Gaddafi grip on power ‘weaker’ as Nato takes command in air

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement last night: “Nato will implement all aspects of the UN resolution. Nothing more, nothing less.”

After eight days of strikes on Libyan targets, Western powers are eager to quickly hand off responsibility to the alliance.

The UN authorised the operation after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi launched attacks against anti-government protesters who demanded that he step down after 42 years in power.

The air strikes have already tipped the balance away from Gaddafi’s regular military to the lightly armed rebels.

Nato was expected to take over running the UN-authorised no-fly zone last night or early today, as well as co-ordinating naval patrols in the Mediterranean to enforce the arms embargo.

A Canadian three-star general, Charles Bouchard, will be in charge and will report to an American admiral, Samuel Locklear, commander of Nato’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples.

Meanwhile, Libyan rebels seized back two key oil complexes and pushed west towards Tripoli after international air strikes limited Muammar Gaddafi’s military.

The coastal oil complexes at Ras Lanuf and Brega were responsible for a large chunk of Libya’s 1.5 million barrels of daily exports, which have all but stopped since the uprising that began on February 15 and was inspired by the toppling of governments in Tunisia and Egypt.

The top financial official for the Libyan rebels said Qatar had agreed to market oil for them – but at this point, it is not clear how the deal would work or whether there is even any oil. The foreign workers who run the oilfields fled the country when fighting began and an arms embargo means that the rebels would not be able to equip themselves with the money they receive for the oil.

However, the Gaddafi regime yesterday acknowledged the air strikes had forced its troops to retreat and accused international forces of choosing sides.

“This is the objective of the coalition now, it is not to protect civilians because now they are directly fighting against the armed forces,” Khaled Kaim, the deputy foreign minister, said in Tripoli. “They are trying to push the country to the brink of a civil war.”

President Obama was expected to give a speech to the nation today, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had defended the administration’s decision, but US defence secretary Robert Gates warned that the air campaign could last months.

In Britain Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the rebel gains could give them effective control of Libya’s entire oil export industry, potentially weakening Colonel Gaddafi’s grip on power.

“As they move round the coast, of course, the rebels will increasingly control the exit points of Libya’s oil,” he told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show.

“That will produce a very dynamic and a very different equilibrium inside Libya. How that will play out in terms of public opinion and the Gaddafi regime remains to be seen.”

The latest rebel advance came after air strikes – including by RAF Tornado GR4s – targeted tanks and armoured vehicles around the strategic town of Ajdabiya, which fell to the rebels yesterday.

Dr Fox said: “There is no doubt that we’ve given a fillip to the rebels, that they have increased confidence and I hope that what will ultimately happen is that, without further bloodshed, the people of Libya will rise up and be able to determine what sort of government they want.”