Libyans hope to seize Gaddafi bastion (Reuters)

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Gaddafi to "fight to end" as rebels seize HQ (Reuters)

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Triumphant rebels seized Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli on Tuesday after a fierce battle with a loyalist rearguard but there was no word on the fate of the Libyan leader who vowed again to fight "to the end."

Reuters journalists watched rebel fighters stream through the sprawling Bab al-Aziziya headquarters compound, firing in the air in celebration after hours of heavy clashes. But it was unclear whether the "Brother Leader" or his sons were still somewhere in the complex's maze of buildings and bunkers.

Defensive fire died away and hundreds of jubilant rebels poured in. Some smashed a statue of Gaddafi. Others hunted through dozens of buildings, unchallenged, seizing weaponry and vehicles. The rebels' envoy to the United Nations said the area was "totally in the hands of the revolutionaries."

One man shouted: "It's over. Gaddafi is finished."

The Russian head of the World Chess Federation, who visited Gaddafi in Tripoli in June, said he had received a call from him on Tuesday afternoon in which Gaddafi said he was still in the capital. He "is in Tripoli, he is alive and healthy and is prepared to fight to the end," Kirsan Ilyumzhinov told Reuters.

The rebels' envoy in Rome, Hafed Gaddur, said: "It seems clear that he is confined to his bunker complex."

"We thought Tripoli would be liberated in one month or perhaps even two months, instead that happened in just a few hours, a day, so we've made great progress," he told Reuters.

Western governments, which have backed disparate opposition groups, said they could not be sure where the 69-year-old leader was but urged him to surrender after six months of civil war which have put an end to his four decades of absolute power.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after speaking to U.S. President Barack Obama that the end of Gaddafi's rule was "inevitable and near."

NATO, which declined to confirm reports that its air forces bombed Gaddafi's compound to aid the rebels, said Gaddafi's whereabouts were unclear but no longer a major concern.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said he believed Gaddafi was still in Libya and that his forces remained a threat. He also said the United States was monitoring chemical weapons sites in Libya, amid worries that groups hostile to Western interests could try to seize stocks once built up by Gaddafi.

SWIFT END SOUGHT

Western leaders are anxious for a rapid end to fighting -- tensions among rebels are a concern for those hoping for a swift return of order and a reopening of Libyan oil exports.

"We hope this is over soon," said an unemployed engineer watching events near Gaddafi's compound. "I fear that the violence will continue until Gaddafi and his family have left the country," he added, giving his name only as Omar.

Another bystander said: "Gaddafi is finished, even if some snipers and mercenaries are still resisting. But there is no doubt that we are free and Gaddafi is finished."

There are growing concerns for civilians in the city, after days of siege and fighting in which officials have suggested hundreds of combatants may have been killed or wounded.

At a private house several miles from the center, wounded from the fighting were being treated, to the sound of gunfire.

"We need medication and stretchers, this situation is a disaster," medical student Shuaib Rais told Reuters.

CREDIBILITY

Speaking after Gaddafi's son and long-time heir-apparent Saif al-Islam confounded rebel claims of his capture by appearing to journalists at the Bab al-Aziziya compound early on Tuesday, several analysts said the credibility of the disparate opposition movement had suffered a serious setback.

Though the credibility of Saif al-Islam's claims that his father's supporters were winning the war was also threadbare, confusion among the rebels, who seemed to have allowed two of Gaddafi's sons to escape on Monday, embarrassed their backers.

Noman Benotman, senior analyst at Britain's Quilliam think tank and an associate of Gaddafi's former spy chief, said: "Gaddafi is banking on the rebels making a mess of Tripoli and causing chaos. He is relying on them to behave badly.

"They want rival militia zones to start springing up ... That's why it's critical for the rebels to get their act together."

Residents, many of whom had taken to the streets on Sunday to celebrate the end of Gaddafi's 42-year rule, stayed indoors as the irregular rebel armies that swept the capital ran into resistance from sharpshooters, tanks and other heavy weaponry.

DIVISIONS

The lack of clear control, however, has revived concerns the sprawling, thinly populated desert state could fall into the kind of instability that has beset Iraq since Saddam Hussein's overthrow. Gaddafi loyalists and anti-Western Islamists could exploit Libya's ethnic, tribal and political divisions.

Rebel officials say they have a force ready to impose order in the capital, as they have generally done in parts of the country they have taken since February. But it is not yet clear how they will handle traditional east-west divisions if they consolidate their grip on the country.

The uncharacteristically efficient rebel advance into the capital, coordinated with an uprising inside the city, seemed evidence to some analysts of the military advice and training Western and some Arab powers, including Qatar, have provided.

Many assume special forces are also active on the ground.

Outside powers, including U.S. President Obama, have been at pains to characterize the revolt against Gaddafi as quite different from the Western assault on Saddam, saying it is a home-grown uprising inspired by other Arab protest movements that overthrew Western-backed autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.

