The international coalition has implemented a no-fly zone above Libya and averted "a bloody massacre in Benghazi," British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday.
"I can announce to the House today that coalition forces have largely neutralized Libyan air defenses and that as a result the no-fly zone has effectively been put in place over Libya," he said during parliamentary debates on Libya.
Cameron added that more countries are joining the multinational operation in Libya, including Canada, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Norway, but his country would continue to press for the "widest possible coalition."
The prime minister ruled out ground military operations in the African state.
"It is not allowed under the UN resolution, and it is not something I want to discuss any further," he said.
A military operation against Libya's strongman Muammar Gaddafi, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 40 years, began on Saturday. On Monday, Western forces launched a second wave of air strikes on Gaddafi's positions under a UN resolution authorizing military action to protect Libyan civilians.
Libyan television has reported that at least 50 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded in the UN strikes and that many health and education facilities have been destroyed.
LONDON, March 21 (RIA Novosti)
