UK special forces in Malta for Libya evacuations

Earlier press reports of the SAS (Special Air Service) troops holed up in a hotel in Malta generated a flurry of concern from government officials, who are conscious of appearing to be hosting foreign forces for military intervention.

While Malta is constitutionally a neutral country, Libya happens to be the guarantor of this neutrality along with Italy.

Sources said that a previous decision announced in the British press to have the SAS poised for action in the Libya evacuations, had been met with concern by high government officials.

Two Royal Airforce Chinook helicopters landed this afternoon at Malta International Airport, and are noted as being ideal for rescuing oil workers in deserted oil fields and the “insertion of special forces.”

The Daily Telegraph also reported Thursday that special forces “were on the ground in Tripoli to ensure the evacuation of all British nationals went smoothly. SAS officers offered support and advice to private security firms drafted in to rescue more than 170 oil workers stranded in remote desert compounds.”

The Express said no details were given of the operation but it is believed these include sending in a contingent of SAS troops already on standby for “emergency deployment” to Libya. The unit would be backed by paratroopers from the Special Forces Support Group.

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt warned that the Britons stranded in the desert could be in Libya for several more days. He said: “It’s not possible to say when they will be out.  Everyone who wants to leave Tripoli or Benghazi should be out within the next day or two. That is those who have been in contact with us and those we know about, and that’s virtually all of them. The others will take slightly longer perhaps – that’s what we are working on at the moment.”

Defence secretary Liam Fox was asked about a possible SAS deployment but said the MoD would withhold any information that would “impede the safe return of our citizens”.

On Wednesday, UK culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, the SAS troopers were “ready to spring into action”, he told London radio LBC, to reach 170 British citizens marooned in desert camps around Libya.

Foreign Secretary William Hague had already indicated earlier that he had not ruled out the use of special forces in a rescue mission.

Britain's Foreign Office said a second mercy flight had flown from Tripoli to Malta with 132 people onboard, followed by a military C-130 aircraft carrying 65 people, and a pet dog. A fourth plane, also a military transporter, will arrive in Malta, ready to fly into Libya if required.

Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland on Thursday docked in Benghazi. About 26 British people who had been due to leave Benghazi aboard a Turkish ferry switched instead to the warship. The HMS Cumberland had been sailing toward the UK to be scrapped when it was diverted to Libya.