The Libyan No-Fly Zone

• In an attempt to get Muammar Gaddafi’s military to stop massacring its own citizens, several countries in the United Nations have attempted to instate a “no-fly zone” over Libya. Though five nations - including Germany, China, and Russia - chose not to vote, none of the UN Security Council members voted against the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.

• The military operation began on 19 March 2011, with the launching of missiles, raids across Libya, and a naval blockade. Having eliminated the Libyan air defense, US military officials stated that the campaign has moved to focusing on decimating Gaddafi’s ground forces, with new forces targeting fuel depots and local military installations in Tripoli, Libya’s capital.

• Since the beginning of the intervention, the initial coalition of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Qatar, Spain, the UK, and the US has expanded to 15 nations. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization took control of the arms embargo on 23 March in order to prevent Gaddafi from firing on his own people. On 24 March, NATO agreed to take control of the no-fly zone, while command of the targeting ground units remains with coalition forces.

• Exact casualty figures are difficult to make out. 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. No military fatalities have been reported, despite the fact that an American fighter jet crashed near Benghazi due to a mechanical failure.

Definitions:

• Coalition: A partnership of several countries to fight for a common cause.
• Embargo: An official ban on trade with a particular country in an attempt to deplete supplies and force the government of that nation to surrender. (An arms embargo is a ban on weapons.)
• No-fly zone: A territory over which aircraft are not permitted to fly.
• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): An international organization for peace and defense founded in 1949. Its headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium. Member nations are Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, UK, and US.

Note: The font change isn't working properly so I apologize for the strange changes.