U.S., French and British missiles "severely disabled" Col. Muammar Gaddafi's ability to defend against a no-fly zone, a U.S. national security official speaking on the condition of anonymity told Reuters.

"It's too soon to predict what he and his ground forces may do in response to today's strikes," the official said.

U.S. and British warships and submarines fired cruise missiles at Libyan defense installations and French fighter jets attacked from the air as five Western nations began a bombardment of northern Libya Saturday morning. Read more about the missile strikes here.