But diplomats and analysts, relying on lessons learned from NATO's intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s, caution that any attempts to launch airstrikes against Gaddafi's ground forces would be far more dangerous, and could result in serious losses.
NATO's leaders met yesterday to work out the details of a flight ban over Libya, after the UN Security Council gave the international community a surprisingly broad mandate to protect civilians under attack by government forces.
Alliance military planners said they could deploy dozens of fighter-bombers, tankers, air surveillance aircraft and unmanned drones to a string of air bases along Europe's southern perimeter from which to send patrols over Libya.
Officials said an "execute order" could launch the operation as early as this weekend. NATO has significant experience in such operations, its warplanes successfully enforced no-fly zones over Bosnia in the early 1990s and over Kosovo in 1999 in an effort to end crackdowns by Serb forces on civilians.
Still, Germany and some other member nations have expressed reservations about the operation, warning that it could become a complex and long-term commitment for the alliance.
A plan to launch possible air strikes against Gaddafi's air defenses was also thrown into doubt yesterday by Libya's surprise announcement that it was declaring an immediate cease-fire in the conflict, diplomats said.
When asked whether the North Atlantic Council, NATO's top decision-making body, had considered the possibility of airstrikes against Libyan air defence and other ground targets during its meeting yesterday, Martin Povejsil, the Czech Republic's envoy to the alliance, replied: "We only discussed enforcing the no-fly zone and the arms embargo, and providing humanitarian assistance."
If Gaddafi's air force was to flout a UN flight ban, experts say his air force would almost certainly be shot to pieces.