Foreign relations with the Qadhafi regime have taken a sharp turn for the worse and will remain tense for as long as the Libyan leader continues to cling on to power. The regime's attempts to violently suppress the revolution have met with near universal condemnation. The international community, led by NATO, has imposed a no-fly zone over Libya. The military intervention, authorised under Security Council resolution 1973, is aimed at protecting civilians. As of early April, NATO said that its strikes had destroyed 30% of Colonel Qadhafi's military capacity. In addition, the UN, the EU and the US (as well as other individual countries) have imposed sanctions on senior members of the Qadhafi regime and on Libyan state institutions that represent a source of funding for the government.

All 192 UN member states voted to suspend Libya from the Human Rights Council, and the Security Council unanimously decided to refer the country to the International Criminal Court. The Arab League also agreed to exclude Libya from the organisation. The US and the EU have called on Colonel Qadhafi to stand down immediately. Meanwhile, France, Italy and Qatar have recognised the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council as the only legitimate representative of the Libyan people. At the time of writing, Kuwait had announced its intention to follow suit.

In the early days of the conflict, thousands of foreign workers flooded into Tunisia and Egypt from Libya. If the security situation inside the country worsens, its neighbours may face a full blown humanitarian crisis on their borders as they struggle to accommodate large numbers of refugees escaping the fighting.