5.45pm ET / 9.45pm GMT: The UN security council will shortly start its proceedings for a vote on a resolution supporting military action against the Gaddafi regime in Libya. Here's the Guardian's latest coverage reporting today's meeting:

Britain, France and the US, along with several Arab countries, are to join forces to throw a protective ring around the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi as soon as a UN security council vote on military action is authorised, according to security council sources.

We'll be following the UN security council debate, final vote and reactions here as it happens. With France's air force said to be ready to fly missions over Libya within hours of a resolution, we'll be watching what happens in the air and on the ground in Libya, as well as input from the Guardian's correspondents and other international responses.

A live webcast of the security council meeting can be watched here – and of course we welcome comments below.

5.59pm ET: Security council members are milling about in the chamber – with the big question being, how will the votes go?

The Guardian's Luke Harding spoke with Germany's foreign minister Guido Westerwelle, and he sounded hostile:

Westerwelle warned the results of western military intervention were "unpredictable" and could have consequences for freedom movements in the Arab world. "Your own instinct is to say 'We have to do something.' But military intervention is to take part in a civil war that could go on for a long time. "Germany has a strong friendship with our European partners. But we won't take part in any military operation and I will not send German troops to Libya."

From the sound of those comments, Germany is likely to abstain tonight – but will Angela Merkel want Germany to be out of step with the rest of Europe on this?

6.15pm ET: Nine votes are needed tonight for the Libya resolution to pass the security council – the Guardian's Ewen MacAskill thinks it will be 10 for, with five abstentions:

Voting for the resolution

Permanent members: United States, Britain, France

Non-permanent members:: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Gabon, Lebanon, Nigeria, Portugal, South Africa

Abstentions

Permanent members: Russia, China

Non-permanent members: Germany, Brazil, India

6.24pm ET: Finally, the meeting is called to order, and the agenda is adopted. In these situations the UN security council appears to be something like a council meeting, all agendas and points of order.

The first speaker to introduce the resoltuion is Alain Juppé, the great survivor of French politics now back as minister of foreign affairs after the resignation of Michèle Alliot-Marie, who famously went on holiday for in Tunisia during the protests there.

Juppé is careful to mention that the idea of a no-fly zone is endorsed by many governments in the region, including the Arab League, and urges the adoption of the resolution.

"We are ready and willing to act together with members, including the Arab members," Juppé tells the council, concluding:

"Each day, each hour, increases the weight on our shoulders. We must not wait."

6.32pm ET: No other members wish to speak.

The resolution is being put to the vote now. That's very quick moving by the security council.

6.33pm ET: Here's the result: 10 in favour, zero against, five abstentions. So the vote went exactly as predicted. "The resolution 1973/2011 is adopted.," says the chairman.

Now there are more statements. Lebanon to speak first.

6.36pm ET: Muammar Gaddafi has already made his feelings known, telling the Portuguese TV channel RTP that the UN resolution was an act of "flagrant colonization" for which it had no legal mandate:

This is craziness, madness, arrogance. If the world gets crazy with us we will get crazy too. We will respond. We will make their lives hell because they are making our lives hell. They will never have peace.

There we are: Muammar Gaddafi threatens to "get crazy".

6.40pm ET: Now the UK's representative, Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, is addressing the council:

The Libyan population want the same rights and freedoms that people all across North Africa are demanding.

6.45pm ET: The US is preparing to participate in a no-fly zone in Libya "within a few days" with the help of Arab countries, AP reports:

[Congressional] officials said they expected the effort to enforce a no-fly zone and ground Muammar Gaddafi's air force could begin within a few days if the UN takes action by day's end. They spoke after a briefing for members of the Senate. One official said Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were among possible participants, in a showing designed to demonstrate that the effort to aid anti-Gadhafi rebels had support from other countries in the region.

6.50pm ET: The US's UN ambassador Susan Rice now speaking to the council: "Today the Security Council has responded to the Libyan people's cry for help."

Colonel Gaddafi and those who still stand by him continue to grossly and systematically abuse the most fundamental of the human rights of his people.

Benghazi now throwing what's probably the biggest party in its recent history. #Libya Iyad El-Baghdadi

iyad_elbaghdadi



6.55pm ET: Blogger Iyad El-Baghdadi – based in Dubai – is watching the scenes of celebration in Benghazi.

7pm ET: Here's the Guardian's first take on tonight's UN security council vote and what it means:

British, French and US military aircraft are preparing to protect the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi after the United Nations security council voted in favour of a no-fly zone and air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi's forces. With Gaddafi's troops closing in on Benghazi, the French prime minister, Francois Fillon, said "time is of the essence" and that France would support military action set to take place within hours. Jets could take off from French military bases along the Mediterranean coast, about 750 miles from Libya. Several Arab countries would join the operation.

