BENGHAZI, Mar 18: France said Friday military action against Libya would come “within hours”, as a UN vote approving air strikes was celebrated by rebels and Moamer Gaddafi’s son said his family was “not afraid.” The strikes will come “rapidly... within a few hours,” French government spokesman Francois Baroin said after the UN Security Council on Thursday cleared the way for air raids to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s advancing forces. Baroin said the goal of the military action would be to “protect the Libyan people and to allow them to go all the way in their drive for freedom, which means bringing down the Gaddafi regime.” A report from Washington says: Libyan leader Moammer Gaddafi has changed tactics as "a humanitarian gesture" and no longer plans to send the army in to a rebel stronghold and mercilessly crush all resistance, CNN reported Thursday. "I just took a phone call from one of Gaddafi's sons, Saif (al-Islam). This is the message from the leadership," the CNN correspondent in Tripoli said. "He said they're going to change the tactics around Benghazi, that the army is not going to go into Benghazi. It's going to take up positions around the stronghold. "The reason is they expect a humanitarian exodus. They expect people will be afraid of what's going to happen, and he said the army will be there to help them get out." The message came as the United Nations Security Council cleared the way for air strikes against Kadhafi, whose forces have ousted the rebels from several towns in recent days and are closing in on their main stronghold. "From what I heard just before this (UN) vote, 11th hour diplomacy, if you will, a message directly from Moammer Gaddafi, passed by his son, saying the army won’t go to Benghazi,” CNN correspondent Nic Robertson reiterated. “They’ll take up positions outside. The government will only send in police and counterterrorism forces, they say, to disarm the rebels.” Earlier on state television, Gaddafi had promised a far more ruthless assault on the city. “We will chase the traitors from Benghazi,” he told his troops. “Destroy their fortifications. Show them no mercy. The world needs to see Benghazi free.” A London report said, Britain will send Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets to air bases “in the coming hours” to prevent Muammar Gaddafi’s forces from mounting air strikes against anti-government rebels in Libya, Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday. The promise of action came after the UN Security Council approved a no-fly zone Thursday over Libya, the legal requirement paving the way for military action. Cameron sidestepped the issue of potential civilian casualties from any military intervention, saying the situation could get radically worse if Gaddafi’s forces take the rebel-held city of Benghazi. “We do not want to see a bloodbath in Benghazi,” Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons. He added the decision was about protecting people in Libya and insisted it was “not about choosing the government of Libya.” Britain, France and NATO were holding emergency meetings Friday on enforcing the no-fly zone, but there was no word yet from the U.S. military on what role it may take. French government spokesman Francois Baroin would not comment on “where, how, what target, or in what form” the air strikes would take. Libya responded to the diplomatic onslaught by declaring an immediate cease-fire, firmly pushing the ball back to the allies. NATO surveillance AWACS planes flying off the Libyan coast are already providing 24-hour coverage of the situation in the air and on the battlefields. After the UN resolution, President Barack Obama spoke with Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to coordinate further action on the no-fly zone. The White House said in a statement that “that Libya must immediately comply with all terms of the resolution and that violence against the civilian population of Libya must cease.” The Americans have positioned a host of forces and ships in the region, including submarines, destroyers, amphibious assault and landing ships with some 400 Marines. The French carrier Charles De Gaulle is also in Toulon. Analysts said no-fly zone aircraft would be flying from NATO bases such as in Sigonella, Sicily, Aviano in northern Italy, Istres in southern France, and Ventiseri-Solenzara in Corsica. The Italian air base at Trapani-Birgi at the western tip of Sicily, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) north of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, is already being used by the AWACS planes that would support any aerial missions over Libya. The North Atlantic Council, NATO’s top decision-making body, decided Friday to speed up planning and will meet again in the next few days when plans are complete, an alliance spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the situation. Envoys said there was no discussion at the NATO meeting of any air strikes against targets in Libya. Asked whether NATO would go along with any unilateral action, Martin Povejsil, the Czech Republic’s NATO envoy, said none was imminent. “I do not expect any such action in the next few hours or next few days,” he said. The Germans, who are opposed to any military intervention in Libya, are considering sending German-manned NATO airborne warning and control planes to help monitor Afghanistan’s airspace — a move that would free up scarce AWACS to be dispatched to Libya’s airspace. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle confirmed that such a decision was considered, but stressed there was no decision yet Danish Defense Minister Gitte Lillelund Bech said her country can send four F-16 fighter plans plus two spare F-16s and a cargo plane with ammunition to help monitor the no-fly zone. A formal decision in Parliament is required before the planes can take off, but he said they might leave as early as Saturday morning. Spain, too, offered to help — making two air bases available to NATO if the alliance intervenes in Libya, as well as its naval and air forces. Military experts, however, cautioned that the consequences of a no-fly zone are unpredictable. The former head of the British army, Richard Dannatt, said Friday it was crucial to proceed cautiously “so we don’t get into the kind of situation that we got into in Iraq by not having a Plan B for the morning after.” Charles Heyman, defense analyst and editor of the Armed Forces of the UK, said the Americans will have the bulk of the military responsibility even though Britain and France have taken the lead in pushing for the wide-ranging UN resolution. “It’s easy for the British and the French to talk a lot about it when they actually don’t have all the right equipment to maintain a no-fly zone on their own,” he said. “This no-fly zone requires AWACs surveillance planes, and the ability to take out air defenses, and the ability to strike at targets on the ground without putting your aircraft at risk, and that requires