Last Updated on Monday, 13 June 2011 21:05 Monday, 13 June 2011 21:02

Written by John Galt

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Telegraph | Adml Sir Mark Stanhope said the campaign would have been more effective without the Government's defence cuts.

The aircraft carrier and the Harrier jump-jets scrapped under last year's strategic defence review would have made the mission more effective, faster and cheaper, he said.

Sir Mark warned that the Navy would not be able to sustain its operations in Libya for another three months without making cuts elsewhere.

The First Sea Lord's comments will stir the debate over defence cuts that have left Britain without a working aircraft carrier and forced the Royal Navy's Harrier jump jets to be mothballed.

Highlighting military anger over the shrinking Armed Forces, another admiral warned that "comical" defence cuts would leave the Navy without enough ships to be effective.

Last Updated on Sunday, 12 June 2011 07:08 Sunday, 12 June 2011 07:02

Written by John Galt

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FoxNews | Libyan rebels battled their way back into a major oil port just 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tripoli, forcing Moammar Qaddafi's troops to close the vital coast highway and key supply route from Tunisia. The renewed rebel offensive marked a significant rebound for opposition forces who were crushed and driven out of the city nearly three months ago.

Rebels first took Zawiya in early March, but were brutally expelled less than two weeks later in an assault by members of an elite brigade commanded by Qaddafi's son Khamis. That had left rebels with only tenuous footholds in Libya's far west.