Agreement in principle reached for Nato to take command of operations over Libya 

I understand that agreement in principle has now been reached to pass command of the Libya operation to Nato. The United States has been keen to relinquish control for days now–the Obama administration has no desire for Libya to turn into another American responsibility–but agreement within Nato about the alliance taking over command of the mission could not be reached. This has led to an embarrassing situation where no one appears to want to actually be in charge of the operation.

The blockage, up to now, to transferring control to Nato has been Turkey. Ankara is not keen on the whole intervention and is furious about not having been invited by Nicolas Sarkozy to the summit in Paris last weekend. But the Turks have now reached a deal with Britain, France and the United States which will allow Nato to take control.

The transition to Nato control is a success for Britain.