British soldiers end Libya mission

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Smoke billows from a suburb of Tripoli on June 4, after NATO warplanes launched intensive air raids the capital.At the peak of the mission, Britain had 2,300 personnel in the mission The seven-month campaign helped bring an end to Moammar GadhafiGadhafi's family says it will file a complaint against NATO

(CNN) -- British soldiers involved in the NATO operation in Libya are headed home, the U.K. defence ministry said, following a decision to end the mission next week.

After seven months of an aerial bombing campaign that helped depose longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, NATO said Friday it is ending its mission in Libya on Monday.

"Our armed forces can be immensely proud that their hard work has assured the liberty of the Libyan people. This is a job well done and we will be sending our crews home from tonight," U.K. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said Friday. "I have given my personal thanks today to some of the aircrew and support personnel at Gioia del Colle."

Most British military assets have been based at the Gioia del Colle airfield in Italy during the campaign.

British air assets, including tankers and surveillance aircraft, will return home in the coming days, he said in a statement.

At the peak of the mission, Britain had 2,300 personnel, 32 aircraft and four ships, the defence ministry said.

Some operations will continue until Monday, but on a smaller basis that will require less aircraft.

NATO's announcement comes after the United Nations Security Council rescinded its March mandate for military intervention to protect civilians targeted during anti-regime protests.

Meanwhile, Gadhafi's relatives said NATO's actions led to the strongman's death, and plan to file a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court, a lawyer representing the family said.

"All of the events that have taken place since February 2011 and the murder of Gadhafi, all of this means we are totally in our right to call upon the International Criminal Court," said Marcel Ceccaldi, the lawyer.

Questions have been raised about how Gadhafi was killed.

Amateur videos showed him alive when captured by the opposition. He died from a shot in the head, officials said, but the circumstances surrounding the shot remain unclear.

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NATOs role in Libya being discussed

Libyan Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said Libya is eager to end the U.N. Security Council's Resolution 1973.State Department says discussions on ending NATO's role in Libya continueLibya wants to see the NATO no-fly zone end by October 31, envoy Ibrahim Dabbashi saysBut Qatar may lead a new alliance supporting LibyaGadhafi was not killed by the militia men who captured him last Thursday, Dabbashi says
United Nations (CNN) -- Apparently contradictory views emerged Wednesday about when Libya's fledgling government should begin operating without training wheels.
A Libyan ambassador told the United Nations Security Council Wednesday that his country would like the NATO no-fly zone to be terminated by the end of this month, but he added that Libya's security concerns would need to be evaluated before a final decision could be made.
Libyan Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi told the 15-member council the Libyan people are "looking forward to terminating the no-fly zone over Libya."
"In accordance with the initial assessments, the date of October 31 is the logical date to terminate this mandate," he continued, but said further evaluation of the security situation and Libya's ability to monitor its borders was needed.
Dabbashi said Libya was also keen to terminate the NATO mandate authorized by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 to protect Libyan civilians as soon as possible.
While Libyans were grateful for the international community's support, he said, such measures felt like an infringement of Libya's sovereignty.
Libya's interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), would reach a decision soon and inform the Security Council, he said.
But Qatar's chief of staff, Major Gen. Hamad bin Ali al Attiyah, told Al Jazeera: "After it became clear to us that there is a vision for NATO to withdraw at any period, Libya's friends from the Western world proposed this idea to build a new alliance to continue supporting Libya and they demand that Qatar leads this alliance because Qatar is a friend of theirs and a close friend to Libya."
Last week, senior NATO officials agreed to a preliminary end date of October 31 for the alliance's seven-month Libya mission.
The no-fly zone was one of three main elements in the NATO operation, the others being enforcement of an arms embargo and action to protect civilians and civilian areas under threat of attack.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that discussions on the conclusion of NATO's mission were continuing.
"Our understanding from our mission to NATO and from our embassy is that the TNC may foresee a future role for NATO," Nuland told reporters in Washington. "Some things have been discussed like support for border security, support for demobilization, decommissioning of weapons, these kinds of things. So those conversations are ongoing, and we just have to wait until we get to a stage where NATO makes a decision on where to go."
Dabbashi also told the Security Council that former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi wasn't executed by the militiamen who captured him, but that he died of wounds sustained beforehand.
He said that, according to initial inquiries, "Gadhafi was injured in the course of the clashes between his loyalists and the revolutionaries when he was arrested, he was bleeding from his abdomen and head, and he passed away with his arrival at the hospital in Misrata."
Cell phone videos that surfaced the same day or shortly thereafter seemed to contradict official Libyan accounts of how Gadhafi died.
Dabbashi said an independent commission of inquiry has been set up and "its findings will be made public after the completion of the investigation."
Gadhafi was buried Tuesday in Libya in an undisclosed location, five days after he was killed outside the city of Sirte. His son Mutassim and former defense minister Abu Bakr Younis, who were also killed, were buried at the same site.
The NTC and the United Nations have called for an independent investigation into the death of the man who ruled Libya for 42 years, while Human Rights Watch has described the deaths of Gadhafi and his son as "still unexplained."

