NATO was in the process of taking over command from the U.S.-led coalition after all 28 NATO allies agreed on the transfer on Sunday, Lt.Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of NATO's military operations in Libya, said at the Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy.

The transition would take a couple of days, said Bouchard.

He told reporters based in Brussels through video links that the transition "will be a seamless handover with no gap" in efforts to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas in Libya.

Also on Monday, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said military action alone would not settle the crisis in Libya.

"Everybody is hoping this operation will be as short as possible. It is clear to everyone there is no purely military solution for the crisis in Libya...there will be a peaceful solution," she told reporters.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is scheduled to attend an international conference on Libya in London Tuesday, which will "provide broad political lines to ensure that there is momentum for a peaceful process on the ground in Libya for a peaceful solution," she said.