Libya's foreign minister announced an immediate cease-fire Friday, less than a day after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution authorizing "all necessary measures" to protect the Libyan people.
Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa said his country is committed to accepting the terms of the U.N. resolution, a reversal from the initial defiance displayed by Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
Libya had defiantly closed its airspace to all traffic while the West made plans to enforce a no-fly zone and prevent Gadhafi's forces from attacking rebels. The Security Council resolution was approved late Thursday with the backing of the United States, France and Britain, hours after Gadhafi vowed to launch a final assault and crush the nearly five-week-old rebellion against him.
British Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament Friday that he would send Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets to bases where attacks could be launched against Libya "in the coming hours."
The Libyan regime will have to be judged by its deeds, not its words, said Douglas Alexander, the British shadow foreign minister. French officials said that the facts on the ground have not changed.
The purpose of the no-fly zone would be to stop Gadhafi from launching "a brutal attack using air, land and sea forces" on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, not to choose a government for Libya.
The former head of the British army, Richard Dannatt, said it was crucial to proceed cautiously "so we don't get into the kind of situation that we got into in Iraq by not having a Plan B for the morning after."
U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had been wary of the no-fly zone resolution precisely because of the difficulty of limiting the Western mission once it gets underway.
There will be tensions between leaders who want to limit involvement to protecting rebels from the air and those who want to take Gadhafi out.
"It truly is a slippery slope," says Dirk Vandewalle, a Dartmouth College government professor and expert on Libya.
"You either go in and finish your job, or you don't go in," he says. "Otherwise, you're going to have a war of attrition going on for quite some time, with occasional bombing from the Western powers."
Those western powers faced pressure to act urgently after weeks spent deliberation over what to do about Gadhafi as his regime gained momentum.
"Things really came together quickly at the end," NPR's David Greene said Friday on Morning Edition. "There was a sense for days that this might never happen, the debate might continue.
"All sides said the support from the Arab League and potentially the willingness of Arab countries to take part in this lent that final needed support to push this through," said Greene, who was reporting from Tripoli.
President Obama telephoned the leaders of Britain and France after the vote, the White House said. U.S. officials speaking after a closed-door briefing in Congress said the attempt to ground Gadhafi's air force could begin by Sunday or Monday with the use of jet fighters, bombers and surveillance aircraft.
Gadhafi, calling in to Libyan television on Thursday, said his forces would "rescue" the people of Benghazi, the eastern Mediterranean port city that has become the de-facto rebel capital and staging ground. For those who resist, Gadhafi said, there would be "no mercy or compassion."
"This is your happy day — we will destroy your enemies," he said, warning the people of Benghazi not to stand alongside the opposition. "Prepare for this moment to get rid of the traitors. Tomorrow we will show the world, to see if the city is one of traitors or heroes."
Gadhafi also pledged to respond harshly to U.N.-sponsored attacks in an interview with Portuguese television broadcast just before the vote. "If the world is crazy," he said, "we will be crazy, too."
His ground forces were about 80 miles south of the city on Thursday evening, so it was unclear whether they would move on the city as quickly as he suggested.
A large crowd in Benghazi was watching the vote on an outdoor TV projection and burst into cheers, with green and red fireworks exploding overhead. In Tobruk, east of Benghazi, happy Libyans fired weapons in the air to celebrate the vote.
Europe's air traffic control agency, Eurocontrol, said Friday that "the latest information from Malta indicates that Tripoli [air control center] does not accept traffic."
The Brussels-based agency had no information on how long Libya's airspace would be closed but said it had halted all air traffic to Libya for 24 hours.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim struck a more conciliatory tone, offering to negotiate a cease-fire with the rebels. He welcomed the Security Council's concern for the people of Libya but called on the world not to allow them to receive weapons. "If any countries do that, they will be inviting Libyans to kill each other," he said.
In Tripoli on Friday, foreign journalists were barred from leaving their hotel. "It's been a crazy night in Tripoli," Greene reported.
The shift toward international action reflected dramatic change on the ground in Libya in the past week. The rebels, once confident, found themselves in danger of being crushed by an overpowering pro-Gadhafi force using rockets, artillery, tanks, warplanes. That force has advanced along the Mediterranean coast aiming to recapture the rebel-held eastern half of Libya.
Gadhafi troops encircled the city of Ajdabiya, the first in the path of their march, but also had some troops positioned beyond it toward Benghazi.
The unrest in Libya began Feb. 15 in the eastern city of Benghazi and spread east to Tripoli, the capital. Like others in the Mideast, the protest started with popular demonstrations against Gadhafi, rejecting his four decades of despotic and often brutal rule. The tone quickly changed after Gadhafi's security in Tripoli forcefully put down the gatherings there.
Soon rebel forces began arming themselves, quickly taking control of the country's east centered on Benghazi, the second largest Libyan city, with a population of about 700,000. Some Libyan army units joined the rebels, providing them with some firepower, but much less than Gadhafi's remaining forces, and crucially, no air power.
There are no official death tolls. Rebels say more than 1,000 people have been killed in a month of fighting, while Gadhafi claims the toll is only 150.
