U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke via telephone with several Libyan rebel leaders March 2. The rebel leadership asked Hague whether the United Kingdom, along with its Western allies, was planning to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya. Hague's office said after the call that the United Kingdom "was in the process of contingency planning for all eventualities, including a no-fly zone, in close conjunction with its allies." Imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya would greatly help rebel forces in the east who allegedly have been subjected to attacks by the Libyan air force still loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Thus far, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and several U.S. government officials have indicated that they were looking into the possibility of such an operation. However, U.S. Central Command Gen. James Mathis said March 1 that enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya would be "challenging" and would necessitate the removal of air defense capability. Mathis added, "It would be a military operation — it wouldn't be just telling people not to fly airplanes." Such an operation would require a large number of sorties involving military facilities throughout the Mediterranean. The United Kingdom has already indicated that it would offer the use of its air base in Cyprus. U.S. and NATO facilities in Sicily and Crete would likely also be used, as well as a number of Italian installations in the region. The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, currently in the Mediterranean, has a sufficiently large fixed-wing complement to be of use in such an operation, although it is still in port in Toulon and the French government has not indicated that it will send it toward Libya.
