Today 4:43 PM Rebels: All Of Tripoli Under Rebel Control Except Gaddafi’s Bab Al-Aziziya-Jazeera Stronghold.
AMSTERDAM Aug 21 (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam has been detained, a spokeswoman for the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s office said.
(Al Jazeera) 5:05 Rebels take airport and road to Tunisia.
Libyan rebels said earlier that they had detained Saif, who has been indicted by the ICC, and Gaddafi’s eldest son Mohammed Al-Gaddafi.
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP, via Huffington Post) — Laub and Hubbard reported from Janzour, Libya. Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Cairo contributed to this report.
Excerpts: Sidiq al-Kibir, the rebel leadership council’s representative for the capital Tripoli, confirmed the arrest of Seif al-Islam to the AP but did not give any further details.
Euphoric Libyan rebels raced into the capital Tripoli on Sunday and moved close to center with little resistance as Moammar Gadhafi’s defenses collapsed and his regime appeared to be crumbling fast. A rebel leader said the unit in charge of protecting Gadhafi and Tripoli had surrendered and joined the revolt, allowing the opposition force to move in freely.
Gadhafi’s whereabouts were unknown. But he delivered a series of angry and defiant audio messages broadcast on state television. He was not shown in the messages. In the latest one, he acknowledged that the opposition forces were moving into Tripoli and warned the city would be turned into another Baghdad.
“How come you allow Tripoli the capital, to be under occupation once again?” he said. “The traitors are paving the way for the occupation forces to be deployed in Tripoli.”
He called on his supporters to march in the streets of the capital and “purify it” from “the rats.”
Thousands of jubilant civilians rushed out of their homes to cheer the long convoys of pickup trucks packed with rebel fighters shooting in the air. Some of the fighters were hoarse, shouting: “We are coming for you, frizz-head,” a mocking nickname for Gadhafi. In villages along the way that fell to the rebels one after another, mosque loudspeakers blared “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.”
NATO has released a statement on Libya.
An excerpt:
The Qadhafi regime is clearly crumbling. The sooner Qadhafi realises that he cannot win the battle against his own people, the better — so that the Libyan people can be spared further bloodshed and suffering.The Libyan people have suffered tremendously under Qadhafi’s rule for over four decades. Now they have a chance for a new beginning. Now is the time for all threats against civilians to stop, as the United Nations Security Council demanded. Now is the time to create a new Libya – a state based on freedom, not fear; democracy, not dictatorship; the will of the many, not the whims of a few. That transition must come peacefully. It must come now. And it must be led and defined by the Libyan people.NATO is ready to work with the Libyan people and with the Transitional National Council, which holds a great responsibility. They must make sure that the transition is smooth and inclusive, that the country stays united, and that the future is founded on reconciliation and respect for human rights.
A Libyan rebels security forces member raises his rifle in Benghazi.
A resident of Tripoli tells Reuters that on Saturday night, around the time people were breaking their Ramadan fast, imams called on people to rise up, using the loudspeakers on minarets.
Getty has photos of tens of thousands of Libyans celebrating in freedom square in Benghazi.
From Reuters:
Libyan rebels control most of the Tajourah district in the east of the capital and have surrounded an airbase there, an opposition activist in Tripoli told a Reuters reporteroutside of Libya.”The rebels have surrounded a military airbase called Mitiga in the Tajourah district. The rebels there are telling the brigades that they come in peace to avoid bloodshed. There are areas where electricity has been cut off,” he said late on Saturday.
The account from the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, could not be independently verified.
From NBC:
Despite a flurry of reports that Moammar Gadhafi has fled Libya, State Department and U.S. intelligence officials say they have no independent corroboration. They say they’re hearing the same reports, from their own sources and from the media.
Al Jazeera has published translated excerpts from Gaddafi’s speech. Here are some quotes:
“I can’t understand how Libya is now in this state… you need to find the people behind this state… behind this tragedy.””You need to Love Libya… how can you allow those people to play with Libya? Instead of being happy we’re sad.”
“People who were happy last Ramadan are sad this Ramadan.”
“It (the uprising) is not a Libyan project. No Muslim can follow this project… It’s not an Islamic project, it’s not a Libyan project … Those people are destroying Libya.”
When Gaddafi’s speech began airing on state-run television, many people questioned whether it was pre-recorded (it was only audio). It now seems he was addressing the country live as he mentioned the exact time and date in Libya multiple times during the rambling speech.
Al Jazeera is live-streaming the embattled Libyan leader as he addresses the country via state-run television.
Tunisia is now recognizing the Libyan rebels as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, according to the official Tunisian TAP news agency.
The move represents a major shift in policy for Libya’s neighbor to the west, which has remained neutral throughout the monthslong civil conflict that has seen rebels attempt to oust long-standing leader Moammar Gadhafi.France and Italy were among the first nations to recognize the Benghazi-based NTC as the Libyan government, and the United States has also done so.
The AP reports that President Barack Obama — currently on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard — is being briefed by aides as reports come in of rebels advancing on Tripoli.
A senior administration official said the president was briefed during the day Saturday on Martha’s Vineyard, and would continue to get regular updates, including through the night if necessary. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
A rebel official tells Reuters that “zero hour has started. The rebels in Tripoli have risen up.”
Reuters reporter Missy Ryan in Tripoli tweets that there are lots of automatic weapons being fired off in the distance.
NBC News Chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel tweets that rebels are fighting in Tripoli, in at least four areas.