Cameron floats idea of Libya no-fly zone

Is the government really moving towards imposing a no-fly zone on Libya or just beating a drum? David Cameron asked the military to go away and look into the idea at today’s meeting of the National Security Council but experts say it’s a very difficult operation to pull off in an area the size of Libya (David Cameron himself admitted as much in an answer in the Commons).

It’s particularly difficult when you’re talking about helicopters that can take to the air and land again much more quickly than you can get a Nato jet into the vicinity to deal with them.

The track record of “no fly zones” is not perfect. The Iraqi regime frequently breached them with short-hop flights and Serbia frequently breached them too. A No Fly Zone would, of course, need military allies, probably through Nato, and legal backing, through the UN.

But the prime minister did say he was asking for NFZs to be looked into and No. 10 made it clear that no military options are being ruled out. Are we edging towards armed conflict? Probably not.

The government along with other western governments doesn’t want to look like it idly stood by if Colonel Gaddafi started firing from aircraft on civilians again. But it is hoping that pressure of sanctions along with contacts with senior figures in the regime will get Col Gaddafi out. The “dark arts,” one seasoned in the field told me, are likely to play a bigger role than the military ones in Libya.

Those close to Gaddafi will be on the receiving end of all sorts of offers of immunity and favour if past precedent is anything to go by and if channels of communication can be found.