Operation Serval it had lost a few days earlier. French airstrikes appeared to stop the rebel advance to the south which prompted the intervention and destroyed an Ansar Dine command post near Konna. France asked the U.S. to speed up its contribution by sending drones to improve surveillance over the vast area of northern Mali. The Pentagon was reported to have studied the French request. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom announced that his country would lend logistical support to the operation. ECOWAS troops preparing to deploy to Mali also decided to move up their arrival date to January 14
US domestic reactions to the 2011 military intervention in Libya to NATO Ivo Daalder said that "the United States led in this operation... It led in the planning of the operation, it led in getting the mandate for the operation, and it led in the execution of the operation... the United States conducted more sorties than any other country in this operation, twenty six percent." Anti-war demonstrations were held in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Iowa City, Iowa, Saint Paul, Minnesota and Philadelphia to protest against the military intervention in Libya. According to Anglo-American author and journalist Christopher Hitchens, the no-fly zone is