Libya no-fly zone having 'very real effect', says MoD.

Maj Gen Lorimer said the operation had "blunted Col Gaddafi's assault on his own people".


The military operation over Libya is having a "very real effect", the Ministry of Defence says.

A spokesman said Col Muammar Gaddafi's assault on Benghazi had been "stopped in its tracks".

British Typhoon and Tornado aircraft have continued to patrol the no-fly zone over Libya, while fighting continues on the ground.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the operation would continue "as long as necessary" to achieve its aims.

Coalition operations in Libya are into a fourth day.

Chancellor George Osborne says the cost of UK involvement should be modest compared with its role in Afghanistan.

He told the Commons the estimates were "in the order of the tens of millions, not the hundreds of millions of pounds".

The Chief of the Defence Staff's spokesman, Maj Gen John Lorimer, highlighted the impact of the operation over Benghazi, the main stronghold of the rebels.

"Col Gaddafi vowed that his men would be going from house to house, room to room, to burn out the opposition," he said.