MPs have voted overwhelmingly to support UN-backed action in Libya, after David Cameron told them it had helped avert a "bloody massacre".
During a six-hour debate, most speakers said force was needed to stop Muammar Gaddafi killing more of his own people.
But the prime minister assured the House of Commons that Libya would not become "another Iraq", amid concerns raised about long-term plans.
The government motion, also backed by Labour, won a majority of 544.
The debate focused on Resolution 1973, passed by the United Nations Security Council last week. This authorises "all necessary measures", short of bringing in an occupying force, to protect Libyan citizens from the Gaddafi regime, which has been fighting rebel forces.
The Commons motion - which was backed by 557 MPs and opposed by 13 - followed a second night of US-led action in Libya, with Col Gaddafi's sprawling Bab al-Aziziya complex in Tripoli among the locations hit.
Fighting continues, with anti-aircraft fire heard in Tripoli late on Monday.
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