Madrid ( CNN ) -- Spain is expelling the Libyan ambassador to Madrid and three other Libyan diplomats here , the Spanish Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday . `` The government of Spain has decided to put an end to the mission of the ambassador accredited in Madrid by the authorities in Tripoli ( Libya ) , because the Gadhafi regime has lost all legitimacy due to its continual repression of the Libyan population , '' the statement said . The Libyan ambassador to Madrid , Ajeli Abdussalam Ali Breni , `` has 10 days to leave '' Spain , the ministry said . The government also is expelling three other diplomats at the Libyan embassy `` who undertook activities incompatible with their diplomatic status , '' the statement said . But Spain has not broken diplomatic relations with Libya , said a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman , who by custom is not identified . Spain still has an embassy in Tripoli , although it evacuated its personnel from the city , like many other nations , as fighting between the regime of Moammar Gadhafi and rebels intensified in late March . The Spanish Embassy in Tripoli , staffed only by local Libyan personnel , `` is not closed in a diplomatic sense , '' the spokeswoman said . It was not immediately clear , she added , how many Libyan diplomats or local Spanish personnel might remain at the Libyan Embassy in Madrid , after the expulsion of the ambassador and the three other Libyan diplomats . Spanish Foreign Ministry Trinidad Jimenez on June 8 visited the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi , where she declared that Libya 's rebel National Transitional Council was a `` valid interlocutor '' and a `` legitimate representative of the aspirations of the Libyan people , '' the spokeswoman said . Spain has been participating in United Nations-mandated , NATO-led military operations in Libya . Spain has deployed four F-18 fighter jets and a refueling plane to help enforce a no-fly zone , and a frigate , a submarine and a surveillance plane to help impose an arms embargo against the Gadhafi regime .
Spain is telling the Libyan ambassador to leave . Three other diplomats are also being expelled . Spain is not breaking off diplomatic relations with Libya .