After the controversial – and bloody – military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, Western powers have once again seen fit to use military force against a sovereign country, this time on the grounds of humanitarian aid rather than seeking weapons of mass destruction or regime change, by surgically striking at Libyan military installations and bombing ground forces loyal to the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.
Although United Nations Security Council resolution 1973 authorised the establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya, the Western powers have effectively created a combat zone in which American, French and British aircraft and naval vessels have been attacking pro-Gaddafi formations on the ground and Libyan government strategic installations, such as air defence systems.
As Tribune went to press, US defence officials were reporting that the bombing raids over Libya were achieving their stated objective in “severely” impairing Colonel Gaddafi’s capacity to prosecute the war against rebel forces in the east of the country. Meanwhile, in Tripoli, government spokesmen said that scores of innocent civilians had been killed as a direct result of the Western bombing campaign.
After Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and even Saudi Arabia – where the West has not apparently been tempted to intervene to help the pro-democracy rebels – popular protests on the streets against established autocracies in the Arab world have spread to Syria, Algeria and Yemen.
In Syria, troops dispersed demonstrators in the southern city of Deraa protesting against President Bashar al-Assad and his ruling Baath Party. In Algeria, a fragile peace has taken shape following demonstrations against the rule of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. In Yemen, the pro-Western regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh has intensified its brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has condemned the West’s military action against Libya as “a medieval call for a crusade” in the region. The Kremlin is acutely aware that should the governments of Algeria, Libya and Syria be overthrown and replaced with Western-leaning ones, the Russian military industrial complex would lose around $10 billion worth of arms contracts with these countries. A change in government in Syria would also probably mean the Russian navy losing its only naval base in the region, in the Syrian port of Tartus.