Aid, some of it in the form of Libyan state funds seized from accounts controlled by Gaddafi, and advice will be plentiful, foreign governments assured the rebel leadership in Benghazi as it contemplates moving to Tripoli.

But all have ruled out sending in ground troops to bolster a new government which faces considerable difficulties in setting up a new administration given Gaddafi's four-decade reliance on informal governance and a personality cult.

"We've sought to learn the lessons of the failures of Iraq, which have very much influenced our thinking -- trying to make sure we don't make the same mistakes again," said British International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

(Reporting by Missy Ryan, Peter Graff, Ulf Laessing, Zohra Bensemra and Leon Malherbe in Tripoli, Thomas Grove in Moscow, Robert Birsel in Benghazi, William Maclean and Peter Apps in London, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Christian Lowe in Algiers, Souhail Karam in Rabat, Richard Valdmanis and Giles Elgood in Tunis, Laura MacInnis and Alister Bull in Oak Bluffs, Mass., Nour Merza in Dubai, Deepa Babington in Rome and Alexandria Sage in Paris; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

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Libyan rebels seize 2 mountain towns (AP)

By ADAM SCHRECK and BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Adam Schreck And Ben Hubbard, Associated Press – 1?hr?36?mins?ago

TRIPOLI, Libya – Rebel fighters in western Libya seized two mountain towns from government troops Wednesday as their counterparts east of the capital Tripoli suffered heavy losses in intense fighting with government troops.

Meanwhile, the embattled regime of Moammar Gadhafi sought to show it remains in control of the country, laying out plans to try rebel leaders for treason in court next week.

In the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi, tens of thousands of rebel supporters poured into the city's main square for a rally aimed at sustaining momentum for their nearly five month-old uprising. Fighting began in February when a popular movement against Gadhafi quickly escalated into armed conflict.

The civil war has been largely deadlocked, with the rebels controlling the east and Gadhafi clinging to large parts of western Libya, but unable to retake rebel bridgeheads there. The rebels made some gains Wednesday, taking two more towns in the western Nafusa mountains and pushing further from the port city of Misrata, their main stronghold in the west, toward the town of Zlitan, 12 kilometers to the west.

Gadhafi's forces fired more than 500 rockets at rebel positions near Zlitan, from dawn until after nightfall, said Dr. Ayman Abu Shahma, a physician in Misrata. He said 18 rebel fighters were killed and 30 wounded Wednesday. He said two civilians, including a 12-year-old girl, also were killed when a rocket hit their Misrata house.

NATO, meanwhile, said it struck equipment used to refuel government military vehicles near the key eastern oil town of Brega, which has been a frequent site of clashes between rebel fighters and troops loyal to Gadhafi.

The alliance said its warplanes have destroyed 2,700 military targets, including 600 Libyan tanks and artillery guns and nearly 800 ammunition stores, since NATO began bombing Gadhafi-linked sites in March under a U.N. mandate to protect Libyan civilians.

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that Gadhafi's forces remain a threat. "Without NATO there would be a massacre. Gadhafi would be free to use his tanks and missiles on towns and markets," he said. "We will not let that happen."

NATO's campaign was intended to deliver a sharp, devastating blow. However, with the campaign dragging on inconclusively, there have been increasing international calls for a negotiated end to the war. The ragtag rebel forces to the east and south of Gadhafi's stronghold in the capital Tripoli have failed to achieve a breakthrough in recent months.

Still, rebel fighters in the Nafusa mountains southwest of Tripoli seized control Wednesday of two towns after pushing out government forces, a member of the local military council said.

Col. Gomaa Ibrahim said via Skype that rebel forces moved into Qawalish and Kikla on Wednesday morning, after a battle in which one rebel fighter was killed and five were injured. It was unclear if any government soldiers were killed.

While the two towns are small, their capture further expands the area seized from government troops in recent months by relatively small bands of mountain rebels. A string of similar victories has left rebels in control of most of the Nafusa mountains, bringing them within about 100 miles (160 kilometers) of Tripoli.

Most of Libya's rebel-held territory lies in the east, where the rebel's National Transitional Council runs the movement from its de facto capital in Benghazi. Rebels also control the western port city of Misrata, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

NATO airstrikes, regime defections and increasing international isolation have eroded Gadhafi's grip on the country. His regime struck back Wednesday, saying it planned to charge rebel leaders with treason. A judge compiling the charges laid out his case against 21 rebel officials, including the National Transitional Council's head, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil. Defendants will be tried in absentia.

Rebel spokesman Jalal Galal dismissed the charges as a political stunt.

"He (Gadhafi) thinks it's a joke or a game, but now the people have awakened, and the people have spoken," he said in response to the allegations. "He has to stand trial for his crimes against humanity."

The charges include facilitating foreign intervention in Libya, providing aid to the enemy and seeking to topple Gadhafi.

Judge Khalifa Isa Khalifa told reporters in Tripoli that he will present the case before a special court presided over by a three-judge panel next week. His evidence includes witness testimony.

