Nato stretched as rebels expand war

ZLITAN has become the latest crisis for Nato's creaking war machine in Libya as rebels in the small coastal town are threatened with annihilation by government forces.

The town, 30 miles west of the besieged rebel city of Misrata, began its own rebellion last Friday but fighters have seen savage retribution.

And yesterday the leader of Misrata's rebels appealed to Nato to intervene in the battle to prevent a massacre.

"Our forces could not get into Zlitan, said Sheikh Khalita Zuwawi, chair of Misrata Council. "We must have Nato's help."

That help conspicuously failed to materialise yesterday as government rockets fell on both Misrata and its smaller western neighbour.

This was despite Nato delivering an unusual threat to government units besieging both towns on Tuesday, scattering thousands of leaflets that warned them that any further shelling of civilians would be met with strikes by Apache helicopters.

Rebel soldiers The Scotsman met on Misrata's western front line were particularly baffled yesterday because they had made their own attempt to relieve the rebels of Zlitan on Tuesday, only, they say, to be ordered back by Nato.

Having advanced five miles towards the town, rebel units abruptly pulled back on seeing the leaflets, with commanders saying they were staying behind "red lines" agreed previously with Nato.

Reports from Zlitan which could not be independently confirmed say that rebel units have been pushed back into one district of the town in fighting that has claimed at least 22 rebel lives. The number of civilian and government casualties is not known.

Photographers who got close to Zlitan returned with pictures showing rockets landing on the town and said rebel units of the relieving force came up against Libyan government positions with machine guns and rockets.

Adding to Nato's troubles was the announcement that a bi-partisan group of American lawmakers plans to take the White House to court this week, claiming President Barack Obama has broken the terms of the War Powers Act in deploying forces over Libya.

The act, passed in 1973, says a president who commits troops to war must explain the legal reasoning for doing so within 60 days. That period can be extended to 90 days if the president requests more time from Congress, which Obama did not do. By the 90-day mark, the president is required to obtain congressional approval for action.The latter date will be reached on Sunday, with no sign that the US will withdraw the planes and specialised help it continues to provide to Nato.

With opinion polls showing 30 per cent support for the war in the US, Mr Obama may be reluctant to go before Congress to get authorisation, fearing they will turn him down.

But Britain and France, who are doing much of the actual flying in Nato's air war over North Africa, continue to rely on the US Air Force for logistics support, communications and early warning and would struggle to continue the campaign without that help.