| Advertisement |
TRIPOLI, Libya, March 22 (UPI) -- The United States doesn't know what Libyan rebel forces' strategy will be now that Moammar Gadhafi's air force is grounded, a U.S. official said Tuesday. Meanwhile, a U.S. fighter jet crashed in a Libyan field near Benghazi Tuesday, with the two crew members ejecting safely, military officials said.
Advertisement
Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications in the Obama administration, said "what's clear is the opposition is pleased that the threat that they faced in Benghazi" has eased with Gadhafi's ground forces stalled as a result of the international intervention.
"In terms of what their next steps are, I'm not in a position to say," Rhodes said. "We were not -- we're not in that kind of coordination with them."
Rhodes indicated there were no new significant agreements by Turkey or Arab states to contribute directly to the military action against Libya.
"Turkey, of course, is an important NATO ally. And I think Prime Minister [Recep] Erdogan and the president had a good discussion last night where they agreed about the aims of the resolution," Rhodes said. "And Turkey is a part of the discussions we're having about how this is going to be structured going forward.
"And with regard to the Arab League, we saw a reiteration of the political support for the effort from [league Secretary-General] Amr Moussa yesterday. Again, the president had a good conversation with the emir of Qatar this morning."
Rhodes said the coalition "includes, but goes beyond us and our European allies, to include, for instance, all those nations who expressed strong political support in Paris, as well as nations like Qatar that have signaled that they'll make important contributions."
The downed U.S. aircraft, a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle, sustained an equipment malfunction over northeast Libya late Monday, the Air Force said in a release. U.S. forces recovered one crew member who was aboard the fighter and the second was picked up hours later.
The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph indicated at least one of the crew initially was rescued by rebel Libyan soldiers after ejecting from the aircraft.
"Both crew members ejected and are safe," the statement said.
The U.S. military said the F-15, based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, was flying out of Aviano Air Base in northeastern Italy.
The cause of the crash was under investigation.
Rhodes said it appeared Gadhafi's war planes are "not capable of flying."
"There's been no indication that he's had planes in the air or done anything in the air," he said. "So you have in essence the beginnings of a no-fly zone in the sense that we've removed that capability from him to date, although we still believe that there are more targets, I think ... ."
"Again, ... we've seen Gadhafi's forces pull back from Benghazi, which is very important given that that was the largest population center that was under imminent danger," Rhodes said. "But at the same time, Libyan civilians continue to be threatened in a number of places -- Misurata among them, for instance. So we continue to watch the humanitarian situation very closely."
The international campaign drew new condemnation Tuesday as China and Brazil called for an immediate cease-fire and India said there should be no foreign presence in Libya, The New York Times reported. India and Brazil, along with Russia, China and Germany, abstained from the U.N. Security Council vote last week authorizing operation.
Rhodes reiterated that the coalition airstrikes are not mean to topple Gadhafi, though the United States wants him to leave Libya.
"... It's the Libyan people who are going to make their determinations about the future," Rhodes said. "We support their aspirations, their democratic aspirations, and have stated that Gadhafi should go because he's lost their confidence."
