British forces would struggle to mount small military intervention, claim officers

The Army has only one battalion on standby for emergency operations Photo: REUTERS

British forces would struggle to mount even a small scale military intervention as the cupboard for resources was “threadbare”, senior officers have said.

25 Feb 2011By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent THE TELEGRAPH

They have also warned that the chances of an operation to rescue civilians from a conflict like Libya would become remote in the coming months as more and more equipment is pushed out of service under defence cuts.