It is certain that sooner or later, dead or alive, Gaddafi will be captured; bringing to an end the longest rule by a despot in the recent history of the world

The democratic fragrance of ‘Jasmine Revolution’ may have wafted through its neighbours Tunisia and Egypt, but in Libya, it turned into a horrible reek with the Gaddafi regime coming down with a sledgehammer to quell the protesting masses.

Though Libya, one of the largest oil producers of Africa, gained independence from colonial rule as Kingdom of Libya in 1951, it is being ruled from 1969 till date by Colonel Muammar al Gaddafi - who rose to power in a military coup. Gaddafi became one of the longest serving rulers in history. After abolishing the monarchy of King Idris, he created a new regime based on Arab nationalism and a welfare state, combining various roots of his political philosophy in his personal manifesto called “The Green Book”. In 1977, he proclaimed that Libya was changing its form of government from a republic to a ‘Jamahiriya’, meaning government by the masses. But in reality, the one-man rule has continued till the present day. And as it usually happens, his autocratic iron-fisted rule resulted in suppression of the masses, largescale corruption and his family amassing billions of dollars worth of ill-gotten public wealth. Even though Gaddafi entertained his foreign guests in a so-called tent—to showcase his Bedouin credentials—he, along with his family and members of his inner coterie lived in garish surroundings, trying to outwit each other as pompous autocrats; and in the process, totally alienating themselves from the country’s citizenry.

The protests and confrontations which began in earnest on February 15 in Benghazi quickly spread like wildfire in other towns inviting the wrath of the security forces. By February 20, more than 200 people had been killed in Benghazi alone. The Libyan Government shut down the Internet and mobile phone network to hide the brutal violence. Gaddafi had declared war against his own people forcing some of his own Ministers and high officials to either step down or distance themselves from him declaring his regime to be illegitimate. However, when Gaddafi roared to quash his opposition like rats and cockroaches by unleashing not only his ground forces, but also his air force war planes; the international community woke up to the possible reality of an impending genocide both on the ground and from the air.

In 2005, the United Nations approved a new doctrine called the “responsibility to protect” (R2P), declaring that world powers have the right and obligation to intervene when a dictator devours his people. The UN Security Council’s (UNSC) Resolution 1973, authorising military intervention was essentially to provide a ‘no-fly zone’ over the Libyan air space, to prevent casualties to civilian population in Libya from the air. At the time of the passing of the UNSC Resolution, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China and Germany) countries abstained, generally stressing reasons such as lack of full information, unintended consequences of military action and the need to address the problem through a political process rather than through military intervention. There were apprehensions that UNSC Resolution 1973 could tantamount to infringement of a country’s sovereignty in solving its internal problems. Russian Prime Minister Putin went to the extent of calling the coalition air strikes to ensure no-fly zone (NFZ) over Libya, interference akin to medieval crusades; officially, the remark was withdrawn later on. But the other world powers spearheaded by France and UK and supported by Obama’s Administration were unanimous for the need of military intervention to avert looming massscale annihilation of civilian population by Gaddafi’s forces. The enforcement of the NFZ, therefore, couldn’t have come sooner. Military intervention in Libya began on March 19. Within four days, on March 23, British Air Vice Marshal Greg Bagwell was quoted by BBC saying that the Libyan Air Force “no longer exists as a fighting force”. With Gaddafi’s air defence system and air force effectively out of the equation and a maritime embargo in place, the ground situation was not only retrieved but it also enabled rebel forces to regroup for a westward offensive push.

However, the coalition forces realised soon that imposition of the NFZ and maritime embargo alone were not adequate to achieve the ultimate aim of removing Gaddafi from power in Libya. But overstretched as they were on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan and also due to severe political differences among the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) nations on the correct interpretation and compliance of the UNSC Resolution 1973, it was decided not to use ‘boots’ on the ground. Instead, a middle path was adopted to intensify the air campaign to include Gaddafi’s military targets, which would ultimately weaken the pro-Gaddafi forces and ensure their defeat even in the hands of the rag-tag opposition forces. By March 31, 2011, to cater to the sensitivities of individual nations, the NATO took over the responsibilities of ensuring the air and maritime embargos with the command of targeting ground units remaining with the coalition forces. Spearheaded by France and the UK, whose leaders were firmly opposed to the continuation of Gaddafi regime, a massive air campaign was unleashed in Libya with round-the-clock precision air strikes being carried out by frontline fighters of the participating nations. By August 31, a total of more than 20,000 sorties had been flown which included as many as 8,000 strike missions. By implying that anything of military value had the potential of causing harm to the civilian population, all military targets were considered legitimate for engagement. Nothing was spared whether these were Libyan armour, military or supply vehicles, surface-to-air missiles (SAM) sites or radars, command and control centres; even Bab al-Azizia compound—Gaddafi’s stronghold in Tripoli. According to US Admiral Samuel Locklear, who heads the NATO’s Joint Operations Command, NATO air raids had destroyed 5,000 military targets in Libya.