Rebels Vow to Keep NATO Troops Away from Post-Gaddafi Libya

A picture made available the 21 August 2011 shows Libyan rebels celebrating with thousand of people as they claimed to have sized control of some parts of the Libyan capital Tripoli, in Tahrir square, Benghazi, Libya, 20 August 2011. EPA/BGNES

The Libyan rebels have no intention of letting NATO troops on the country's soil after they topple the regime of struggling dictator Muammar Gaddafi, according to a rebel representative.

As the rebels, represented by the Benghazi-based Libyan National Transitional Council, are expected to crush the Gaddafi regime within hours or 1-2 days at most, press in the Arab world has voiced concerns over NATO's potential stationing of troops on the group in Libya.

"Libya is an Arab and Islamic nation before Nato and after Nato. Libyans revolted from the 1970s against Western bases and there will be no non-Libyan bases," said Monday Abdel Moneim al-Huweini, the Libyan rebel envoy to the Arab League, as cited by Egypt's Mena state news agency, and the BBC.

As the Arab League declared its full-fledged support for the Libyan rebels earlier on Monday, Al Ahram, the most popular Egyptian daily, pointed out that the statement of the Arab League secretary-general came against a backdrop of ambiguity over NATO's next step in Libya, with speculations that the Alliance might negotiate some ground military presence with the National Libyan Council forces during the transitional phase.

In early February 2011, Gaddafi's government faced major political protests following in the wake of demonstrations in Tunisia, Egypt, and other parts of the Arab world. The protests quickly turned into a civil war. Gaddafi vowed to "die a martyr" if necessary in his fight against rebels and external forces, saying that those rebelling against his government deserved to die.

On March 19, 2011, NATO-led international forces started air and rocket strikes against the Gaddafi regime under a UN Security Council mandate.

Operation Odyssey Dawn was the US code name for the US part of the international military operation in Libya to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 during the initial period of 19–31 March 2011, which continued afterwards under NATO command as Operation Unified Protector.

The initial operation implemented a no-fly zone that was proposed during the 2011 Libyan civil war to prevent government forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on anti-Gaddafi forces.

The US initially had strategic command of the military intervention but passed complete military command of the operation to NATO and took up a support role on 31 March 2011.

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