France Sends Advisers to Libyan Rebels

By PIERRE TRAN Published: 22 Apr 2011 10:48

PARIS - About 10 French military advisers, dubbed "liaison officers," will give technical, logistical and organizational counsel to the Libyan rebels fighting the Tripoli government, the defense ministry spokesman said April 21.

Libyan rebels check a French-made anti-tank Milan rocket launcher tube April 20 at the strategic town of Ajdabiya. France and Italy joined Britain in sending military advisers to insurgent-held eastern Libya as Tripoli warned that foreign boots on th (Marwan Naamani / AFP via Getty Images)

The French deployment, announced by the foreign ministry on April 20, follows similar announcements by Britain and Italy on sending advisers to help the beleaguered rebels.

The announcement of advisers comes as government forces poured heavy mortar fire into the port town Misrata, killing civilians and British-born photographer Tim Hetherington and U.S. photojournalist Chris Hondros on April 20.

"A small number" of advisers, around 10, would give advice on technical, logistical and organizational matters, the defense ministry spokesman, Laurent Teisseire, told journalists.

"This is not an operational engagement," Teisseire said.

The advisers were not ground troops and would not act as forward air controllers to guide coalition strike aircraft to hit targets, he said.

"That is not their expertise," he said.

Rebel fighters have told France 2 television that American, British and French military advisers have been on the ground helping the resistance for about a month.

French foreign ministry spokeswoman Christine Fage said April 20 that "France has placed a small number of liaison officers alongside our special envoy to Benghazi who are carrying out a liaison mission with the TNC (Transitional National Council)," Agence France-Presse reported.

Teisseire said it was too early to set a cost on the French effort in the Libyan intervention but the expenditure was "compatible" with the 900 million euros ($1.3 billion) budgeted this year for overseas operations.

Of that amount, 630 million euros were earmarked in the annual defense budget for foreign operations, and the remainder would be come from central government funds, he said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised the head of the Libyan opposition, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, that air strikes would be stepped up.

"We are indeed going to intensify the attacks and respond to this request from the Transitional National Council," Sarkozy told Jalil after meeting April 20 with the rebel leader here, Reuters reported.

In the week to April 21, French warplanes flew 255 sorties, slightly up from the estimated 200 flown in the preceding week, said Army Col. Thierry Burkhard, a spokesman for the Joint Staff.

Of that total number, 135 were ground attack missions but not all involved use of weapons.

The ground targets hit included two SA-2 surface-to-air missile sites, a multiple rocket launcher, ammunition truck and armored vehicles, he said.

French planes flew 52 reconnaissance and 26 air defense missions during the week.

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