Libya: the fall of Tripoli - live updates
Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound seized by rebels
Gaddafi in hiding but in audio tape urges purge of traitors
NTC prepares to set up government in Tripoli
US and EU call for total arms embargo against Syria
Read the latest summary
1.36pm: Here is a lunchtime summary:
Tripoli is mostly under rebel control and the government of Muammar Gaddafi seems to be at an end but Gaddafi himself is still nowhere to be found. He put out an audio message last night calling on his supporters to attack the rebels and saying he had been out and about in Tripoli "discretely" and he "did not feel that Tripoli was in danger" (see 8.41am). Fighting continues between pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces in his Bab al-Aziziya compound, much of which but not all is now in rebel hands (see 11.13am). In his audio message, Gaddafi said he had left his compound as a "tactical move". The rebels say 400 people have died and 2,000 injured in the battle for Tripoli so far (see 9.42am). There are concerns about the humanitarian situation in Tripoli and t! he lack of medical supplies at hospitals (see 11.14am).
Rebels are advancing on Sirte, the last major stronghold of pro-Gaddafi forces, where Scud missiles have been fired towards opposition-held Misrata and apparently intercepted at the last minute by the US navy (see 12.23pm).
Around 35 foreign journalists and dignitaries are trapped in Tripoli's Rixos hotel, held prisoner by Gaddafi's forces. Food and water are running out and there are power cuts. There were reports of clashes outside the building (see 11.36am). The UK Foreign Office is trying to help (see 1.22pm).
The UK government is working with the UN to unfreeze Libyan assets to help the rebels financially (see 11.54pm). British deputy PM Nick Clegg and foreign secretary William Hague both praised the rebels for how they have handled the battle for Tripoli and transition to a new government so far. Clegg said they had learned from "the mistakes of Iraq".
At least 85% of Libya's diplomatic missions around the world now reportedly recognise the rebels as the new Libyan government (see 1pm). Russia still won't recognise the NTC though (see 10.47am).
1.22pm: The Foreign Office says it is doing all it can to help free those trapped in the Rixos hotel, but it does not have representatives in Tripoli, writes Robert Booth.
"We are deeply concerned about the situation and we are working with international organisations and the NTC and the Free Libya forces to identify the best way to free the people in the Rixos," said a spokesman for the Foreign Office.
"We are urging Gadaffi's forces at the Rixos to allow the journalists free passage."
The Foreign Office does not have representation in Tripoli and is concerned about the safety of sending in diplomats during ongoing fighting and so attempts to persuade Gadaffi's forces to allow the trapped hotel guests out are being made through the media.
William Hague said he was monitoring the situation "hour by hour".
He said: "We are monitoring that very closely. We are in touch with their news organisations. Of course we are concerned about their safety and the safety of anyone caught up in this fighting.
"We are also doing what we can to help through talking to the National Transitional Council, although they are not yet in control of that area, and to any others who may be able to help."
He added: "So we are monitoring that situation, we are having those discussions and I am monitoring that situation hour by hour."
1.00pm: Faraj Zarroug, the Libyan consul in Manila, says he reckons at least 85% of his country's 165 diplomatic missions now recognise the National Transitional Council as the government of Libya. Zarroug told the Associated Press news agency:
It's game over for Mr Gaddafi. Probably in a few days, everything will be over, hopefully. I'm very happy.
At the Manila mission, young expatriates "rampaged" through the building, smashing the glass of portraits and ripping up and spit! ting on Gaddafi's Green Book outlining his political philosophy. Mahmoud Binhafa, 29, said:
We can say what we want. No one can stop us! We want, like, you know, freedom to be happy, to say whatever we want.
Reuters is saying districts in central Tripoli, including at Muammar Gaddafi's compound, are coming under fire from pro-Gaddafi troops.
12.23pm: Libyan rebels are advancing on Sirte, the last major stronghold of pro-Gaddafi forces, reports Chris Stephen from Misrata, with opposition columns now 35 miles west of the city. He also has news about the Scud missiles being fired from Sirte towards Misrata. Chris writes:
Misrata Military Council reported only sporadic resistance as rebel units pushed down the main coastal highway that runs east, with spearheads now at the town of Al-Washka. One commander told the Guardian that they hoped to effect a link-up south of the city with rebels advancing from the other direction, after reports that opposition forces have overrun the strategic oil towns of Brega and Ras Lanuf.
