Days ago, international reports pegged dissidents as advancing and reclaiming key cities from Gaddafi’s forces. Yesterday, outlets such as The New York Times said the country’s commander of four decades forced an opposition retreat after striking out against the former’s stagnant forces.

To Libyan MSU students such as Omar al Muktar, though, the continued conflict is a long time coming.

“This is something we’ve been looking for for a long time, since the beginning of Gaddafi’s regime,” said Muktar, who requested he be identified using a pseudonym for safety reasons. “We are very interested in getting the country moving forward to a more democratic country.”

It has been little more than a week since missile strikes coordinated by the U.S., France and the United Kingdom to weaken Gaddafi’s military began, and the coalition’s list of allies across the globe has grown.

Yasmine Abdul, a Libyan MSU student said in an email Tuesday it will continue to take time for the opposition to be successful.

Abdul said Libyans are indebted to the United Nations Security Council resolution passed prior to the missile strikes’ onset that proclaimed a no-fly zone over Libya. The zone was implemented to prevent Gaddafi from using Libyan military aircraft from carrying out strikes against his own people.

“There are more and more cities being freed from the government reign every day, and his government has been increasingly exposed as more people have the courage to speak out,” said Abdul, who is being identified with a pseudonym to protect family members in Libya.

Since the strikes began, an opposition government has been set up in the dissidents’ stronghold of Benghazi, the Libyan city where the threat of combat by Gaddafi’s forces helped lead to the air strikes.

A new Libyan flag and national anthem have been created by the opposition, Libyan MSU students say, and most believe the ouster of Gaddafi is only a matter of time.

They acknowledge, though, that revolution comes at a cost. Lives, money and time are the currency of the movement, said Akram Abdallah, a Libyan MSU student also being identified using a pseudonym.

Though Abdallah said Gaddafi eventually will fall, he conceded there is no telling what problems the leader might create should he survive the uprisings and live in exile. But the will of the Libyan people, coupled with continued support and assistance from the international community, can help, Abdallah said.

“Hopefully with the help of the United Nations, people over there will be able to control the rest of the cities and eventually get Gaddafi down,” he said. “So I feel OK, I feel good. I am optimistic.”