Citing unnamed senior NATO and US officials, the newspaper said the shortage highlights the limitations of Britain, France and other European countries in sustaining even a relatively small military action.

The scope of the problem was not mentioned.

The shortage of European munitions, along with the limited number of aircraft available, has raised doubts among some officials about whether the United States can continue to avoid returning to the air campaign, the report said.

So far, the NATO commander has not requested their deployment, The Post noted.

But several US military officials said they anticipated being called back into the fight, the paper said.

Washington pulled back around 50 combat planes from Libyan operations last week after handing over control of the mission to NATO, although since then they took part in some missions to take out Kadhafi's air defense systems.

Currently, only six out of 28 nations are conducting air strikes, while France and Britain carry out half of them. The other half are conducted by Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Canada.

A senior administration official said he expected other countries to announce "in the next few days" that they would contribute aircraft equipped with the laser-guided munitions, The Post pointed out.

earlier related report
Rights group confirms use of cluster bombs in Libya
Misrata, Libya (AFP) April 15, 2011 - Forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi are firing cluster bombs into the besieged rebel city of Misrata, the Human Rights Watch group confirmed Friday, saying it had examined the munitions.

"Human Rights Watch observed at least three cluster munitions explode over the El-Shawahda neighbourhood in Misrata on the night of April 14, 2011," the New York-based group said in a statement.

It said researchers had inspected the submunition and interviewed ambulance drivers who saw two other strikes that appeared to have been carried out with cluster bombs.

Use of the munitions in Misrata was first reported by The New York Times.

Cluster bombs, in which a delivery bomb releases many little bomblets over a zone, are forbidden under international law since August 2010 because of the indiscriminate deaths they can cause in civilian populations.

"It's appalling that Libya is using this weapon, especially in a residential area," said Steve Goose, arms division director at Human Rights Watch.

"They pose a huge risk to civilians, both during attacks because of their indiscriminate nature and afterward because of the still-dangerous unexploded duds scattered about," he said.

Human Rights Watch said the munitions discovered were MAT-120 120mm mortar projectiles produced by Spain in 2007. The weapons release 21 submunitions that disintegrate and spray molten metal and fragments over a wide area.

It said the bomblets were believed to have landed 300 metres (yards) from Misrata's hospital. It was not immediately known if any civilians had been killed or wounded by the devices.

The group called on Kadhafi's forces to stop using the cluster bombs.

earlier related report
EU consults with NATO on Libya aid mission
Berlin (AFP) April 15, 2011 - The European Union and NATO strengthened their coordination Friday for a potential EU military mission to deliver urgent humanitarian aid to Libya's shell-shocked city of Misrata.

One day after attending an Arab League meeting on Libya in Cairo, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met NATO foreign ministers in Berlin to discuss ties between the two organisations and the situation in Libya.

"We also remain seriously concerned about the humanitarian situation in Libya and stand ready, if requested by the UN, to send an EU mission to support humanitarian efforts," Ashton said.

"Pending the request, the planning is at an advanced stage. And in this context we are coordinating with others, including NATO," she said in a statement after the talks.

The discussions came after the EU overcame Swedish objections to a potential military-humanitarian mission as the bloc approved the first phase of planning for such an operation, a European diplomat said.

The EU and NATO agreed to hold an informal meeting at the level of ambassadors to discuss Libya in the coming weeks, to "avoid a doubling up (of operations) and adjust their activities," a German diplomat said.

The two organisations have exchanged their operational plans for Libya in case the United Nations asks the EU to send a mission to Libya, a NATO official said.

The EU has yet to make any final decision on a mission to Libya, which would likely include the deployment of ships. Any mission would need the green light from the UN.

But Ashton told UN chief Ban Ki-moon last week that the bloc was ready to use military means to bring urgent aid to Misrata, a rebel-held city besieged by Moamer Kadhafi's forces for nearly two months.

Any mission would have to be coordinated with NATO since the 28-nation military alliance has deployed several warships and jets in the Mediterranean to enforce an arms embargo and a no-fly zone on Libya.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said this week that the EU should lead any humanitarian mission, not the alliance.

"It is also a bit of a controversial question to have a military organisation to take part in the delivery of humanitarian assistance," Rasmussen said on Monday.

The Libya foreign ministry warned Monday that "any attempt to approach Libyan territory under the cover of a humanitarian mission will be met with staunch armed resistance."

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