Secretary of State for Defence, Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox on Tuesday, visited members of 906 Expeditionary Air Wing operating from Akrotiri in Cyprus in support of Operation Ellamy and the NATO led mission over Libya.
At Akrotiri, Dr Fox was given a briefing on the support being provided by 906 EAW and paid tribute to the excellence of RAF Personnel who continue to work around the clock to enforce the no-fly zone.
During his visit, Fox revealed: “My visit here has two purposes. The first is to thank the RAF for assisting what we and NATO are doing in Libya.”
Adding: “There is so much more to the RAF than fast jets. All of the support from the VC10s, the Sentinel and other support aircraft and the information they have been gathering is vital, so I am here to thank them all.”
Fox said further: “Secondly and perhaps even more importantly, is to ask them what we could be doing better? Where are the gaps, where we could be improving how we do things, or what assets or capabilities do we need to have and whether we need to be improving our communications, our skills or our positioning.
“I think to talk to those on the front line and to get their input so I can be making appropriate suggestions with the American Defence Secretary is absolutely key and it’s a tremendous source of information”
On the timescale of the ongoing operations supported by 906 EAW Dr Fox asserted:
“The person who has the greatest say in all of this is Col Qadhafi, he is the liability to his country and his people and the quicker he goes the better. It is clear that there can be no secure future for the civilian population of Libya while he is there.”
Fox claimed NATO’s intervention in Libya had halted Gaddafi’s monstrosity in Benghazi; “We have seen the way he has treated his civilians in Misrata and what he would have done in Benghazi had we not stepped in to stop him. So, the pace of events is largely determined by the regime. I hope that those around him recognise that if they continue to commit crimes against civilians they will be held to account by the International Criminal Court and international law has a long memory and a long reach.”