Jim Wyllie: Whatever mission is about, it's not no-fly zone

Is it to bring down the regime? Is it to back certain factions of the rebel group? It is very difficult to pin down what the mission is.

It's obviously not about a no-fly zone - that would be to keep aircraft out of the sky. This means assisting the rebels on the ground with military air power.

It begs the questions as to whether the rebels are really just civilians.

We have got to remember that, bar in one or two countries, Colonel Gaddafi's government is still recognised.

For that reason, I wish Foreign Secretary William Hague would stop using the word regime, because that is the word that should be used to describe a government we do not recognise.

So, what we are doing, under the slightly woolly United Nations resolution, is assisting an insurgency.

When the West's air power arrived, it was thought that Gaddafi would quickly sling his hook, but he is doing a Milosevic and hanging on in there, and we are now escalating our military intervention by sending in the Apache helicopters.

Things will quickly change when the first one is shot down. So far, people may not have supported what is happening in Libya, but they have tolerated it. Once we have casualties and people become more aware of what is happening, that could well change.

The government is certainly finding it quite a struggle. Consequently, they're doing their best without being seen to escalate things too much.

If it is a success and Gaddafi does go, then it will be seen as worthwhile.

We have promised not to put boots on the ground, but we have simply got boots flying a few feet above the ground.

We have been in Libya for quite a few weeks now - that was supposed to do the job, but it hasn't done yet.

l Jim Wyllie is reader in international relations at the University of Aberdeen.