"We can unite with the other forces [from the eastern front] said Anwar Sarwan, a Misrata rebel logistics officer. "We are making good progress."
Sirte is Gaddafi's birthplace but to the symbolic value of capturing this city is added the urgency of overrunning bases from which Scud missiles are now being launched against Misrata.
These Soviet-era rockets are the heaviest weapons so far deployed by pro-Gaddafi forces. At least four have been aimed at the city, the latest exploding amid a flash of orange in a thunderous detonation in the early hours of this morning, causing momentary panic among hundreds of people gathered to greet relatives freed from captivity in Tripoli.
Misratans appear to have the US navy to thank for the failure of any of the missiles to reach their targets, with reports that a cruiser operating in the Mediterranean has been using Aegis missiles to intercept the Scuds! each ti me one is detected coming in over the Gulf of Sirte.
What is unnerving the people here is that the interceptions, perhaps for technical reasons, take place at the last moment, with today's Scud being blown apart seconds before it would have hit the city.
So far the US navy has hit four out four, but no one is sure how many scuds government forces still possess, nor whether Gaddafi has the capability to mount chemical warheads, as was the case with Iraq scuds fired at Israel in the 1991 Gulf war.
The rebels of Misrata are meanwhile pushing columns of men, artillery and ammunition up the road to Tripoli, with more than 2,000 fighters now taking control of eastern parts of the Libyan capital.
Coming the other way are prisoners: the Guardian saw a pick-up truck entering Misrata last night with what appeared to be black African mercenaries in uniforms huddled together on the flatbed of the truck receiving occasional kicks from their guards.
There is huge resentment in this rebel city about the appearance of mercenaries from Chad who have been captured in recent weeks, though it is unclear whether it is these forces, rather than Libyan government soldiers, who are responsible for the atrocities and destruction inflicted on this city.
This map shows where Sirte is in relation to Tripoli and Misrata.
12.21pm: Reuters is quoting an unnamed rebel commander that Muammar Gaddafi is in Tripoli and there is fighting going on in the area where he is believed to be hiding. The Guardian cannot confirm this.
12.15pm: Asked about the foreigners trapped in the Rixos hotel, Hague says he is monitoring the situation closely and is concerned about their safety. He are doing what we can to help by talking to the NTC although they are not in control of that area, h! e says.< /p>
12.14pm: Hague says no one knows where Gaddafi is. He is going to great lengths to make sure of that. He casts doubt on Gaddafi's claim that it was a "tactical move" for him to leave his compound.
12.13pm: Hague says this will remain a difficult situation with much to do for weeks and months.
12.12pm: William Hague, the British foreign secretary, is giving a press conference in London. He says "we are witnessing the death throes of the Gaddafi regime in Libya" and tells Muammar Gaddafi to stop issuing "delusional statements".
12.01pm: Guests to the Libyan embassy in London can now wipe their feet on a new Gaddafi doormat. Sky News's Tom Parmenter has this Twitpic of the mat.
11.54am: Sky News has just been reporting on today's meeting of Britain's national security council at Downing Street, which took place this morning at 9am and was chaired by William Hague. Sky said three topics were covered:
There was an update on the situation on the ground. Nobody was any clearer on the location of Muammar Gaddafi, but there was discussion of whether he might be in Sirte, his home town. There were still pockets of resistance in Tripoli and elsewhere, Sky said the meeting was told.
The NSC discussed stability, with ministers welcoming the increased leadership being shown by the rebel National Transitional Council, although concerns were raised about the humanitarian situation in Tripoli and how medical supplies were getting to hospitals there.
Ministers also discussed working with the UN to unfreeze Libyan assets to help the NTC financially.
Nick Clegg, the British deputy prime minister, has been speaking to the media. He said the international community should "quickly engage with the opposition forces to help them rebuild their country". Clegg said:
We are seeing the final stages of the last stand of the remnants of pro-Gaddafi forces! We are going to see the birth of a new Libya. We, Britain, the EU, need to work with these very brave people ... to create a new country and create new institutions from scratch I don't think it's going to be smooth We need to help them with this very important project to rebuild Libya.
He said the NTC's leaders "have learned very fully from the mistakes of Iraq: there shouldn't be venegeance ... you need to keep some of the existing institutions in order [and] the move to a new, democratic, freer future has to embrace all Libya."
