Libya News_NATO To Take Over No-Fly Zone in Libya

NATO To Take Over No-Fly Zone in Libya
Gen. Ham Says Gadhafi Intends to Wait Until U.S. Hands Over Lead of Coalition
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By MARTHA RADDATZ, ALEXANDER MARQUARDT and LUIS MARTINEZ
ABOARD THE USS KEARSARGE March 24, 2011
NATO has agreed to relieve the United States of responsibility for enforcing the no-fly zone in Libya, a NATO official said today.


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The diplomatic movement came on the same day that Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi challenged the no-fly zone only to see one of his few remaining planes destroyed by a French jet.

The official said that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will shortly go into a meeting of the North Atlantic Council where a formal consensus will be reached for NATO to assume the no-fly zone responsibilities for Libya. After what is expected to be a brief meeting, Rasmussen will announce the arrangement.

They won't say it's a deal until every one of the 28 NATO members in the room agrees with NATO taking over the no-fly zone.

"We are very close," the NATO official said.

The no-fly zone order will go from the NATO Council to Adm. James Stavridis, NATO Supreme Allied Commander on down the chain to the component commanders. On Wednesday, NATO announced it was taking responsibility for enforcing the naval arms embargo for Libya.

The United States will remain part of the Operation Dawn, but it we will have limited participation going forward, which would include contributing tankers and a personnel recovery teams, but not an Airborne Warning and Control System, Africa Command's Gen. Carter F. Ham told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

"The phrase that we use is that the United States will contribute its unique military capabilities to whatever this second phase of operation would be," Ham said. "There's probably some intelligence support that we would continue to provide, some communications, tankers for aircraft... But we wouldn't see probably a large number of fighter aircraft for example."

Ham said he's confident the command can be handed over "relatively quickly" but "there are frankly some mechanical and procedural pieces -- particularly with regard to the air operations -- which are very very complex" that may take a longer while to transition.

For more of Martha Raddatz's exclusive interview with Gen.Carter Ham, watch World News tonight, 6:30 p.m. ET.

Some allies only want to enforce a no-fly zone but not protect civilians, which would entail firing on grounds forces, Ham told ABC News. Coalition forces are sorting out details, he said.

Earlier today the foreign minister of Turkey, a NATO member that had expressed strong concerns about the Libya intervention, said Turkey's demands had been met and that the operation will be handed over to NATO, according to wire reports.

Gadhafi challenged the allies' no-fly zone for the first time today, sending up a warplane over the city of Misrata where it was quickly destroyed by French fighter jets.