NATO operations under fire

NATO's operational image has taken a battering in recent days from events related to deployments to Afghanistan and Libya.

Tempers and threats are running high in Afghanistan due to Korans inadvertently being burned by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops, while a new UN report casts doubt on the legitimacy of certain targets NATO hit during its 2011 air campaign in Libya that caused civilian deaths.

In reaction to the UN report NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted: "We were not in violation of our UN mandate", while adding that the risk to civilians during a conflict "can never be zero".