Clegg said he had met some of the leaders of the NTC and he was "very impressed with their absolute commitment to learning from the mistakes of elsewhere".
The deputy PM was also asked where Muammar Gaddafi was. He said:
We don't know where Gaddafi is It will only be a matter of time before he is located.
But that was "principally a matter for those on the ground" and that was the Libyans, not Nato.
11.36am: CNN's Matthew Chance, one of 35 foreign nationals trapped in the Rixos hotel in Tripoli, tweets the latest from the besieged building.
Clashes outside the hotel. #Rixos4 hunkered down. #Libya
Reuters is reporting the sound of "heavy gunfire" small-arms fire and anti-aircraft guns coming from the area around the hotel.
One of the 35 people stuck in the hotel is former US congressman Walter Fauntroy. The Daily Telegraph quotes him saying: "Right now we are in a precarious situation with some of our friends from the media, because we fear that unless we are able to relocate, we may all be in danger."
CNN has video footage from a Chinese jour! nalist a lso trapped in hotel. It shows mattresses moved up against windows to provide provide protection from the gunfire outside.
The hotel is surrounded by Gaddafi loyalists who are preventing the journalists from leaving. They are held hostage on the hotel's first floor, the prisoners of a dying regime that refuses to lay down its arms. There are frequent cuts in the power and water supply. Their situation is very worrying.
Reporters Without Borders urges all the parties involved to ensure the safety of journalists, both Libyan and foreign, who are covering developments in Libya. The National Transitional Council, which has been recognized by many countries as Libya's provisional government, must do everything in its power to allow journalists to cover the fighting freely and safely.
11.27am: Here is a video of part of Muammar Gaddafi's overnight audio message calling on his supporters to rise up against the rebels, which he called "traitors and rats".
11.23am: Footage has emerged claiming to show the capture of Libyan state TV presenter Hala Misrati, Enduring America's EA WorldView has spotted.
The clips shows Misrati being arrested at gunpoint.
Misrati appeared on Libyan TV over the weekend waving a gun and vowing to die a martyr for Gaddafi.
11.14am: The Guardian's Luke Harding has been rifling through the papers of Libya's dep! arted pr ime minister. In his latest audio dispatch from Tripoli Luke says:
I'm standing in the courtyard of the office of Libya's prime minister, or ex-prime minister as we have to call him, Dr Al Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, who has scarpered off to Tunisia. I have just been sifting through the prime minister's correspondence. There was an attache case there with various petitions. There was a report about investment in Libya written by Ernst and Young. "Quality in everything we do" was the slogan of the accountancy firm. I found a wedding invitation. I don't know whether he got to the wedding or not. There is all the diplomatic legacy of a defunct regime which no longer exists.
Luke also gave a harrowing account of a visit to a hospital where dead and wounded have been taken.
The other place I went to this morning was Tripoli's Italian-built central hospital where they have treating the dead and the wounded and it is a pretty ghastly scene. On the left as you come in there is a room full of dead fighters, who have been shot - terrible smell. The doctors weren't sure how many they brought in yesterday but it is dozens ... The hospital is lacking all sorts of medical supplies.
On the security situation Luke had a briefing from the man at a rebel command post.
He said although the fighting isn't on the scale of yesterday there are still groups of Gaddafi loyalists who are holed up ... close to Gaddafi's compound and they are sniping and returning fire. He said today's task was to flush them out. Tripoli feels pretty empty. You hear the odd mortar and artillery fire, but nothing on the scale of yesterday where it was kind of bonkers ...
The big question which nobody has been able to answer is: where is Gaddafi? Is he hiding underground somewhere in Tripoli? Has he also run off like his prime m! inister? It is the big mystery and nobody seems to know.
11.13am: Here's a gallery of the rebels attacking Muammar Gaddafi's compound.
The BBC was reporting from the compound just now. Its reporter Wyre Davies said he could not go as far into the compound as yesterday. There are still some people fighting inside the compound and the inner area is "a very difficult and dangerous place to get to", he said. He also talked about the complex of tunnels and bunkers under the compound. At one point he ducked as fire came from inside the compound, bringing a halt to the interview.
10.47am: Russia continues to insists that Gaddafi has influence in Libya but says it will recognise the NTC if it bring stability.
