Reply #45: Laying aside, just for the moment, the humanitarian and political issues involved in all of this...

[Adsos Letter]

it is just so difficult to gauge the strategic and tactical considerations of the rebel forces.

Have they been holding these air assets in abeyance until Gadaffi's forces were stretched out along the road to Benghazi; have they been waiting for enough inner discontent with the regime in Sirte; have they given up on any intervention in the form of NFZ, and have now taken to the skies themselves?

The list of possible questions, and combinations of answers I suppose, is endless.

As one whose own military experience/role has left him with a lifelong interest in strategy and tactics, I admit (without forgetting or downplaying the human crisis involved) to having a real interest on how the rebels see the hand they hold, as opposed to that of their opponents.

I'm really hoping they are showing some sign of gaining combat discipline; difficult when you are dealing with fighters whose zeal outweighs their experience. Hopefully, those who have military training, or are defectors from Gaddafi's forces, are having some success in this.

Seeing them with an air arm, no matter how small, is certainly an unexpected, positive development (unexpected for me, anyway).