Surely this is not what Arab youth had imagined. Since the eruption of an uprising in Tunisian towns in December the Arab world has been celebrating the resort to peaceful resistance as people have taken to the streets demanding the removal of autocratic regimes. This was to be the new Middle East, of a youthful, internet savvy generation demanding to enjoy the same basic rights of democracy as much of the rest of the world.

But as the international coalition steps up its attacks on Libyan forces, Muammer Gaddafi is single-handedly, and tragically, transforming the image of the Arab spring, taking the region back to what we have long been used to, a combination of bloody conflict and foreign intervention.

While Libya is a sad phase in the Arab uprising, it will not necessarily represent a permanent setback.