'Duration of Libya war unpredictable'

Britain's Defence Secretary Liam Fox

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/188997.html

British Defense Secretary Liam Fox says it is not possible to predict the duration of Libya war, nearly four months after the Western military intervention in the North African country.

"We can, and have, planned for operations such as those we are undertaking but no one can predict how long a complex intervention will take," The Telegraph quoted Fox as saying on Wednesday.

NATO has extended the Libya military campaign until September, but Fox said there was no guarantee that Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi would have been overthrown by that time.

Fox was speaking to an assembly of high-ranking officers of the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the Royal United Services Institute.

The defense secretary added that Britain would continue the Libya mission “for as long as it takes,” although "sustaining the tempo does increase the pressure on personnel and equipment.”

Last month, the head of RAF combat operations Air Chief Marshal Sir Simon Bryant warned that the burden of Britain's air mission in Afghanistan and the Middle East exposed the threat that England could not continue the Libya campaign beyond summer.

Fox's remarks come as military solution to the Libya crisis has further slipped into a stalemate.