US president Barack Obama today won British and French support for a Nato role in the air campaign against Libya's Muammar Gadafy as the western allies thrashed out operational details aimed at transferring US control of the mission.
Mr Obama, lobbying hard to hand off US command of Libya operations to allies within days, telephoned British prime minister David Cameron and French president Nicolas Sarkozy and all agreed that the Nato alliance would play an important role, the White House said.
Mr Obama expressed confidence the US will be able to transfer control of the military operation to an international coalition in a matter of days.
The allies have stopped short of explicitly endorsing Nato political leadership of the mission, which they fear could be a hard sell for Nato member Turkey and undercut shaky Arab support for the effort to bolster anti-Gadafy rebels.
"What we are saying right now is that Nato will have a key role to play here," Ben Rhodes, a senior White House national security aide, told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Mr Obama's personal diplomacy underscored that Nato's command-and-control capability will make it central to the unfolding campaign against Gadafy’s forces, which began with air strikes on Saturday aimed at protecting civilians.
Seeking to shore up international backing for the operation, Mr Obama has called leaders in Europe and the Middle East and has stressed that Nato must take over a coordinating role as he seeks to avoid getting US forces bogged down in another Muslim country after Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Brussels, Nato diplomats agreed today to enforce an arms embargo on Libya but again saw heated debate over whether the alliance should run the military campaign over Libya.
Admiral Samuel Locklear, head of US forces enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya, said he was working closely with British and French officials and that military forces from 13 nations were moving to take part in the mission.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in Moscow that he still saw a quick hand-over.
"I don't want to get out in front of the diplomacy that's been going on but I still think that a transfer within a few days is likely," Mr Gates told reporters on a visit to Russia. "This command-and-control business is complicated. We haven't done something like this. We were kind of on-the-fly before."
Mr Obama, who is traveling in Latin America, telephoned the Turkish and Qatari leaders yesterday evening before his discussions with the French and the British.
Col Gadafy's forces today attacked two west Libyan towns, killing dozens, while rebels were pinned down in the east and Nato tried to resolve the dispute over who should lead the air campaign.
In the latest fighting, Col Gadafy's tanks shelled the rebel-held western town of Misrata and casualties included four children killed when their car was hit, residents said, adding the death toll for Monday alone had reached 40.
Residents painted a grim picture of the situation in Misrata, under siege by Gadafy loyalists for weeks, with tanks in the city centre and doctors operating on people with bullet and shrapnel wounds in hospital corridors.
"The situation here is very bad. Tanks started shelling the town this morning," a resident called Mohammed told Reuters by telephone from outside the city's hospital, adding: "Snipers are taking part in the operation too. A civilian car was destroyed killing four children on board, the oldest is aged 13 years."
In the first apparent air force casualty of the campaign, a US F-15E crashed in Libya overnight and its two crew members were rescued, the US military said. The crash was likely caused by mechanical failure and not hostile fire, it said.
Explosions and anti-aircraft fire rang out around Tripoli for a third night and state television said several sites in the capital had been attacked by the "crusader enemy".
Col Gadafy vowed to continue fighting and told his supporters they would emerge victorious in the war against rebels and international forces.
"We will be victorious in the end," he said in brief remarks in the capital Tripoli broadcast live on television.
Reuters