The British Defense Minister Liam Fox confirmed NATO support of rebels and contribution with the intelligence and reconnaissance group in pursuit of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Liam Fox declared that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) provides the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) with the necessary resources to help them find ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, while ALBA condemns Libyan Rebel Attacks at Venezuelan Facilities, Fealac condemns attack against Venezuelan Embassy in Libya.

Nato on Libyan soil, War for Libyan spoils starts

Special forces from Britain, France, Jordan and Qatar — on the ground in Libya — have stepped up operations in support of the rebels in Tripoli and other cities. But a senior opposition official said much of the capital’s southern neighborhoods remained dangerous.

Nevertheless the minister denied that elite forces of the British army SAS (Air Special Service) were in Libya involved in the rebels’ attacks on the forces loyal to the Gaddafi government. The Guardian London newspaper denounced on Wednesday that those elements joined the Special Forces and have acted as air controllers and advisors in the strategy of opposition forces in the North African nation.

British agents were already in Libya since last February before the UN resolution to create a no-fly zone over the Maghreb state under pretext of protecting the civil population, affirmed the newspaper. In addition, NATO spokesman Oana Lungescu declared that the NTC asked the military authorities of the Alliance to back rebels as part of the international support.

Turkey supports Libya rebels with $300 million

Since the NATO took command of the military operations in Libya early in March it made nearly 20,000 air raids, including 7,500 bombing attacks against the Gaddafi government forces. The most recent accounts of official sources in Tripoli report about 2,000 deaths and 1,800 injured in the last few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Libya Contact Group — an alliance of countries — met Thursday in Istanbul, Turkey to discuss how to help rebuild Libya’s infrastructure. Italy will unfreeze about $505 million in Libyan assets that have been held in Italian banks, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declared Thursday. The rebels have already gotten some support in cash. Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the transitional council, revealed that Turkey government had sent $300 million to the Libyan rebels since July.

 

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