Press briefing on Libya

Good afternoon to everyone here in Brussels and to those joining us in Naples.

I will hand over to Wing Commander Mike Bracken in Naples for our Libya operational update. But before I do, I 'd like to give you a quick preview of an upcoming event. The Secretary General will be in London tomorrow afternoon where he will be addressing the Royal United Services Institute. The speech is part of a two day conference on missile defence and is entitled "NATO: defending Against Ballistic Missile Attack".

In the speech the Secretary General will consider three key questions: Why do we need missile defence? Why do we need transatlantic cooperation? And why do we want cooperation with Russia? Following the speech, the Secretary General will be taking a few questions at RUSI.

For media wishing to attend the event, please check the RUSI website.

While in London, the Secretary General will meet with PM Cameron. They will review the progress of Operation Unified Protector. I expect they will also discuss the need for the international community to plan for a post-Qadhafi, post-conflict Libya. Afghanistan, of course remains NATO's number one operational priority. So the Secretary General will update the Prime Minister on progress towards transition to Afghan security lead , which will effecively start next month across the country .

Moving to Libya, we have seen another busy weekend on both the diplomatic and the military fronts. Mike will bring you up to speed on the military situation. On the diplomatic front we have seen Germany and the United Arab Emirates recognising the National Transitional Council as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people. This is yet further evidence of the increasing isolation of the Qadhafi regime. And that quite simply, this regime has no future.

We continue to maintain a high tempo of operations. It is clear that NATO has the resources to keep up the pressure on the Qadhafi regime. We know it takes time and we know that following last week's Ministerial meeting, our Allies and partners are considering how they can best provide the necessary resources to see this mission through. As stated last week, the Secretary General is confident the Alliance will do just that.

And with that, I will hand the floor to Naples for an operational update. Mike - the floor is yours: