Intense scenario planning is going on inside the Ministry of Defence to prepare every possible answer to that question.
Water from the Ajdabiya reservoir may prove to be decisive
One - and let me stress just one - scenario being planned for is a battle for control of the Libyan city of Ajdabiya, which is about 100 miles (160 km) south of Benghazi. A withdrawal from Ajdabiya was one of the demands set out by President Obama. With control of that city, a Libyan free state could be created alongside a state controlled by Gaddafi. Without it, he would retain a stranglehold on the key rebel city.
The reason, I'm told, is water and power. The city of Benghazi relies on Ajdabiya for both. There is a fear that Benghazi may have as little as a week's supply of water. Water is supplied by what Colonel Gaddafi hailed as the "Eighth Wonder of the World" - what is known as the "Great Man-Made River" - which claims to be the world's largest irrigation project. How possible it would be for him to block the flow I do not know but others are looking into just that.
The Prime Minister has just spelt out that one condition of a ceasefire is to establish water, electricity and gas supplies in the cities of Benghazi, Ajdabiya and Misrata.
The military problem is that Gaddafi's forces are already inside the city of Ajdabiya. The only way to get them out without massive civilian casualties would be to bomb and destroy their supply lines. In other words - more bombing raids and not just the creation of a no-fly zone once Libyan air defences are destroyed.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/03/libya_part_two.html
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