Operation Mobile

Operation Mobile
Part of 2011 military intervention in Libya
Two CF-18s refuelling over Libya, 2011
Date 19 March – 1 November 2011 Location Libya Result Decisive Canadian victory Effective no-fly zone established[1] Operations handed over to NATO Operation Unified Protector
Belligerents
Canada	Libya
Commanders and leaders
Stephen Harper Peter MacKay Charles Bouchard Walter Natynczyk André Deschamps	Muammar Gaddafi † Abu-Bakr Jabr † Khamis Gaddafi † Ali Sharif al-Rifi
Units involved
Royal Canadian Air Force  Royal Canadian Navy	Libya Armed Forces of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Strength
See deployed forces. 655 personnel at its peak.[2]	Unknown
Casualties and losses
None	Unknown

Operation Mobile (French: Opération Mobile) was the name given to Canadian Forces activities in the 2011 military intervention in Libya.^[3] The United States' counterpart to this was Operation Odyssey Dawn, the French counterpart was Opération Harmattan and the British counterpart was Operation Ellamy. The no-fly zone was proposed during the Libyan Civil War to prevent government forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on anti-Gaddafi forces and civilians. The demonstrations in Libya were part of the larger Arab Spring movement that began in the country of Tunisia on 18 December 2010. When demonstrations began in Libya, the government of Muammar Gaddafi responded with systematic attacks by air and ground forces, and repression of the protesters. In a speech, Gaddafi promised to chase down the protesters and cleanse the country "house by house". Several countries prepared to take immediate military action at a conference in Paris on 19 March.^[4]

The no-fly zone was enforced by NATO's Operation Unified Protector.^[5] NATO took sole command of all operations in Libya from 06:00 GMT on 31 March, which effectively ended the U.S. Operation Odyssey Dawn, as all U.S. operations were absorbed into NATO's Unified Protector.^[6] The Canadian contribution continued to fall under Operation Mobile, which ceased activities on 1 November 2011.^[7]