TOO LATE
UK fighter jets deployed to Libya
RAF Tornado and Typhoon fighters will start heading to the Mediterranean to join international operations to protect the Libyan people from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces, David Cameron has said.
The Prime Minister told the House of Commons on Friday that preparations to deploy the aircraft were already under way and they would begin moving out to air bases in the region "in the coming hours".
The move follows Thursday night's resolution by the United Nations Security Council authorising "all measures necessary" short of sending in ground troops to protect the Libyan population.
"The Defence Secretary and I have now instructed the Chief of the Defence Staff to work urgently with our allies to put in place the appropriate military measures to enforce the resolution - including a no-fly zone," said the PM.
Mr Cameron told the House that the operation would initially be a joint British, US and French mission with Arab support. He said that he would be travelling on Saturday to Paris to discuss the situation with French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
"Any decision to put the men and women of our armed forces into harm's way should only be taken when absolutely necessary," he said.
"But I believe that we cannot stand back and let a dictator whose people have rejected him kill his people indiscriminately. To do so would send a chilling signal to others."
Mr Cameron said MPs would have a chance next week to vote on the military operation in a Commons debate on a substantive Government motion and Attorney General Dominic Grieve had been consulted on the legality of the action. He said: "The Government is satisfied that there is a clear and unequivocal legal basis for the deployment of UK forces and military assets."
Labour leader Ed Miliband said he supported "Britain playing its full part in the international action that is planned".
Anti-war activists said the Prime Minister had been "itching" to bomb Libya, accusing him of not learning the lessons of the "disastrous" wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A spokesman for the Stop The War Coalition said: "Air attacks on Libya will not help end the civil war but will escalate it and could be the prelude to a much wider war.
"They will not help bring the downfall of Gaddafi. He is already portraying the United Nations' decision as an act of Western colonisation and himself as the defender of Libyan sovereignty. Air strikes by the US and Britain will strengthen, not weaken, his position."
The Press Association: UK fighter jets deployed to Libya