NATO is ready to back up the international coalition intervening in Libya within "a few days," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Monday.
NATO is ready to back up the international coalition intervening in Libya within "a few days," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Monday.

"The coordination of the intervention is being conducted by the United States in tight collaboration with France and Britain ," Juppe told reporters on the sidelines of an European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels .

While NATO allies debated at a separate meeting what role the alliance may take in the conflict, Juppe said "NATO is willing to come in support (of the operation) within a few days."

He described the air and sea strikes carried out by the international coalition over the weekend as a success.

"The initial success of our intervention is clear," Juppe told journalists. "If we had done nothing, Benghazi would be a bloodbath."

"We saved the civilians of Benghazi ," he said of strikes against troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi who had appeared poised to march on the eastern Libyan town, a rebel stronghold.

France , whose fighter jets launched the first salvos in the campaign against Gadhafi on Saturday, has resisted handing the baton to NATO, fearing a backlash from the Arab world if the alliance intervenes.

Turkey , an influential Muslim-majority member of NATO, has also displayed little enthusiasm for letting the alliance intervene.

Ankara effectively delayed a NATO decision on participating in the UN-mandated no-fly zone when its ambassador called for a review of alliance plans on Sunday.

Envoys of the 28-nation military organization resumed talks on Monday.

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