BRITISH submariners have pinpointed key air defence installations in two nights of cruise missile strikes against Libya.The launches from the Trafalgar-class boat – the first since the 2003 war against Saddam Hussein – are the Navy’s contribution to a rain of fire and steel which has landed on Colonel Gaddafi’s forces as Allied nations enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1973.
Aside from the Tomahawk strikes from the submarine – its identity is classified for security reasons – frigates HMS Westminster and Cumberland are on patrol off Libya enforcing an arms embargo under Operation Ellamy, the UK’s military action in support of the UN resolution.
Targets from Zuwara in western Libya to the rebel-held port of Benghazi in the east, plus a military command centre in the city’s capital of Tripoli have been attacked in the concerted Allied series of air and missile strikes.
In addition to the RN’s role in the operation, RAF Tornados have fired bunker-busting Storm Shadow missiles after conducting the longest strike missions since the Falklands conflict.
Major General Jon Lorimer, the Chief of Defence Staff’s spokesman, said the targets had been “carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties and to strike at key military installations in Libya”.
He added: “The campaign Colonel Gaddafi has been waging against his own people is brutal and wrong. The international community has a duty to stop the violence against the Libyan people.”
Rear Admiral Ian Corder, Commander Operations, is directing the RN’s operations from the joint military headquarters in Northwood. At present, Westminster is off Benghazi while Cumberland and the T-boat remain in the area.
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