Britain will send a taskforce of 600 marines and at least six ships to Libya this week on a “humanitarian” mission.
Amid growing concerns that UK forces could be dragged into a drawn-out conflict, the navy’s “response force task group” will deliver emergency medical and food supplies to rebel-held towns. Britain is also under pressure to double the number of RAF combat aircraft available to attack the Libyan army.
The taskforce will include up to 600 marines from 40 Commando who will protect ports where humanitarian supplies will be unloaded.
The ships are exercising off Plymouth and will leave either tomorrow or Tuesday, initially for Gibraltar. The marines will fly out to Gibraltar this week. The taskforce will include the landing platform Albion, with 10 Sea King helicopters, the type-42 destroyer Liverpool and four support ships.
The taskforce will more than double the Royal Naval presence in the region, which includes the Trafalgar-class submarine Turbulence and the type-22 frigate Cumberland.
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The use of commandos inside Libya, even as part of a humanitarian mission, will increase concerns over mission creep. The greatest need for humanitarian aid is in the rebel-held city of Misrata where fighting continues. Doctors in the city, 130 miles east of Tripoli, say at least 200 people have been killed there and 1,500 wounded.
The UN resolution authorising the no-fly zone ruled out “a foreign occupation force of any form”. However, there is talk of using marines as part of a multinational UN-mandated humanitarian force with troops from Arab nations. Britain has special forces in Libya providing “situational awareness” — intelligence on where Gadaffi’s forces are operating. They are under orders not to get involved in fighting but are talking to rebels to determine how they are performing.
The RAF is under pressure to double the number of aircraft after yesterday’s withdrawal of all US combat aircraft. A French military delegation was in Britain last week to discuss how to increase the pressure on Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, by getting more attack aircraft in the air.
There is concern that air attacks have knocked out only 25% of the Libyan army’s armoured vehicles. Some Libyan troops now operate in civilian 4x4 vehicles, making them hard to distinguish from rebels from the air.
The RAF cannot sustain current operations in Libya and Afghanistan beyond June, a senior RAF source said. Britain would have to pull some aircraft out of Afghanistan or cancel the decision in last year’s defence review to axe two Tornado squadrons. The source said: “A U-turn would be too politically embarrassing, and it is seen as easier to pull the Tornados out of Afghanistan.”
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One option for increasing the number of aircraft patrolling Libyan airspace was to recall Harrier aircraft axed in the review. This was rejected as too politically sensitive.
Lord Stirrup, the former chief of defence staff, warned that the Libya operation was far more “resource intensive” than politicians believed.
New deployments will double the cost, already running at more than £30m a week.