On 17 March 2011, by resolution 1973, the Security Council authorized NATO to intervene "civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya."

We measure the success of the NATO mission by examining the following figures:

In Libya in 2010, under the "regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi," there were
– 3.8 million Libyans
– 2.5 million foreign workers
for a total of 6.3 million inhabitants.

Today, there are 1.6 million Libyans in exile while 2.5 million migrants have fled the country to escape racist attacks.
There remain approximately 2.2 million people.

These figures do not take into account the number of casualties during the operation as estimates remain questionable.

Media personalities evoking NATO "success" in Libya are therefore not referring to its legal mandate assigned by the Security Council, but rather acknowledging it’s hidden mission to overthrow the regime.