The allegations "amount to treason of the homeland of Libya," government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said. He added that those found guilty of treason could face the death penalty.

If the rebel leaders are convicted, Libya will seek international help, Khalifa said, such as warrants from Interpol to "demand that they are brought to justice."

That's a long shot at best. The rebels enjoy significant support from the West and several oil-rich Gulf Arab states.

Last week, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi for alleged crimes against humanity. International prosecutors at the Netherlands-based court allege government troops fired on civilian protesters during anti-Gadhafi demonstrations inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year.

Libyan officials reject the ICC's authority, saying their special court will bring justice to anyone who committed crimes during the uprising. Khalifa declined to say whether this also meant Gadhafi and his inner circle.

"We are ready and prepared to investigate any person in this country if there are people who are willing to come to the (attorney general) with accusations or complaints," he said.

In rebel-held Benghazi, tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into Martyrs' Square for what observers described as one of the biggest rallies in months.

They waved the rebels' tricolor flag along with those of allied nations including Qatar, France and Britain. Others released colorful balloons and chanted slogans, including "Come on, Tripoli! Make this Friday the last day" — a call to the capital's residents to rise up.

___

Hubbard reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Cairo, Rami al-Shaheibi in Benghazi and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed reporting.

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Libya rebels seize desert hamlet in Tripoli push (AFP)

GUALISH, Libya (AFP) – Libyan rebels on Wednesday seized the desert hamlet of Gualish on the first day of a NATO-backed push on Tripoli and captured a number of African mercenaries, an AFP correspondent said.

Buoyed by French arms drops and NATO-led air strikes, the rebels attacked positions in the Gualish area, in the plains north of their enclave in the Nafusa mountains southwest of Tripoli.

The correspondent embedded with the rebels said they captured a number of mercenaries, some of whom were seen in a pick-up truck and told AFP they were from Ghana and Mali.

Earlier, a rebel leader from the hill town of Zintan said his forces had coordinated their assault with NATO, which has stepped up its bombing campaign by destroying frontline armour of Moamer Kadhafi's regime in the past week.

"We waited before launching this assault and finally got the green light from NATO this morning and the offensive began," the rebel leader said.

There were intense exchanges of artillery, mortar and cannon fire between the rebel fighters and government troops dug in around Gualish, the AFP correspondent reported.

The area targeted by the rebel offensive is seen as strategic as it also features the garrison city of Gharyan, a government stronghold in the Nafusa mountains.

In an operational update, NATO said it struck four tanks and two armed vehicles in Gharyan, along with command and control centres near the rebel-held western city of Misrata and eastern oil town of Brega on Tuesday.

NATO also said it carried out air strikes Wednesday on a fuel depot in Brega that had been used to supply forces loyal to Kadhafi.

After a retreat from around the plains town of Bir al-Ghanam last week, rebel spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani pledged last Saturday that his forces would soon try to push the front line northwards.

Wednesday's offensive came a day after France said it no longer needed to drop weapons to the rebels fighting the Kadhafi regime since they were getting more organised and could arrange to arm themselves.

However, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet cautioned against the rebels' prospects of defeating Kadhafi and pushing toward the capital.

Paris acknowledged last week it has made a series of parachute drops of weapons, including rocket launchers, to Berber rebel fighters in the Nafusa mountains, in a move criticised by Russia and the African Union.

On the diplomatic front, a Libyan rebel leader on a visit to Ankara pressed the international community Wednesday to release frozen Libyan funds and make them available to opposition forces.

Mahmud Jibril, a senior member of the National Transitional Council (NTC) based in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, made the appeal after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"A short time ago, we passed a message to the UN representative for Libya, to be conveyed to (UN) Security Council members, (asking) that Libya's assets be allocated to us," Jibril told reporters.

And rebel leaders for the first time are to hold talks with NATO's 28-nation North Atlantic Council on July 13 to present their plans for democratic transition, the organisation's chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday.

South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, meanwhile, said Kadhafi has sent envoys to President Jacob Zuma to say that he will stay out of talks on a peace deal and on his own future.

"He said he does not want to stand in the way of a settlement, and so he will not be part of negotiations about the future of Libya or his own future," Nkoana-Mashabane told a news conference in Pretoria.

Zuma is part of an African Union team trying to broker a peace deal in Libya, and met Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev and the NATO chief on Monday in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway for an international meeting on Libya in Istanbul on July 15-16, as diplomats increasingly mull what post-Kadhafi Libya might look like, with many hoping to avoid Iraq or Afghanistan-style chaos.

Rasmussen said Tuesday the alliance would like to see the United Nations assume the lead role in Libya's transition to democracy in the event Kadhafi leaves power.

In Benghazi, thousands of Libyans opposed to Kadhafi spilled into the streets of the rebel capital on Wednesday, hoping to bolster rebel moral and send a message to Tripoli.

And in Tripoli, a judge charged NTC rebel leaders with sedition and espionage, saying they would go on trial before a special court.

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