End near as rebels take control of most of Tripoli
Source: Agencies |
August 23, 2011, Tuesday
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LIBYAN rebels claimed to be in control of most of the Libyan capital yesterday after their lightning advance on Tripoli heralded the fall of Moammar Gadhafi's nearly 42-year regime. The leader's whereabouts remained unknown.
The Western alliance promised to maintain its air campaign until all pro-Gadhafi forces surrender or return to barracks. NATO warplanes have hit at least 40 targets in and around Tripoli in the past two days - the highest number on a single geographic location since the bombing started more than five months ago, officials said.
The ability of the rebels to move into Tripoli in an hours-long blitz showcased the evolution of the opposition fighters who first rose against the regime six months ago, swiftly capturing the eastern part of the vast North African nation but failing to advance westward toward Tripoli even with the help of months of NATO airstrikes.
For months, the rebels - mainly civilian volunteers who took up arms and had little military training - were judged to be big on zeal but short on organization and discipline, but their stunning success in Tripoli showed a high level of planning, coordination and discipline.
Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman, who was in Tripoli, warned of pockets of resistance and said as long as Gadhafi remains on the run the "danger is still there."
Clashes broke out early yesterday at Gadhafi's longtime command center known as Bab al-Aziziya when government tanks emerged from the complex and opened fire at rebels trying to get in, according to Abdel-Rahman and a neighbor. Moammar al-Warfali, whose family home is next to the compound, said there appeared to be only a few tanks belonging to the remaining Gadhafi forces that have not fled or surrendered.
"When I climb the stairs and look at it from the roof, I see nothing at Bab al-Aziziya," he said. "NATO has demolished it all and nothing remains."
The rebels' top diplomat in London, Mahmud Nacua, said opposition forces controlled 95 percent of Tripoli. He vowed "the fighters will turn over every stone to find" Gadhafi and make sure he faced justice.
A rebel field commander said reinforcements were arriving in Tripoli by sea from the north, south and southeast. "Our fighters are coming from all directions and, God willing, today we will liberate the whole city," Suleiman Sifaw said.
State TV broadcast pleas by Gadhafi for Libyans to defend his regime as the rebels advanced. His defiant audio messages raised the possibility of a last-ditch fight over the capital, home to 2 million people. He called on supporters to march in the streets of the capital and "purify it" of "the rats."
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim also claimed the regime has "thousands and thousands of fighters" and vowed: "We will fight. We have whole cities on our sides. They are coming en masse to protect Tripoli to join the fight."
Gadhafi's former right-hand man, who defected last week to Italy, said the longtime leader would not go easily. "I think it's impossible that he'll surrender," Abdel-Salam Jalloud said, adding that "He doesn't have the courage, like Hitler, to kill himself."
Jalloud, Gadhafi's closest aide before falling out with the leader in the 1990s, fled Tripoli on Friday, rebels said.
The Western alliance promised to maintain its air campaign until all pro-Gadhafi forces surrender or return to barracks. NATO warplanes have hit at least 40 targets in and around Tripoli in the past two days - the highest number on a single geographic location since the bombing started more than five months ago, officials said.
The ability of the rebels to move into Tripoli in an hours-long blitz showcased the evolution of the opposition fighters who first rose against the regime six months ago, swiftly capturing the eastern part of the vast North African nation but failing to advance westward toward Tripoli even with the help of months of NATO airstrikes.
For months, the rebels - mainly civilian volunteers who took up arms and had little military training - were judged to be big on zeal but short on organization and discipline, but their stunning success in Tripoli showed a high level of planning, coordination and discipline.
Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman, who was in Tripoli, warned of pockets of resistance and said as long as Gadhafi remains on the run the "danger is still there."
Clashes broke out early yesterday at Gadhafi's longtime command center known as Bab al-Aziziya when government tanks emerged from the complex and opened fire at rebels trying to get in, according to Abdel-Rahman and a neighbor. Moammar al-Warfali, whose family home is next to the compound, said there appeared to be only a few tanks belonging to the remaining Gadhafi forces that have not fled or surrendered.
"When I climb the stairs and look at it from the roof, I see nothing at Bab al-Aziziya," he said. "NATO has demolished it all and nothing remains."
The rebels' top diplomat in London, Mahmud Nacua, said opposition forces controlled 95 percent of Tripoli. He vowed "the fighters will turn over every stone to find" Gadhafi and make sure he faced justice.
A rebel field commander said reinforcements were arriving in Tripoli by sea from the north, south and southeast. "Our fighters are coming from all directions and, God willing, today we will liberate the whole city," Suleiman Sifaw said.
State TV broadcast pleas by Gadhafi for Libyans to defend his regime as the rebels advanced. His defiant audio messages raised the possibility of a last-ditch fight over the capital, home to 2 million people. He called on supporters to march in the streets of the capital and "purify it" of "the rats."
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim also claimed the regime has "thousands and thousands of fighters" and vowed: "We will fight. We have whole cities on our sides. They are coming en masse to protect Tripoli to join the fight."
Gadhafi's former right-hand man, who defected last week to Italy, said the longtime leader would not go easily. "I think it's impossible that he'll surrender," Abdel-Salam Jalloud said, adding that "He doesn't have the courage, like Hitler, to kill himself."
Jalloud, Gadhafi's closest aide before falling out with the leader in the 1990s, fled Tripoli on Friday, rebels said.
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