7.05pm ET: There's some very impressive singing in central Benghazi, accompanied by celebratory gunfire, right now, based on al-Jazeera's footage.

An al-Jazeera English reporter, Tony Birtley, later says: "I haven't been hugged by so many people since my daughter's birthday party."

7.11pm ET: US enforcement of a no-fly zone in Libya could begin by Sunday or Monday, according to anonymous US officials quoted by AP, and would involve "jet fighters, bombers and surveillance aircraft".

7.16pm ET: Italy announces it is opening its air force and naval bases in Sicily for operations against Libya – the obvious spot to base US and British jets.

The Berlusconi government may have had relatively warm relations with Libya, but Italy's Nato obligations gave it little choice but to allow other members to use its bases.

7.20pm ET: So what happens next? A meeting of Nato ministers, for example, but the organisation has already drawn up plans for a no-fly zone so that shouldn't take very long.

7.25pm ET: The UN resolution just passed by the security council is eight pages long but the key part is point four, "Protection of civilians," which states:

Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures ... to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory, and requests the Member States concerned to inform the Secretary-General immediately of the measures they take pursuant to the authorization conferred by this paragraph which shall be immediately reported to the Security Council

The phrase "take all necessary measures" means this is more than a no-fly zone: it allows air strikes and any military action short of landing troops ("excluding a foreign occupation force of any form") – such as attacking tanks on the road to Benghazi.

7.31pm ET: Not all Libyans are delighted by the news of the UN's authorisation of military action. AP has this quote:

In contrast, a dentist in the capital of Tripoli rejected the measure. "You are in fact protecting people carrying weapons against the official forces. This is nonsense," said Mohammed Salah, 33.

7.35pm ET: Some reaction from British policy makers:

• Foreign secretary William Hague said the UN resolution was necessary "to avoid greater bloodshed and to try to stop what is happening in terms of attacks on civilians".

This places a responsibility on members of the United Nations and that is a responsibility to which the United Kingdom will now respond.

• Former Conservative defence secretary Malcolm Rifkind, on Newsnight, described the UN vote as "the action the world is waiting for":

I'm absolutely delighted. Without action of this kind, Benghazi would have been a bloodbath. By the standards of the last 20 years, this is a remarkable vote. This is a tremendous morale booster for Libyans, not just in Benghazi.

7.39pm ET: Full text of the UN resolution is right here.

Here are the key points in the document:

• "the immediate establishment of a cease-fire and a complete end to violence and all attacks against, and abuses of, civilians."

• authorizes UN member states "to take all necessary measures ... to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory."

• establishes a "ban on all flights in the airspace of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in order to help protect civilians," but allows humanitarian flights and flights sanctioned by the UN and the Arab League.

• orders members states to stop any Libyan owned, operated or registered aircraft from taking off, landing or overflying their territory without prior approval from the UN committee monitoring sanctions.

• allows member states "to inspect in their territory, including airports and seaports, and on the high seas, vessels and aircraft bound to or from" Libya if the country has "reasonable grounds" to believe they contain military items or armed mercenaries.

• freezes assets of five financial institutions: Libya's central bank, the Libyan Investment Authority, the Libyan Foreign Bank, Libyan Africa Investment Portfoilio, and the Libyan National Oil Corporation.

7.45pm ET: A Libyan official from Gaddafi's government, Khalid Kaim, deputy foreign minister, is addressing journalists in Tripoli, and apologises for waking them up, since it's 1.30am there.

He begins by thanking the UN security council members who abstained, especially Germany, which seemed to amuse him for some reason.

It's a string of bland statements, which complains about the "technical details of such a decision" and says the government will need to study the final text before making a response.

Kaim does say that UN security council members needed to be careful about intervening in an internal matter, and accused the resolution of threatening the unity of Libya and that any country arming the rebels was "inviting Libyans to kill each other".

7.47pm ET: The regime's press conference in Tripoli is interrupted. "Don't worry guys, it's just some demonstrators," says the deputy foreign minister, explaining that this is a spontaneous show of support for Gaddafi by ordinary Libyans. At 1.30am in a hotel.

In any case, the tone is very different to the earlier comments by Gaddafi today vowing "no mercy" in Benghazi.

7.55pm ET: The Guardian's UK politics correspondent Nick Watt reports on David Cameron's change of plans in the wake of tonight's UN vote:

The prime minister has ripped up his diary for Friday to hold an emergency cabinet on Libya in the morning. He will then make a statement to MPs in the Commons on Friday.

