The United Nations Security Council has cleared the way for international military action to protect civilians in Libya - hours after Colonel Gaddafi vowed to launch a final assault to crush the rebellion against his rule.

Ian Pannell described scenes of celebration on the streets of Benghazi as the news broke.

"There is obviously more optimism than realism at the moment," he said.

Colonel Bob Stewart MP, a former UN commander, told John Humphrys that the UN resolution is an "extremely good move".

He said the resolution meant international forces should be able to attack tanks going towards Benghazi.

"Let's just hope that we've acted fast enough," he said.

But former UN diplomat Sir Jeremy Greenstock said that the resolution just "moves the dilemma down the road" onto the issue of regime change.

"Success is the end of this regime, otherwise we're up there flying for a very long time," he said.

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