of Colonel Gaddafi's main battle tanks hidden in an orchard near Al Aziziyah, south west of Tripoli.

RAF Tornado and Typhoon jets also participated in further co-ordinated NATO strikes against key regime military installations in and around the capital, with the British aircraft attacking a major military base at Al Mayah on the western outskirts of the city; nine Paveway guided bombs were dropped.

These missions were conducted under NATO's Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR to protect Libyan civilians under threat of attack and enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.

RAF VC-10 and TriStar tankers, and Sentinel, Sentry and Nimrod R1 surveillance aircraft, continue to provide vital and widespread support to UK and NATO operations over Libya.
 
Canada backs anti-Gadhafi rebels, pledges aid for Libyan rape victims
CAMPBELL CLARK
OTTAWA— The Canadian Press
14 June 2011
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-backs-anti-gadhafi-rebels-pledges-aid-for-libyan-rape-victims/article2060025/
Canada has recognized the council of Libyan rebels as the “legitimate representative” of the Libyan people, joining an international move to legitimize the nascent organization as a government-in-waiting in Libya.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said he will try to engage in direct talks with the rebels’ National Transition Council of Libya. He announced the move at the kick-off of a day-long debate on extending Canada’s role in the international military mission until the end of September.

His speech was aimed at meeting opposition concerns in a bid to win support for a vote expected on Tuesday night. Mr. Baird also announced Canada will contribute $2-million for humanitarian aid in Libya, with a portion to go to victims of sexual violence – a nod to the NDP’s call for Canada to do more to address the use of rape as a weapon of war.

Opposition parties have called on the government to step up diplomatic and aid efforts, to add to the military role.

The Canadian move to recognize the Libyan rebel council as the “legitimate representative” of the people is a step short of recognizing them as the legitimate government of Libya – just as four European nations have already done.

Many other allies have taken a similar step to Canada to bolster the council’s role, and make them a central player in any talks seeking some kind of settlement to end the talks.

Although Defence Minister Peter MacKay said last week the goals of the mission cannot be met as long as Moammar Gadhafi remains in power. Mr. Baird has since Sunday worked to downplay that line – that the goal of the mission is to change the Libyan regime – in a bid to keep unanimous support in the Commons.

In reality, the mission has moved to heavy airstrikes on Tripoli in a bid to push Colonel Gadhafi out, but Mr. Baird returned to the line used in the early days of the mission: that the goal of the military mission is to protect civilians, but the political goal is to see the Libyan strongman go.

In the Commons Tuesday morning, the Foreign Affairs Minister stressed the goal “is to protect civilians” but that “it goes without saying that at the political level ... most actors believe Col. Gadhafi must go.”
 
Stay calm now.... The latest from the Canadian Peace Alliance:
.... Canada has already done 300 bombing runs and the cost of keeping planes, ships and more than 500 military personnel in Libya is at least $100 million a month according to retired Col. Michel Drapeau. The Harper government had also just purchased an additional 1300 "smart bombs" for a total price of $130 million.

The NATO intervention in Libya has nothing to do with supporting the legitimate struggle of the Libyan people for freedom and democracy. The attack on Libya has but one goal in mind – control of the Arab uprisings by western nations intent on the plunder of the resources of the region.

There have been multiple proposals for a ceasefire by the African Union and Tripoli has agreed to talks. It is NATO that refuses to enter into any dialogue to stop the killing.

We demand that the government of Canada call for an immediate ceasefire and support talks aimed at a mediated settlement. We demand that the opposition stand against this new war and call for Canadian forces to be brought home.
No word yet on the the Alliance's position on the Libyan government's approach to, um, win hearts and minds?
 
Given our escalating involvement, how soon until we see a "boots on the ground" mission like an OMLET for the reble forces or a PRT to rebuild the devastated areas?

Sadly, we rushed in for poorly defined reasons, supporting a rebelion who's leaders and aims we still don't fully know on an open ended mission which really has more to do with the protection of British and French oil interests in the region.

I don't see this going well at all
 
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