Arab foreign ministers discuss no-fly zone over Libya

PanARMENIAN.Net - Arab foreign ministers were meeting in Egypt on Saturday, March 12, to discuss a no-fly zone over Libya as Moammar Gadhafi's regime showed growing confidence after retaking a strategic town near Tripoli following days of relentless shelling against protesters-turned-rebels.

Ahmed bin Helli, the Arab League's undersecretary general, said a no-fly zone proposition was on the agenda for Saturday's emergency meeting. Member states, however, were divided over how to deal with the Libyan crisis, signaling it would be a tough debate.

Gadhafi's regime captured the strategic town of Zawiya and a key oil town in the east March 11 as it fought to dislodge rebels who took refuge among towering storage containers of crude oil and gas in nearby facilities, The Associated Press reports.

With Gadhafi's men also on the march against rebels in the east, Western nations appeared in disarray over how to stop the bloodshed.

President Barack Obama said a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the civilian population from the Gadhafi regime's fighter jets remains a possibility as "we are slowly tightening the noose" around Gadhafi, but he stopped short of moving toward military action.

He cited actions already taken, including getting American citizens and embassy workers out of the country, slapping tough United Nations sanctions on Libya and seizing $30 billion in Gadhafi's assets.

The European Union, meanwhile, said a no-fly zone would need diplomatic backing from international organizations like the Arab League, which was to discuss situation in Libya on Saturday in Cairo.