Refugee crisis as 140,000 flee Libya and UN stalls over action

Foreign Secretary William Hague said that while “ideally” such action would be sanctioned by a resolution of the UN Security Council, it was not essential.

“There have been occasions in the past when such a no-fly zone has had clear, legal, international justification even without a Security Council resolution,” he said.

“It depends on the situation on the ground.”

His intervention came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed David Cameron’s call for plans to be drawn up for a no-fly zone, saying that the idea was “superfluous”.

As one of the five permanent members, Russia is able to veto any resolution tabled at the Security Council.

Mr Hague acknowledged that the Cabinet would have to take “full legal advice” before embarking with allies on a no-fly zone without a Security Council mandate.

After Mr Cameron’s announcement yesterday that he had ordered military commanders to begin planning for no-fly zone, officials sought to play down suggestions that action was imminent.

The Prime Minister also distanced himself from suggestions that the UK could arm anti-Gaddafi opposition groups who have seized control of Libya’s second city, Benghazi.

“We are trying to step up our contact with them so we can get to know them better and know what their intentions are.

“I don’t think we should go beyond that for now,” he told a joint No 10 news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Speaking earlier yesterday, former Prime Minister Sir John Major insisted that military intervention should not be ruled out as he warned that the coming days could be crucial for the future of Libya.

“There is a very real danger, if Colonel Gaddafi survives a few more days, that one of two things will happen – there will be a long and potentially bloody stand-off between the two opposing forces or there will be a full-scale civil war and a humanitarian disaster,” he said.

Col Gaddafi’s son, Saif, dismissed the threat of foreign military intervention.

Bizarrely he claimed: “We are a united Libya and not afraid.”

He added: “If they attack us, we are ready.”

He accused Mr Cameron of trying to orchestrate change across the Arab world, adding: “Everybody wants to be a hero, to be important in history but history should be built on concrete.”

Meanwhile, the Government said that teams of aid workers were being sent to Libya’s borders with neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt.

As many as 140,000 people have left the country and the exodus is growing.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees described the situation in Tunisia, where many migrant workers have fled to escape the latest fighting in western Libya, as a “humanitarian emergency”.

“The absorption capacity of the local community is reaching its absolute limits.

“The community cannot cope any more. The situation has become really chaotic,” spokesman Firas Kayal said.

Aid workers are being blocked from reaching western Libya amid reports of patients being executed in hospitals and others struck by gunmen riding in ambulances.

Fleeing migrant workers were also being targeted by rebels, mistaking them for mercenaries being used by the government to quash the rebellion.