Obama talks politics, Libya with Leno

President Barack Obama appears on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Tuesday night.Obama appears on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Tuesday eveningObama says he won't pay attention to the GOP primary until it's down to 1 or 2 candidatesObama tells Leno that Gadhafi's death sends "a strong message" to other dictators
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- President Barack Obama chats about politics and foreign policy during a taped appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Tuesday, telling the late-night talk show host he's not spending too much time yet focusing on next year's potential GOP rivals.
Asked by Leno if he's been watching the recent spate of Republican presidential debates, Obama says that he's "going to wait until everybody's voted off the island."
"Once they narrow it down to one or two (candidates), I'll start paying attention," the president jokes.
Obama criticizes Washington's harsh political climate, telling Leno that "the things that folks across the country are most fed up with, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, independent, is putting party ahead of country or putting the next election ahead of the next generation."
Leno also brings up the situation in Libya, asking the president for his reaction to the death of longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
"This is somebody who for 40 years has terrorized his country and supported terrorism," Obama says. Gadhafi "had an opportunity during the Arab Spring to finally let loose of his grip on power and to peacefully transition into democracy. We gave him ample opportunity, and he wouldn't do it."
Obama stresses that he didn't enjoy seeing Gadhafi's violent death, but notes that it sends "a strong message around the word to dictators" that "people long to be free," and that "universal rights" and aspirations should be respected.
Obama's full interview with Leno is scheduled to air on NBC Tuesday night.
The president is on a three-day trip to Nevada, California and Colorado.
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NATO Libya work may go on: Panetta

NATO previously announced a tentative date of Oct. 31 to end Libya missionPanetta says the NTC is suggesting it may want NATO to stick aroundU.S. is considering how to help with medical concerns in Libya
Tokyo (CNN) -- Despite the death of former leader Moammar Gadhafi and the new government's declaration of liberation, NATO may not end its mission in Libya as quickly as expected, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday in Japan.
Last week, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, commander of NATO's military forces, recommended that NATO wrap up its mission in Libya by October 31. NATO ministers gave preliminary approval to that plan.
But Panetta said at a news conference during his visit to Japan Tuesday that the National Transitional Council -- Libya's new government -- wants NATO to stick around.
"I noticed today that there were comments from some of the Libya leadership asking that NATO continue its mission during this interim as they are trying to establish some of their governance," Panetta said.
He said he would leave such decisions up to NATO while the United States looks at its long-term relations with Libya's military.
"What I would do at this point is leave the decision as to future security involvement in the hands of NATO and then beyond that, that will give us a basis on which to determine whether there is an additional role that we can play."
Of more immediate concern, Panetta said, is how to help with the medical crisis that continues even after the end of fighting.
"Obviously our concerns right now are to provide whatever help we can with regards to providing medical relief and medical assistance for the large number of wounded in Libya and there are areas that we are now exploring to try and determine how to best address that issue," the U.S. defense secretary said.
Last week, CNN reported that there were no plans to the East Coast-based hospital ship the USNS Comfort to Libya to provide medical assistance.
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