NATO’s First African War: 6,525 Air Missions, 2,556 Strike Sorties
http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_05/20110514_110514-oup-update.pdfNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization
May 14, 2011
NATO and Libya
JFC Naples, SHAPE, NATO HQ
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Air Operations
Since the beginning of the NATO operation (31 March 2011, 08.00GMT) a total of 6525 sorties, including 2556 strike sorties have been conducted.
Sorties conducted 13 May: 148
Strike sorties conducted 13 May: 44
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Arms Embargo Activities
A total of 20 ships under NATO command are actively patrolling the Central Mediterranean.
15 Vessels were hailed on 13 May to determine destination and cargo. No boardings and no diversions were conducted.
A total of 920 vessels have been hailed, 37 boardings and 5 diversions have been conducted since the beginning of arms embargo operations.
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NATO Confirms Attack That Killed Libyan Clerics
http://en.trend.az/news/nato/1876193.htmlDeutsche Presse-Agentur
May 14, 2011
NATO confirms attack on Brega bunker
NATO confirmed Saturday it had attacked a bunker in the eastern Libyan city of Brega, an attack which the Moamer Gaddafi regime said killed 16 Muslim clerics, DPA reported.
In a statement, NATO said: “Although we cannot confirm these allegations, we regret the loss of innocent lives where it occurs.”
“The building in Brega was clearly identified as a command centre,” it added.
The Libyan government on Friday said the building where the scholars were killed was a government-owned guest house.
Brega, an oil port, is under control of forces loyal to Gaddafi, although rebels have been trying to take it for weeks.
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http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/05/14/general-ml-libya_8466664.htmlAssociated Press
May 14, 2011
Libyans bury 9 men reportedly slain in NATO strike
By DIAA HADID and DON MELVIN
TRIPOLI, Libya: Angry Libyan mourners have buried nine men who they say were Muslim clerics and medics killed in a NATO airstrike.
NATO says the building struck had been “clearly identified as a command and control center” and it can’t confirm or deny civilian casualties.
Mourners fired assault rifles in the air and vowed revenge during Saturday’s funerals in Tripoli.
One witness says the men were killed Friday in the eastern town of Brega. He says they were among a group of clerics sent by the government to demonstrate that the oil hub was in the regime’s hands.
Government officials have said 11 clerics were killed in their sleep and had been on a peace mission.
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Russian Foreign Minister Bitterly Denounces West’s Libyan Actions
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8512454/Russia-denounces-Libya-contact-group-as-illegitimate.htmlDaily Telegraph
May 13, 2011
Russia denounces Libya contact group as ‘illegitimate’
Andrew Osborn
Russia has denounced the Libya contact group as illegitimate and warned that the West’s intervention in the North African country risks inflaming conflict across the entire Middle East.
In a series of sharply worded comments on the situation, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s…foreign minister, made it clear that the Kremlin bitterly regretted not vetoing the United Nations resolution that sanctioned a no-fly zone over Libya in March.
“The contact group is a self-appointed organisational structure that somehow made itself responsible for how the (UN) resolution is carried out,” Mr Lavrov said while on a trip to Kazakhstan.
“From the point of view of international law this group has no legitimacy.” The contact group was formed at an international ministerial conference in London on 29 March and includes European powers such as Britain as well as the US, allies from the Middle East and a number of international organisations.
But according to Mr Lavrov, who said Russia had no intention of joining the group, it set a dangerous precedent by giving false hope of Western intervention to opposition movements across the Middle East.
The Kremlin would therefore not allow the West to push any Libya-style resolutions through the UN regarding Syria or any other countries in future, he warned.
“We do not want the Libyan scenario repeated,” he said, arguing that the West had gone well beyond the terms of the original UN mandate anyway.
“There are too many violations of the UN security Council resolution.” In particular, he said Russia found the alleged bombing of civilian targets, hospitals and diplomatic facilities unjustifiable. “These are unacceptable acts. The UN Security Council did not sanction such actions and to try to justify them by claiming that the coalition is not exceeding its mandate is not enough,” he said.
The issue of how Russia responds to events in Libya has revealed splits in the Kremlin with President Dmitry Medvedev apparently more sympathetic to the West’s actions in contrast to Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, who has likened them to a medieval crusade.
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Head Of French Contracting Firm Killed By Libyan Rebels
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iIsSB1SqylB04nFMV8ORyOSlk82g?docId=6842407Associated Press
May 13, 2011
Libyan rebel commander: French military contractor killed in accidental shooting in Benghazi
By Michelle Faul
BENGHAZI, Libya: The head and founder of a French military contracting company was killed in an accidental discharge of a weapon in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi as he was arguing about his team getting arrested, a rebel commander said Friday.
In Paris, the private military company SECOPEX Conseil said Pierre Marziali died Thursday at a Benghazi hospital after being wounded at a checkpoint as he and colleagues were leaving a restaurant overnight.
Marziali, 48, died hours before a planned meeting with the transitional government of rebels fighting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s forces. He was in Libya to set up a security guard service and a “secure corridor” on the road to Cairo, the company said.
France’s government has been a major backer of the rebels. France’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that five Frenchmen were detained at a police checkpoint and that one was shot and later died in the hospital. It provided no names for the five.
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Associated Press writer Angela Charlton contributed to this report from Paris.
