ABSTRACT
In a private meeting during the Libya crisis summit at the Elysée Palace in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy informed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister David Cameron that French combat aircraft were en route to the Libyan coast to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1973, 2 which had been adopted on 17 March 2011. With none of them objecting, the French Air Force opened the allied campaign in the afternoon of 19 March. 3 In these opening strikes, Rafale and Mirage fighter–bombers destroyed several armoured vehicles at the outskirts of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in eastern Libya.
