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London (AFP) March 10, 2011 British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said Thursday there were alternatives to wiping out Libya's air defence system to implement a no-fly zone. In contrast to comments by his US counterpart Robert Gates, Fox said attacking Libya's air defences might not be necessary, citing the no-fly zones imposed over Iraq from 1991 to 2003. Fox said a no-fly zone over Libya would require a demonstrable need, a strong legal basis and broad international and regional support. "If it were to be carried out it would be for the protection of the civilian population," he told BBC radio. Fox was speaking before heading to Brussels for a meeting of NATO defence ministers to thrash out the military alliance's options on the crisis in Libya, where leader Moamer Kadhafi is battling an uprising. Within NATO "there is a very clear understanding that we want to get a legal basis for this," he said. He said Britain had been in discussions with its counterparts at the UN on "how we might prepare for such a resolution which would be needed". Asked if he agreed that a no-fly zone would mean knocking out Libya's air defence systems first, Fox replied: "In Iraq that was not the way that we carried out the no-fly zone. There are alternatives. "Rather than taking out air defences you can say that if your air defence radar locks on to any of our aircraft, we regard that as a hostile act and take subsequent action." He said Gates's view was "one military option but there are other military options which, as I say, we used, for example, in Iraq. "We'd want to look at all of these. This is some way down the road yet." Fox said there was no sign of the fighting in Libya ending any time soon. "What we are seeing is a relative stalemate between the military forces in Libya," he said. "The regime itself is digging in around Tripoli. It is able to protect its own areas and the oil installations but doesn't seem to have the military mass to be able to move decisively against the rebel forces, and the reverse is true. "What that potentially means is a lot of suffering for the people of Libya. "The best result for the whole country is for Colonel Kadhafi to realise he's a liability to his country and people and to leave."
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