Libyan rebels close in amid reports of fierce fighting in Tripoli

Explosions and gunfire shake Libyan capital as residents say anti-Gaddafi protesters have taken to the streets Tripoli was shaken by explosions and rocked by gunfire on Saturday night amid rumours that a major rebel offensive had left the regime of Muammar Gaddafi close to collapse. Tripoli residents told Reuters there were anti-Gaddafi protesters in the streets. “We can hear shooting in different places,” said one. “Most of the regions of the city have gone out, mostly young people … it’s the uprising … They went out after breaking the [Ramadan] fast.” “They are shouting religious slogans: God is greatest!” Celebrations broke out across Libya after Libyan TV reported that Muammar Gaddafi and his two sons had left the country. In the town of Zintan, the opposition stronghold in Libya’s western mountains, locals fired wildly into the sky with Kalashnikovs and anti-aircraft guns as news of Gaddafi’s apparent departure spread. Libya’s opposition Al-Aharar channel said that, according to sources in Tripoli, Gaddafi and his sons Mu’tasm and Hannibal had all fled. There was no information on how they had allegedly managed to escape from Tripoli, now under siege from rebel forces in the west, east and south. A caller from Tripoli also told Libya’s Al-Aharar TV channel that anti-Gaddafi locals had closed off the city’s main Alsika Street, close to the French embassy and leading from Tripoli university to the former King’s palace. Government troops in pick-up trucks with anti-aircraft guns were trying to enter, he added. Libyan state TV failed to report Saturday night’s dramatic events. It broadcast instead a report of a Ramadan prayer from a Tripoli mosque and old video of Gaddafi supporters waving flags in the city’s Green Square. Dr Khalid Abdul Rahman, a UK-based Libyan working as a visiting consultant in Zintan hospital, said: “We’re excited. We should be in Tripoli now. We just want to make sure of this news. If he [Gaddafi] has gone it means I’m travelling tomorrow to Tripoli to see my family. This is what we’ve been fighting about for the last six months now.” According to Dr Khalid, people from Tripoli were pouring on to the streets on Saturday night. “I just spoke to my cousin in Tripoli. He’s left his house. All the men have gone out to celebrate. I’m overjoyed. I feel drunk.” He added: “We want a Libya were everyone has their rights, and has what they’ve been deprived of for 42 years.” Al-Jazeera, citing rebel sources, reported on Saturday night that an uprising was already under way on the streets of Tripoli. The station said that after sunset celebratory fire started across the Libyan capital. People had barricaded their streets and districts with burning tyres and were joining up with other anti-regime opponents. One witness told al-Jazeera that people had been injured in several districts of the city from exchanges of fire between pro- and anti-government forces. One opposition Libyan TV station reported that Gaddafi’s departing order was for his troops to use “maximum force” against the rebels. Other sources said the firing died down late in the evening. Abdul Hamid, a 35-year-old engineer based with the rebels in Zintan, said: “If it’s correct I feel very happy. If Gaddafi has escaped everything will be under control soon. We thought Tripoli would be the biggest fight and a lot of people from both sides would die in the fight. If Gaddafi and his sons have run away there will be no fight. Everyone will surrender.” Asked whether the report was true, he said: “I believe it 70 per cent. I can’t say it 100 per cent. Sometimes these reports are just street news.” Libya Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Luke Harding guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 20, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.