A spokesman for the Souda Bay base said Thursday that the marines arrived Wednesday from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Spokesman Paul Farley said the marines had been deployed “as part of contingency planning to provide the president (Barack Obama) flexibility on full range of option regarding Libya,” along with the amphibious assault ships USS Kearsarge and USS Ponce which have been ordered to Mediterranean.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) will investigate Qaddafi and his inner circle, including some of his sons, for possible crimes against humanity in the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters, the prosecutor said Thursday.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Qaddafi's security forces are alleged to have attacked “peaceful demonstrators” in several towns and cities across Libya since Feb. 15, and he identified Qaddafi and several commanders and regime officials as having formal or de facto command over the forces that may have committed crimes.
Moreno-Ocampo vowed there would be “no impunity in Libya.” Armed with unusual authority from the UN Security Council, Moreno-Ocampo acted with unprecedented haste to launch an investigation, partly to warn Libyan officials against any continued slaughter of civilians.
He said the court was using the opportunity “to put them on notice: If forces under their command commit crimes, they could be criminally responsible.” He also warned that leaders of the Libyan opposition, who have seized weapons from the Libyan military, could be investigated if allegations were raised against them. “No one has the authority to attack and massacre civilians,” he said.
The United States and countries around the world are outraged by Qaddafi’s crackdown in Libya, Obama said. “We will continue to send a clear message: The violence must stop. Muammar Qaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead and he must leave,” Obama said at a news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Rebels, meanwhile, strengthened their hold on the strategic oil installation at Brega on Thursday after repelling an attempt by pro-Qaddafi forces to retake it.
Army units allied with the rebels fanned out in the oil facilities and port at Brega, armed with machine guns and rocket launchers. Government warplanes launched a new air strike on the town in the morning, according to witnesses. It was not clear what they targeted, but it was likely an airstrip that belongs to the huge oil complex on the Mediterranean coast.
But there were no reports of casualties, and pro-Qaddafi forces had withdrawn to another oil port, Ras Lanouf, 130 km west along the Mediterranean coast after their defeat a day earlier.
“We are in a position to control the area and we are deploying our forces,” a rebel army officer in Brega said. In the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, east of the oil port, hundreds of mourners chanted “Down with Qaddafi” as they buried three of the at least 14 rebel fighters killed in Wednesday's battle.
“Our message to Qaddafi is we are coming and we will make Libya free,” said one man in the crowd, Sami Mosur. “He is a criminal. We are coming to him from Benghazi, we are coming from everywhere. He is a killer.”
Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Thursday a plan proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to resolve the crisis in Libya was merely “under consideration” and it was up to Venezuela to release details. The online edition of Libya’s Yosberides newspaper earlier on Thursday reported that Qaddafi had agreed to the proposal floated by his ally Chavez.
“It is a Venezuelan proposal and sent to us and we are considering it and that is all,” Moussa said after meeting visiting Turkish President Abdullah Gul. “Libya accepts the proposal to work for a negotiated end to the conflict accompanied by an international commission,” Venezuelan Information Minister Andres Izarra said. “Venezuela will continue its contacts in the Arab world and elsewhere to find formulas for peace in Libya.”
Libya is on the verge of civil war, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, in one of the starkest warnings yet by a world leader over the situation in the country. “This is an extreme situation,” he told Russia's Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu, according to state news agency ITAR-TASS.
