Libya rebels launch massive attack on Gaddafi

Tripoli yesterday, as the strongman’s son refuted reports of his own arrest.
The fighting was the most intense in the city since rebels fighters surged into the capital three days ago in a final drive to topple 69-year-old Gaddafi, who has ruled the oil-rich nation with an iron fist for more than four decades.
The sky was filled with billowing smoke and the sound of heavy and light machine guns as well as mortars, with the roar of NATO jets that have been over-flying the city intensively but without confirmation of any strikes..
Even two kilometres (about a mile) from the fighting, the almost constant whistle of bullets could be heard from the rooftops, as the cry of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) blaring out from the city’s mosques.
After a brief lull, the fighting intensified mid-afternoon, an AFP reporter said.
Rebel leaders said fighters from their western bastion of Misrata, renowned for their prowess after breaking a months-long siege of the port city by Gaddafi’s forces, had joined Tripoli rebels in the assault, which also saw the deployment of tanks captured from loyalist forces.
They added, in a statement issued in Benghazi, that the insurgents had overrun the Tripoli base earlier yesterday of the feared Khamis Brigade, named after and commanded by Gaddafi’s youngest son Khamis.
Since Sunday, exultant rebel fighters have streamed across the capital of the oil-rich North African state, seizing control of state television and Tripoli’s seaside Green Square.
But the euphoria of their lightning entry into the heart of the capital, which sparked celebrations and predictions that Gaddafi’s fall was imminent, has given way to caution and warnings that the strongman is far from finished.
US President Barack Obama called for “an inclusive transition” in Libya, demanding that Gaddafi “explicitly” give up power and cautioned the rebels that their struggles were “not over yet.”
French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet, who declared on Monday that “the regime has fallen, the turnaround is total”, said yesterday: “In Libya the situation is not totally at an end, far from it.”
The opposition’s credibility took a knock when its claims that Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, had been arrested were refuted by the man himself, who appeared before cheering armed loyalists outside Bab al-Azizya early yesterday.
“Tripoli is under our control. Everyone should rest assured. All is well in Tripoli,” Seif told journalists at the compound, smiling broadly and flashing the V-for-victory sign.
“I am here to refute the lies,” the 39-year-old said about reports of his arrest, and accused the West of waging a “technological and media war to cause chaos and terror in Libya.”
Seif, like his father, is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
He said Gaddafi and his entire family were still in Tripoli, denying rumours he had fled.
His comments were backed up by the Russian head of world chess who said yesterday Gaddafi had told him in a telephone call that he was in Tripoli and did not intend to leave the country. “I am alive and healthy. I am in Tripoli and do not intend to leave Libya.
Do not believe the lying reports by Western television companies. – AFP.