US President Barack Obama does not preclude the United States supplying weapons to Libyan rebels attempting to overthrow the Gaddafi regime, but NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says that is not part of UN Resolution 1973.

NATO has taken over the operational military leadership of an international coalition enforcing UN Resolution 1973 from the United States, and apart from enforcing a no-fly zone is also currently enforcing a general weapons embargo on Libya.

Obama’s statement came during an interview with NBC following the president’s speech to the nation on Libya. “I am not ruling it out, but I am not ruling it in,” Obama said of possible weapons supplies, adding that it would be fair to say that if there was a wish to do so, it would be possible. Anders  Fogh Rasmussen: "We are there to protect civilians, not to arm them."

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, disagrees. Following yesterday’s meeting in London, Fogh Rasmussen said of the UN resolution that it calls for: “the enforcement of an arms embargo. We are there to protect civilians, not to arm them”.

Implicitly, Fogh Rasmussen’s statement suggests that were any foreign states to attempt to deliver weapons to either side in the Libyan conflict, NATO forces would be bound to stop them under the current UN Security Council resolution.

Fogh Rasmussen’s understanding of the resolution was also at odds with Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague who said that providing weapons to rebels would be “consistent with the UN resolution to give people aid to defend themselves in certain circumstances”.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is further reported as saying that the UN resolution 1973 ”amended or overrode the absolute prohibition on arms to anyone in Libya”.

France’s Foreign Minister Alain Juppé was more in line with the NATO view, saying arming the rebels was not part of the UN resolution, although it could be up for discussion. French  Foreign Minister Alain Juppé (left) and British Foreigfn Secretary William Hague, here photographed in Paris on March 15, also differ on whether the current UN resolution allows the arming of rebels.

“I remind you that this is not what is envisaged by Resolution 1973... so for the moment France has agreed to the strict application of these resolutions,” Juppé is reported as saying, adding that a new UN resolution would be necessary if weapons were to be provided to the rebels.

Debate on arming the Libyan rebels comes as reports come in of a rebel attack on Col.Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte having failed.

A Danish TV2 News report direct from the advance on Sirte showed rebels in full flight as forces loyal to Col. Gaddafi lobbed heavy grenades at them. Rebels are now said to have retreated towards Ras Lanuf.