The Coalition of the Willing "needs the support of Arab countries, in which Gaddafi has little sympathy. Open support for intervention by the Gulf Cooperation Council. Moussa seems at least partially modify the criticism yesterday. Iran and its allies against, but Hezbollah is in trouble, as the Libyan dictator has been accused of having done away with the "father" of the movement.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - Oil prices rocketed today amid fear that the international attack against Libya could damage oil facilities in the country, while the Arab world is divided between support for the insurgents in Benghazi and distrust of the West.

This morning, the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, speaking after a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, held in Cairo, said that the Arab states and the UN are "united" in the  aim of protecting Libyan civilians.

The claim seems to at least partly change what Moussa had said yesterday, when he argued that "what is happening in Libya", ie the international attack, "is different from what we wanted in the imposition of the no-fly zone: what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of other civilians. " Only yesterday, the same Moussa announced the convening of an urgent meeting of the Arab League.

The support of the Arab world is crucial to the coalition, as it will demonstrate that the attack is to defend those who seek freedom and not to hit out at Arab countries.

Arab League support for the no-fly zone, military support of Qatar and the support of the Emirates was essential to this goal, which opened the way for the UN resolution. "We are with the coalition - the Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah said yesterday - for the safety and security, according to the UN resolution."

In favour, again, is the fact that in general Gaddafi is not loved in the Arab world. In particular, he is accused of expelling hundreds Palestinians in 1990, nor should it be forgotten that in 2003 Saudi Arabia accused him of having supported a plot designed to kill King Abdullah.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood have so far remained silent, even if their leader have criticized the Western attack. Iran and its allies, primarily Hezbollah, remain firmly opposed to any Western intervention. But while Iran urges the Libyans to distrust Western powers, whose "sole aim is to win a neo-colonial control over a country rich in oil," the Lebanese Party of God finds itself between a rock and a hard place, since it had thrown its weight behind the Libyan rebels from the outset and has always accused Gaddafi of being responsible for the "disappearance" in 1990 of Musa al-Sadr, "father" of the movement. The Hezbollah leader, Hasan Nasrallah, yesterday accused "many Arab and Muslim leaders of not taking on their responsibility, paving the way for Western intervention" that "opens the possibility for foreign intervention in any Arab country and brings us back to the days of the occupation, colonization and division. " (PD)

• Libya
• middle
• east
• iran
• Hezbollah
• Egypt
• intervention
• military
• no
• fly
• zone
• arab
• league