Libyan fighters loyal to Muammar Gaddafi counterattacked rebel
forces in parts of Tripol Tuesday as both sides claimed control of most of the
capital.
Rebels said they held eastern parts of Tripoli, including
Tajoura, two days after mounting an assault on the city. Gaddafi’s forces are
concentrated in the Hadba district and around Bab Azziya, the presidential
compound in the southern suburbs from where the regime now broadcasts Libyan
state TV. Explosions were heard near Gaddafi’s headquarters, Al Arabiya
television reported. The whereabouts of the leader are unknown.
Gaddafi’s son and presumed heir, Saif al-Islam, who rebels
said they arrested in the capital Aug. 21, appeared at a hotel in Tripoli and
told the BBC that his father was safe. He said Gaddafi’s forces had broken the
“backbone of the rebels” and that they had fallen into “a trap” by moving into
the city. Rebels said Saif poses no threat and downplayed his reappearance.
The rebels, who were met by cheering crowds in the central
Green Square when they swept into Tripoli from three directions over the
weekend, have not achieved the clean victory in the city they were predicting
yesterday and fighting also continues outside the capital. Allies called on Gaddafi
to end his 42-year reign to avoid further bloodshed in the sixth-month
conflict.
Opposition fighters were deployed yesterday to areas south
of Zlitan, 150km southeast of Tripoli, and missiles have been fired at the
coastal town of Misrata, east of the capital, from Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte.
Even as the fighting continued, rebel and western leaders
looked ahead to a transition of power. US President Barack Obama said that “the
Gaddafi regime is coming to an end, and the future of Libya is in the hands of
its people.”
“As the regime collapses, there’s still fierce fighting, and
we have reports of regime elements threatening to continue fighting,” Obama
said yesterday from the vacation house where he’s staying on Martha’s Vineyard,
Massachusetts.
Gaddafi, who in an August 21 audio broadcast vowed “never to
give up,” remained at large.
“I think Gaddafi is still in the country, the fighters will
turn over every stone to find him, arrest him, and put him in court,” Mahmoud
Al-Nakou, Libyan charge d’affaires to the UK, said in a televised press
conference in London yesterday.
Saif al-Islam took journalists on a tour of areas in Tripoli
still under regime control, the Associated Press reported. The compact
Mediterranean-styled center of the capital is surrounded by sprawling suburbs;
the whole city covers about 400 sq km. The rebels control 90 percent of
Tripoli, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in
Washington yesterday.
Rebels for a time held three of Gaddafi’s sons during the
advance into Tripoli. Besides Saif al-Islam, a second son, Mohammed, later
escaped from house arrest, according to Al Jazeera.
Obama promised aid to help Libya transition to a new
government.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton convened a conference
call from New York yesterday with foreign ministers from 11 countries to
discuss international support, Nuland said.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said that “Gaddafi must stop
fighting, without conditions — and clearly show that he has given up any claim
to control Libya.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy also called on forces loyal
to Gaddafi to lay down their arms.
Shares of European companies with business in Libya,
including Eni and Total SA, gained on the prospect of an end to the conflict.
The uprising, inspired by the popular revolts that ousted
the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, began in February and spread from the eastern
rebel stronghold in Benghazi. Until this month, opposition fighters had
struggled to take and hold government- controlled territory.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday
he will convene an “urgent” meeting on Libya’s future with the heads of the
African Union, the Arab League, the European Union and a coalition of Islamic
nations.
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