American flag raised over embassy in Tripoli

The American flag was raised over the U.S. embassy in Tripoli on Thursday, a day after the U.S. ambassador returned to Libya.

President Obama this week praised the ambassador's return to the embassy, which, with its diplomats evacuated, was closed during the conflict. "The American flag that was lowered before our embassy was attacked will be raised again, over a reopened American Embassy," Obama said Tuesday.

The ambassador, Gene Cretz, kept a relatively low public profile in Washington since he was brought back in January after memos he wrote about now-toppled leader Muammar el-Qaddafi were released by Wikileaks, causing a strain in relations.

Obama promised that the NATO-led bombing campaign would continue as long as Libyan civilians are still threatened, and called for the remaining Qaddafi loyalists to stop fighting. "The old regime is over," he said. NATO announced a three-month extension of its bombing campaign on Wednesday.