Prime Minister David Cameron has defended the UK's role in the military intervention in Libya, but said that Nato should not take too much credit for the removal of Colonel Gaddafi and the "triumph" of the Libyan people.
Cameron was speaking after returning from an international summit on Libya in France, where he pledged Nato would continue operations in the country for as long as it was required.
"I certainly think there are lots of lessons to learn and we'll take our time in learning them," the prime minister told the BBC.
Cameron said that the UK had more than "punched its weight" in the campaign, and said that British jets had flown around 20 per cent of all strike sorties against Gaddafi forces.
"If you look at the number of strike sorties there were less than 8,000... Britain performed 1,600 of those, so around a fifth of strike sorties and I think that is punching as it were at our weight or even above our weight. We played a very important role. Not just in the number of strike sorties but also that we were there right from the beginning."
"It was Britain and France, with America, together, that actually called time, five months ago, on Gaddafi and said that we're not going to allow this slaughter in Benghazi".
However Cameron added that it was the Libyan people who should take most of the credit for Gaddafi's removal from power.
"I think there's a big danger today, actually, of people in the west taking too much credit for themselves. This is a Libyan triumph. This is the Libyan people who have rid themselves of a dictator."
The key to the success of the Libyan intervention was that there was both a "moral imperative" to act and the ability to do so, Cameron said.
"I think the point about the intervention in this case is that there was a moral imperative to do so, to stop the slaughter in Benghazi, but there was also the ability to do it because we were able to get the backing of the UN, the backing of the Arab League, so we were able to do something that was right to do.
"And I think there was a big political advantage because success in Libya means the Arab Spring can continue and I think that is good for democracy, good for the world and I think there was a national interest argument too because Gaddafi was a monster. He was responsible for appalling crimes, including crimes in this country and the world will be much better off without him", he said.
Cameron said that there were "many similarities" between Libya and Syria, but conceded there was not the same level of international support for intervention.
"We've been in the vanguard of arguing for a tougher approach (on Syria). People argue that he needs to stand aside. We've argued for travel bans, asset freezes, for sanctions, for a tough approach to this regime."
The prime minister's comments came as the head of the National Transitional Council in the UK said the transition to normality in Libya would take 20 months, and they were planning to move to Tripoli within days.
"Within a year of this council taking over and drafting a constitution, the constitution should be hopefully approved by the Libyan people pending any amendments, and then final elections should take place within a year. We have eight months and a year that will take us to final elections – both parliamentary and presidential. Hopefully by the end of about 20 months, the Libyan people will have elected the leaders they want to lead their country," Guma El-Gamaty told BBC's Radio 4 Today programme on Friday morning.
He added that the rebels were closing in on Gaddafi. "Gaddafi is still at large but he is hiding and isolated. He is almost surrounded in possibly one of two small places where we think he is, and we thing it is just a matter of time before he either apprehended or... killed."