President Dmitry Medvedev is quoted by the Russia news agency Ria Novosti as saying:
If the rebels have the power and spirit and opportunity to unite the country on a new democratic basis, then of course we will consider establishing relations with them ... For now, the situation hasn't changed. Basically, there are two governing powers in the country, and, despite the rebels' success in Tripoli, Gaddafi and his loyalists retain influence and military potential.
10.32am: Here are some pictures of Tripoli's Rixos hotel in normal times.
10.19am: There is no shortage of advice on what to do now in Libya to restore law and order and avoid the mistakes of Iraq.
A Libya working group set up by the foreign affairs thinktank Chatham House says Libyans should be offered rewards for handing in weapons.
In the immediate post-conflict! period there will be an urgent need to establish a process to collect weapons, as large sections of the civilian population will be left with arms. It is possible that financial incentives may be necessary for this process.
The Libyan army and police should be retained as much as possible and the deployment of foreign troops should be avoided, argues the Middle East analyst Juan Cole in his 10-point plan on how to avoid the mistakes of Iraq.
No western infantry or armoured units should be stationed in the country. Their presence would risk inflaming the passions of the Muslim fundamentalists and of the remaining part of the population that is soft on Gaddafi. The presence of western troops in Muslim lands creates terrorism, which then produces calls in the west for more Western troops, which creates more terrorism. It is the dialectic of a horror movie.
The Economist argues that international peacekeepers may be necessary:
At a minimum, if Libya finds itself welcoming teams of international aid workers, engineers or advisers on reconstruction, and if the post-Gaddafi situation looks "semi-permissive" (ie dangerous but not lethal), such foreigners will need protecting. If, in a worst-case scenario, fighters from Benghazi start taking revenge on tribes that were previously loyal to Colonel Gaddafi, then the question of peacekeepers arises. Western countries would like regional partners to "step up to the plate". That means troops from Arab or African countries, in plain English.
9.42am: Libyan rebels say 400 people died and more than 2,000 people were injured in the battle for Tripoli.
Channel 4 News's Lindsey Hilsum just met the British-educated brother of one the victims. She tweets:
Just met a man who studied in No! rthampto n in Bab al-Aziziya compound. Brother killed yesterday, but says it was worth the sacrifice. #Tripoli
9.09am: There have been some extraordinary accounts of the storming of Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound.
Here some extracts:
The visitors were fighters who had risked their lives to take Bab al-Aziziya or neighbours who wanted to venture down notorious halls. Some people took out their anger on the famous totems of the colonel's bizarre dictatorship, or its vulgar trappings. Several men spent 10 minutes smashing a gold-plated tea trolley. A group around them cheered.
The looters filed in even as sporadic fighting persisted. In a measure of the current mood in Tripoli, most people were looking for weapons. The golden pistols a man showed to reporters seemed like novelty items. Many walked out of the compound with cattle prods ...
Others went for luxury items. Flat-screen televisions were hauled away from private residences on the compound.
People cheered and laughed as they toyed with another of the eccentric symbols of the leader, an electric golf cart that Colonel Gaddafi used to drive around the compound ...
"The big head has fallen," said Al Wakidi Mohamed, a former journalist and rebel fighter, who sat on a jeep in front of the statute as the sun set.
They set fire to a great domed pavilion. They looted the homes of the regime's elite, stripping them of silver and chine and other valuables and tearing down portraits of their deposed leader. "House to house! Room to room!" chanted some men, calling for a search of the complex of bunkers and tunnels, in a mocking echo of Colonel Gaddafi's! words f rom six months ago when he threatened to crush early stirrings of the revolt.
They rampaged through barracks whose occupants had melted away as mysteriously as their leader. They broke into armouries and reinforced concrete bunkers seemingly untouched by Nato's airstrikes, and carted away great crates of AK47s and other rifles, of rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers and Berettas, of bandoliers and magazines filled with ammunition.
They took away, in short, weapons stockpiled by the regime for the sole purpose of repressing and butchering its people. One man brandished a looted golden sniper rifle.
Their joy was unconfined. They fired their new toys skywards with utter abandon. Soon the air was filled with the stench of cordite and the ground was strewn with bullet casings. One man armed with an RPG aimed at the top of a domed building, and with a single shot destroyed a great statue of an eagle perched on top.