standoff missiles that can be launched from the air without getting too close to the targets.” AFPnot afraid.” The strikes will come “rapidly... within a few hours,” French government spokesman Francois Baroin said after the UN Security Council on Thursday cleared the way for air raids to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s advancing forces. Baroin said the goal of the military action would be to “protect the Libyan people and to allow them to go all the way in their drive for freedom, which means bringing down the Gaddafi regime.” A report from Washington says: Libyan leader Moammer Gaddafi has changed tactics as "a humanitarian gesture" and no longer plans to send the army in to a rebel stronghold and mercilessly crush all resistance, CNN reported Thursday. "I just took a phone call from one of Gaddafi's sons, Saif (al-Islam). This is the message from the leadership," the CNN correspondent in Tripoli said. "He said they're going to change the tactics around Benghazi, that the army is not going to go into Benghazi. It's going to take up positions around the stronghold. "The reason is they expect a humanitarian exodus. They expect people will be afraid of what's going to happen, and he said the army will be there to help them get out." The message came as the United Nations Security Council cleared the way for air strikes against Kadhafi, whose forces have ousted the rebels from several towns in recent days and are closing in on their main stronghold. "From what I heard just before this (UN) vote, 11th hour diplomacy, if you will, a message directly from Moammer Gaddafi, passed by his son, saying the army won’t go to Benghazi,” CNN correspondent Nic Robertson reiterated. “They’ll take up positions outside. The government will only send in police and counterterrorism forces, they say, to disarm the rebels.” Earlier on state television, Gaddafi had promised a far more ruthless assault on the city. “We will chase the traitors from Benghazi,” he told his troops. “Destroy their fortifications. Show them no mercy. The world needs to see Benghazi free.” A London report said, Britain will send Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets to air bases “in the coming hours” to prevent Muammar Gaddafi’s forces from mounting air strikes against anti-government rebels in Libya, Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday. The promise of action came after the UN Security Council approved a no-fly zone Thursday over Libya, the legal requirement paving the way for military action. Cameron sidestepped the issue of potential civilian casualties from any military intervention, saying the situation could get radically worse if Gaddafi’s forces take the rebel-held city of Benghazi. “We do not want to see a bloodbath in Benghazi,” Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons. He added the decision was about protecting people in Libya and insisted it was “not about choosing the government of Libya.” Britain, France and NATO were holding emergency meetings Friday on enforcing the no-fly zone, but there was no word yet from the U.S. military on what role it may take. French government spokesman Francois Baroin would not comment on “where, how, what target, or in what form” the air strikes would take. Libya responded to the diplomatic onslaught by declaring an immediate cease-fire, firmly pushing the ball back to the allies. NATO surveillance AWACS planes flying off the Libyan coast are already providing 24-hour coverage of the situation in the air and on the battlefields. After the UN resolution, President Barack Obama spoke with Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to coordinate further action on the no-fly zone. The White House said in a statement that “that Libya must immediately comply with all terms of the resolution and that violence against the civilian population of Libya must cease.” The Americans have positioned a host of forces and ships in the region, including submarines, destroyers, amphibious assault and landing ships with some 400 Marines. The French carrier Charles De Gaulle is also in Toulon. Analysts said no-fly zone aircraft would be flying from NATO bases such as in Sigonella, Sicily, Aviano in northern Italy, Istres in southern France, and Ventiseri-Solenzara in Corsica. The Italian air base at Trapani-Birgi at the western tip of Sicily, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) north of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, is already being used by the AWACS planes that would support any aerial missions over Libya. The North Atlantic Council, NATO’s top decision-making body, decided Friday to speed up planning and will meet again in the next few days when plans are complete, an alliance spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the situation. Envoys said there was no discussion at the NATO meeting of any air strikes against targets in Libya. Asked whether NATO would go along with any unilateral action, Martin Povejsil, the Czech Republic’s NATO envoy, said none was imminent. “I do not expect any such action in the next few hours or next few days,” he said. The Germans, who are opposed to any military intervention in Libya, are considering sending German-manned NATO airborne warning and control planes to help monitor Afghanistan’s airspace — a move that would free up scarce AWACS to be dispatched to Libya’s airspace. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle confirmed that such a decision was considered, but stressed there was no decision yet Danish Defense Minister Gitte Lillelund Bech said her country can send four F-16 fighter plans plus two spare F-16s and a cargo plane with ammunition to help monitor the no-fly zone. A formal decision in Parliament is required before the planes can take off, but he said they might leave as early as Saturday morning. Spain, too, offered to help — making two air bases available to NATO if the alliance intervenes in Libya, as well as its naval and air forces. Military experts, however, cautioned that the consequences of a no-fly zone are unpredictable. The former head of the British army, Richard Dannatt, said Friday it was crucial to proceed cautiously “so we don’t get into the kind of situation that we got into in Iraq by not having a Plan B for the morning after.” Charles Heyman, defense analyst and editor of the Armed Forces of the UK, said the Americans will have the bulk of the military responsibility even though Britain and France have taken the lead in pushing for the wide-ranging UN resolution. “It’s easy for the British and the French to talk a lot about it when they actually don’t have all the right equipment to maintain a no-fly zone on their own,” he said. “This no-fly zone requires AWACs surveillance planes, and the ability to take out air defenses, and the ability to strike at targets on the ground without putting your aircraft at risk, and that requires standoff missiles that can be launched from the air without getting too close to the targets.” AFP