Tuesday, August 23, 2011

. Fighting intensifies in Libyan capital
. Defiant Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Tripoli seems
. Hunt for Muammar Gaddafi continues
. UN says more than 2,200 people killed in Syria crackdown

. Read a summary of today 's important events

01:59: "The battle is as fierce as ever," Luke Harding reports from Tripoli.

Before we started recording Luke said that he was lying on his balcony to take cover from stray bullets, as we talked. He said:

The battle ebbs and flows, but basically it was a mad day with intense mortar fire, artillery, rockets raining down on all Gaddafi 's connection. We have tried to get out of the hotel about an hour but we were turned back at a rebel check point. The rebels fired into the air and told us to clear off. It was not clear whether that was for our safety, or they simply want didn 't around us.

The [mortar] fire is coming from the rebel positions and it is rained on Bab al-Aziziya. It is not clear to me whether this is a battle, or whether they just pulverizing it. It is a Stalingrad-style bombardment at the moment. The atmosphere is extremely tense, but the rebels seem to be largely under control.

Luke said rebels were run regularly around the city in convoys in part as a response to Saif al-Islam 's reappearance in the compound last night.

If [Muammar] Gaddafi is in his bunker then it looks to me like a 1945 Berlin moment. But his whereabouts are a completely mystery.

1.53pm:

Any ongoing Nato role would be governed by three principles, she said:

The UN mandate remained valid. "We remain vigilant and determined to protect the people of Libya," he said. Nato's mission would continue till Gaddafi's forces have withdrawn to their bases and "full humanitarian access is assured".

It's not the number of soldiers that counts; what's important is their ability to fight . We have severely eroded the Gaddafi regime's capabilities to a point where their command-and-control capabilities are severely affected. A lot of senior leaders have defected or been captured . The Gaddafi regime is going down. For us it's more a matter of when.

If you know, let me know. I don't have a clue. I'm not sure it really does matter. The resolution of this situation will be political. Everyone recognises that Gaddafi will not be part of that solution. He's not a key player any more.

A brief appearance at the night doesn 't give me someone who has control over a country or a capital or anything much. It shows that the remnants of the regime on the run. As we 'in the Balkans have seen those who are on the run from international justice, on the run can still take some time, but they can' t hide.

Lavoir not go into "percentages", but said Tripoli was no longer under Gaddafi 's control - "\, of course, there are still pockets of fighting," although \.

The situation in Tripoli is still very serious and very dangerous. In an urban area snipers, shelling, rocket launches could cause some serious damage. It could not change the course of history or the course of this campaign, but it could be very harmful to the population.

He added: "It is quite clear that the regime lost control of key strategic areas of the country".

13.45:

New video of the Tripoli skyline from AP, shows a series of explosions, tracer fire and smoke amid the minarets.

12.48pm:

.

11.44am:

He quotes Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, blaming reports of Saif al-Islam's arrest on the "fog of warfare".

Repressive regimes don't all stick together - Bahrain has declared its recognition of Libya's National Transitional Council.

Sky News's Alex Crawford describes "fierce fighting" outside Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, in this Audioboo clip.

What we said yesterday, we had assumed that information about the arrest of Saif al-Islam and we have tried to confirm that by contacting the National Transitional Government in Libya, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, but not under the custody of the ICC.

The media was reporting on his arrest. We have tried to contact various people the Council of the National Transitional Government, and there were different opinions and different answers. That 's why we said there was no official confirmation of his arrest.

The Guardian 's diplomatic editor Julian Borger Tweets:

Seif al-Islam, a result is enormously embarrassing for the ICC. Still not clear what happened. # # ICC Libya

10.49:

A boat charted by the International Organisation for Migrants to rescue 300 people stranded in Tripoli can't dock because of the security situation.

10.07am:


Since we spoke more than 200 rebel vehicles have made a sedate cavalcade looping round the harbour and the old city, shooting and crying 'God is great' [heading] for the coastal road out west. It is not clear this is a retreat or a show of force.

Libya



# Rixos journos little internet access and trying to power / sat-phones, etc. But everything is ok, feel safer, this clock to save power, but no.

. The New York Times provides a detailed account of the rebel attack on Tripoli, which was combined with an uprising of the inhabitants.

They were supported by steady supply of weapons, fuel, medicines and food from British, French and Qatari troops and escalated a bombing by NATO jets and American Predator drones. Hundreds of rebels took part in secret military training in Qatar.

Rebels on the boat with Tripoli advanced mediation of a flotilla of the city Misrata in an operation, the rebels called Mermaid dawn ...

The western rebel offensive galvanized opposition fighters in other parts of the country. American and NATO officials described a carefully balanced three-point pressure on Tripoli to fighters loyal to Colonel Qaddafi go back on the road toward the capital, where NATO planes bomb they could.

That push, concentrated to the west of Tripoli, was coordinated with the uprising on Saturday within Tripoli itself.



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