Sky News' Alex Crawford has this account uploaded to Audioboo:
And Lindsey Hilsum from Channel 4 News filed this video report:
_
8.51am: The BBC's Matthew Price, one of 35 foreign nationals trapped in the Rixos hotel in Tripoli, gave this audio dispatch to the Today programme.
He described it as "day five of the siege of the Rixos hotel", sayingd: "We believe there are still snipers on the roof of the hotel ... The ITN man just had an AK47 pulled on him."
AP's Dario Lopez-Mills filed this dispatch from the hotel last night:
Fighting intensified Tuesday and the smell of gunpowder hangs in the thick heat, along! with sw eat and a little fear. When the shooting is most intense, we take refuge in the hotel's basement conference rooms.
Two satellite telephones set up on a balcony were destroyed by gunfire, so we've stopped transmitting our material. We wait and worry the gunmen could turn hostile at any moment.
There is no power and no running water. On Monday we ate bread and butter. On Tuesday, the cook made French fries. Bottled water is running low.
We don't know when it's going to end, and we see little of what happens. We weren't there when Bab al-Aziziya was captured less than 24 hours after Saif [al-Islam Gaddafi] took us there. He hasn't been seen publicly since then.
So I can tell a story about trapped journalists, but the real story about what is happening to Libya is just out there.
Unfortunately, we can't cover it.
_
8.41am: Welcome to Middle East Live. Events continue to move at a breathtaking pace in Libya. You can follow how another momentous 14 hours unfolded on our overnight live blog. Here's a summary of the main developments:
Libya
Rebels seized control of Muammar Gaddafi's compound and seat of power in Tripoli, stamping on a gilded bronze head of the deposed despot and setting fire to his famous tent in a cathartic end to his 42-year dictatorship. But pro-Gaddafi strongholds remained in the coastal town of Sirte, his birthplace, and the southern desert city of Sabha.
The hunt for Gaddafi goes on.. He issued a blustering audio address saying he had been out in capital "discretely" ! and and urged supporters to "comb" Tripoli for traitors. In another audio message, Moussa Ibrahim, Gaddafi's spokesman, vowed that the battle for Tripoli would go on and that they had the ability to fight for it "not only for months but for years". He claimed Gaddafi loyalists had withdrawn from Tripoli for tactical reasons.
(Previously we stated that Gaddafi said he had left the capital. This has been changed. Apologies).
Al-Jazeera has translated the message see above.
Rebel leaders scramble to maintain law and order in Tripoli as the National Transitional Council prepares to set up a stabilisation programme. Mahmoud Shammam, an NTC spokesman, said half the members of the movement's executive board, which is functioning as an interim cabinet, would arrive in Tripoli on Wednesday to co-ordinate work on maintaining basic services and food supplies as well as law and order.
Gaddafi loyalists still occupy parts of Tripoli, including the Al Hadba and Abu Salim neighbourhoods, according to the New York Times. Abu Salim includes the Rixos hotel, where a group of journalists and foreign dignitaries have been trapped for days. One of the journalists holed up in the hotel, CNN's Matthew Chance, tweeted:
Woke early, gunman in #rixos lobby gone. Still forces on perimeter.
Rebels have looted a bizarre assortment of Gaddafi bling from the Bab al-Aziziya compound. Treasures include: Gaddafi's golf cart, a gold-plated rifle, Gaddafi caps, and gold chains.
We want to give this money back to the TNC [NTC] for its use, first and foremost to meet humanitarian needs and to help it establish a secure, stable government and to move on to the next step in its own road map. And we hope this process will be complete in the coming days.
Where will Gaddafi go? A number of countries have been suggested, including Zimbabwe and Nicaragua, where president Daniel Ortega said his government would consider giving asylum to the Libyan leader.
Syria
The EU and the US have drafted a new resolution to the UN security council calling for a total arms embargo on Syria and condemning the violent crackdown against protesters. The draft resolution says the Assad regime may have committed crimes against humanity, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Syria's fragmented opposition took steps towards forming a national council, but serious divisions and mistrust among the members prevented them from presenting a unified front against president Bashar al-Assad's regime more than five months into the country's uprising, participants said. The opposition, fragmented by years of sectarian and ideological tensions, has made unprecedented gains against the regime, but there is no clear leadership or platform beyond the demands for more freedom and for Assad to step down.
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