Status for NATO and Libya

Since 31 March 2011 NATO has been in charge of implementing UN Security Council resolution 1973 which demands:

"an immediate ceasefire" and authorizes the international community to establish a no-fly zone over Libya and to use all means necessary short of foreign occupation to protect civilians

Information about the casualties in this war is understandably very unreliable, but prior to NATO's involvement there were these assessments of the number deaths caused by Gadaffi Loyalist forces:

• On February 22, the International Coalition Against War Criminals gave an estimate that 519 people had died, 3,980 were wounded and over 1,500 were missing.
• Human Rights Watch have estimated that at least 233 people had been killed by February 22.
• On February 23, Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini stated that according to his information 1,000 people had died so far.
• On February 24, the IFHR said that 130 soldiers had been executed in Benghazi and al-Baida, after they mutinied and sided with the protesters.
• On February 25, Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, said that reports indicated that "thousands may have been killed or injured".
• On March 20, Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, spokesman for the National Transitional Council, stated that "more than 8,000" people are killed as a result of the uprising.

NATO's response has been the following missions:

1. 1 April 2011 - A coalition air strike near Brega killed at least thirteen people after a rebel convoy was fired upon. An A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft was believed to attacked after an anti-aircraft gun was fired from the convoy. In the same region, up to seven civilians were reported to have been killed and 25 injured after an attack on an ammunition truck triggered an explosion that destroyed several buildings. French patrol Mirage 2000D and Super Etendard a strike on a car was conducted in the Al Khums, located west of Misrata.
2. 2 April 2011 - French Navy Rafale fighter jets destroyed five tanks in Sirte.
3. 3 April 2011 - French Air Force destroyed several armoured vehicles in Ras Lanuf.
4. 4 April 2011 - A US Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier and a US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II flew missions near Serta and Brega respectively. 4 April also marked the last day of US armed forces taking an active role in military action, as all American forces were placed in reserve that evening, to be used only if requested by NATO.
5. 5 April 2011 - Fighter jets from Jordan flew missions from an unidentified European airbase to escort transport aircraft delivering humanitarian aid in eastern Libya. NATO aircraft flew fourteen sorties near Misrata, attacking anti-aircraft installations and ground vehicles.
6. 6 April 2011 - RAF Tornados flew missions around rebel-held Misrata and Sirte. The targets were six armoured fighting vehicles and six battle tanks. Two Typhoon aircraft had flown from Gioia del Colle air base, southern Italy, to police the no-fly zone, while two RAF VC10 aircraft provided air-to-air refuelling. The RAF announced four Typhoon jets will join 16 RAF ground-attack aircraft already under NATO command.
7. 8 April 2011 - NATO aircraft attack a column of rebel tanks, killing five rebels. Earlier the same week in another incident, a NATO air-strike killed 13 rebel fighters.
8. 9 April - NATO war-planes force a rebel MiG-23 to land. The fighter jet took off from an airfield east of Benghazi and was detected by an airborne early-warning air-plane. This is the first no-fly zone violation by any aircraft since NATO took command. Also, an anonymous NATO official claimed that they had destroyed 17 and damaged nine loyalist tanks in and around Misrata and Brega in the previous two days, of which five were destroyed by British planes. However, there was no independent confirmation of the claims, though footage of three tanks destroyed had surfaced.
9. 10 April - NATO claimed to have hit 11 tanks or armoured vehicles in the early part of the day outside Ajdabiya. A Reuters correspondent saw 15 charred corpses of Gaddafi's forces near several destroyed armoured vehicles.
10. 15 April - NATO has launched three new air-strikes in and around Tripoli. They struck a missile battery and two other targets.

But there is disagreement within NATO about the nature and degree of operations. This also extends to the amount of effort and resources made available by the individual countries.

So where do NATO countries stand?

Would escalate military action

UK

France

Conducting air-strikes

US

Canada

Belgium

Norway

Denmark

Reconnaissance missions only

Italy

Spain

Netherlands

Offering some military support

Albania

Bulgaria

Greece

Romania

No military support

Croatia

Czech Rep

Estonia

Germany

Hungary

Iceland

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Poland

Portugal

Slovakia

Slovenia

Turkey

Source: NATO, news agencies, BBC Analysis and Research 

Meanwhile...

Many evacuees fleeing the fighting along Libya's coast have been left without access to all the medical facilities and support they desperately need
Misurata remains besieged, with Gaddafi's forces shelling the city in western Libya overnight, battling their way into the centre of town. More than 100 rockets pounded the city yesterday.