8pm ET: Mohammed Abdel Malek, chairman of Libya Watch based in London, said: "I think that the West can rest assured that they did the right moral thing.... It is a little bit late but it's not too late."

He said the west should recognise the transitional national council in Benghazi as the only way to bring about effective action on the ground.

8.08pm ET: The Wall Street Journal reports that Egypt's military has begun shipping arms over the border to Libyan rebels with Washington's knowledge, in a well-timed story:

The shipments – mostly small arms such as assault rifles and ammunition – appear to be the first confirmed case of an outside government arming the rebel fighters. Those fighters have been losing ground for days in the face of a steady westward advance by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Further down:

"We know the Egyptian military council is helping us, but they can't be so visible," said Hani Souflakis, a Libyan businessman in Cairo who has been acting as a rebel liaison with the Egyptian government since the uprising began. "Weapons are getting through," said Mr Souflakis, who says he has regular contacts with Egyptian officials in Cairo and the rebel leadership in Libya. "Americans have given the green light to the Egyptians to help. The Americans don't want to be involved in a direct level, but the Egyptians wouldn't do it if they didn't get the green light."

8.16pm ET: British politician Sir Menzies Campbell, a Liberal Democrat member of the foreign affairs committee, told Sky News: "I don't think there is any appetite for putting troops on the ground."

Campbell said UK forces were already overstretched, and suggested that the main military action would be "combat air patrols, regular patrolling of airspace" to block air strikes by Gaddafi's forces.

8.28pm ET: Libyan state television has yet to mention the UN security council vote, according to al-Jazeera.

8.34pm ET: So when will Nato planes be seen over the skies of Libya. Not long, perhaps, according to AP:

In Britain, a lawmaker with knowledge of defense matters confirmed that British forces were on stand by for air strikes and could be mobilised as soon as Thursday night. The lawmaker declined to be named because the Defense Ministry has not issued official confirmation. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon told France-2 Television that if the resolution was approved France would support military action against Gaddafi within a matter of hours.

8.41pm ET: My colleague David Batty in London looks at the front page headlines of the British national newspapers on Friday:

• The Guardian: Britain, France and US line up for air strikes against Gaddafi

• The Sun: War on Gaddafi

• Financial Times: US joins push for UN action on Libya

• The Times: US set to lead allied attack on Gaddafi

• The Independent: Gaddafi: now it's a fight to the death

8.46pm ET: Canada, in an atypical display of aggression, has quickly pledged six CF-18 fighter jets to help impose the no-fly zone in Libya.

I applaud UN Security Council for "authorizing all necessary measures" to impose a no-fly zone in #Libya & protect civilians under attack John McCain

SenJohnMcCain

8.49pm ET: Republican Senator John McCain applauds the Obama administration's decision to support military action in Libya.

8.55pm ET: All the talk of warplanes being in the skies of Libya tonight appears to be somewhat overheated – see the 8.34pm post – and being disputed by US and Nato sources.

9.15pm ET: The official Libyan state news agency JANA has issued a response to the UN vote, with dire warnings of military reprisals:

Any foreign military act against Libya will expose all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea to danger and civilian and military facilities will become targets of Libya's counter attack. The Mediterranean basin will face danger not just in the short term, but also in the long term.

9.31pm ET: President Obama held a conference call this evening with David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy to agree on enforcement of the UN resolution.

The trio agreed to co-ordinate closely on the next steps, and to continue working with Arab and other international partners to ensure the enforcement of the UN resolutions.

9.45pm ET: We're wrapping up our live coverage of the UN vote and its consequences – but the Guardian's coverage will continue later on Friday morning.

Here is a round-up of the developments tonight at the UN and in Libya:

• The UN security council approved Libya resolution by a 10-5 vote. Permanent council members China and Russia both abstained along with Germany, while the US, Britain, Lebanon and France voted in favour of military action

• Resolution 1973/2011 allows states wide latitude to take "all necessary measures" – short of an occupation force – to protect civilians within in Libya

• News of the UN decision was greeted with scenes of jubilation on the streets of Benghazi, amid singing and gunfire. The Gaddafi regime issued a statement threatening "danger not just in the short term, but also in the long term" for foreign military acts

• David Cameron calls an emergency cabinet meeting for Friday morning and plans on making a statement to parliament

• There are reports that Egypt's military is allowing a flow of arms to the Libyan rebels, with the tacit approval of the US

• Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and Cameron held a conference call after the vote, and agreed to co-ordinate enforcing the UN resolution

• Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates may supply forces to help police the no-fly measure

The Guardian's coverage of events in Libya continues here.