Obama allows use of armed drone aircraft in Libya - KansasCity.com

President Barack Obama has approved the use of armed drones in Libya, authorizing U.S. airstrikes on ground forces for the first time since America turned over control of the operation to NATO on April 4.

It also is the first time that drones will be used for airstrikes since the conflict began on March 19, although they have routinely been flying surveillance missions, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing Thursday.

On the ground, Libyan rebels said Thursday that they had control of a post on the Tunisian border, forcing government soldiers to flee over the frontier and possibly opening a new channel for opposition forces in Moammar Gadhafi’s bastion in western Libya.

In the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya, meanwhile, relief workers and medical teams awaited the arrival of a passenger ferry carrying about 1,000 people — mostly Libyan civilians and workers from Asia and Africa — out of the besieged city of Misrata, the main rebel holdout in Gadhafi’s territory.

The vessel also carried the bodies of an Oscar-nominated documentary maker from Britain and an American photographer who were killed covering clashes Wednesday. A day earlier, the ferry arrived in Misrata, delivering food and medical supplies to the beleaguered population.

Elsewhere, British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted Thursday that NATO isn’t edging toward the deployment of ground forces in Libya — despite the decision by several European nations to send military staff to assist rebel forces.

Italy, France and Britain are sending experienced combat advisers to help train and organize Libya’s opposition forces as they struggle to loosen Gadhafi’s grip on power.

Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the drones could help counteract the pro-Gadhafi forces’ tactic of traveling in civilian vehicles that make it difficult to distinguish them from rebel forces.

“What they will bring that is unique to the conflict is their ability to get down lower, therefore to be able to get better visibility on targets that have started to dig themselves into defensive positions,” Cartwright said. “They are uniquely suited for urban areas.”

Gates rejected the notion that the approval of drone strikes means that the U.S. will slowly get pulled back into a more active combat role, despite Obama’s promise to merely provide support for NATO.

The first Predator mission since Obama’s go-ahead was flown Thursday, but the aircraft — armed with Hellfire missiles — turned back due to poor weather conditions without firing any of its munitions, Cartwright said.

The reported capture of the border crossing followed three days of intense fighting outside the desert town of Nalut, about 140 miles southwest of Tripoli, said a rebel leader, Shaban Abu Sitta. Holding the crossing could open important supply routes for anti-Gadhafi forces.
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Obama allows use of armed drone aircraft in Libya - KansasCity.com

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