UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously today to lift the no-fly zone over Libya on Monday and end military action to protect civilians, acting swiftly following the death of Moammar Gadhafi and the interim government’s declaration of the country’s liberation.

The council authorized the actions on March 17 in response to an Arab League request to try to halt Moammar Gadhafi’s military, which was advancing against rebels and their civilian supporters. The NATO bombing campaign that followed was critical in helping the rebels oust Gadhafi from power in August.

“This marks a really important milestone in the transition in Libya,” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said. “It marks the way from the military phase towards the formation of an inclusive government, the full participation of all sectors of society, and for the Libyan people to choose their own future.”

Fogh Rasmussen said after meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that today’s U.N. resolution “reflects that we have fully accomplished our mandate to protect the civilian population of Libya, so now we have firm ground for terminating our operations as we decided to do a week ago.”