Libyan rebels were in the heart of Tripoli on Monday after surging into the capital in a final drive to oust Muammer Gaddafi, seizing swathes of the city and arresting the strongman’s son, Saif al-Islam.
US President Barack Obama said the Gaddafi regime was at a “tipping point” and that the “tyrant” must go, adding a call for the rebels to respect human rights and move to democracy.
Senior rebel figure Mahmud Jibril said there were still pockets of resistance in and around Tripoli and warned his forces to be cautious.
An AFP reporter said the night was mainly calm although the sound of fighting was heard early on Monday in the south of the capital. By daybreak it was still not clear how much of the capital the rebels controlled.
Jibril called on the insurgents to act responsibly as the battle to end four decades of dictatorship neared its end.
“The fight is not over yet,” he said on rebel television Al-Ahrar. “God willing, in few hours our victory will be complete.”
Thousands of residents poured onto the streets of Tripoli Sunday night to welcome the rebels, congregating at the symbolic Green Square near the waterfront which they renamed Martyrs Square.
Sky News showed jubilant crowds, with many people waving the red, black and green flag of anti-regime forces, dancing in joy and shouting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest). Some fired rifles into the air.
Similar scenes of jubilation were witnessed in Benghazi, the rebels’ bastion in the east, where tens of thousands of delirious residents danced and proclaimed the end of the regime of the “tyrant” Gaddafi.
While the embattled Gaddafi spoke to the nation three times on Sunday in audio recordings, his whereabouts were unknown and he has not been seen in public for weeks.
But the 69-year-old strongman vowed not to surrender and urged the people of Tripoli to “purge the capital.”
Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a press conference 1,300 people had been killed in the rebel assault on the capital, describing the fighting as a “real tragedy.”
But there was no independent confirmation of casualties, nor any immediate indication of how much resistance may have been put up against the rebels.
Ibrahim insisted that Libya’s regime “is still strong and thousands of volunteers and soldiers are ready to fight” although the reality on the ground seemed to belie his boasts.
In The Hague, the International Criminal Court confirmed that Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, for whom the ICC had issued arrest warrants for crimes against humanity, is in detention.
“I have received confidential information stating he has been arrested,” Luis Moreno-Ocampo told AFP.
“We hope he can soon be in the Hague” to face justice, he said, adding that he planned to contact the “Libyan transitional government” later in the day.
Earlier, the chairman of Libya’s rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil told Al-Jazeera television from Benghazi Seif was “being kept in a secure place under close guard until he is handed over to the judiciary.”
Abdel Jalil did not say when or where he had been captured.
Describing their assault, rebel leaders said an advance party of fighters had arrived by sea in the capital early Sunday and joined sleeper cells of rebels to launch the final drive, codenamed “Mermaid.”
Another rebel force advanced from the west, moving in a convoy of around 100 vehicles as onlookers fired celebratory gunfire into the air, an AFP correspondent said.
By afternoon they had overrun the eastern suburb of Tajura and boasted that they would seize control of the capital during the night.
Meanwhile, a rebel party seized an army barracks at a western entrance to Tripoli, raiding the stores of missiles and other ammunition, AFP correspondents there said.
They also released dozens of prisoners held in Maya, 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Tripoli.
A rebel spokesman said the insurgents were also tightening the noose around loyalist forces in the far west of Libya, near the Tunisian border.
In his three audio messages broadcast on Sunday, Gaddafi remained adamant he would not relinquish power.
“We will not, we will not abandon Tripoli to the occupants and their agents. I am with you in this battle,” he said in one message.
“We do not surrender and, by God’s grace, we will emerge victorious.”
He called on his supporters to “march on Tajura in tens of thousands to purge the officials of the colonisers,” in a reference to the rebels, who have since March been backed by blistering NATO air strikes on Kadhafi’s military.
In another message he urged supporters to “march by the millions” to liberate cities held by “traitors and rats.”
Obama issued a written statement calling on the rebels to respect human rights, show leadership, preserve the institutions of the Libyan state and move towards democracy.
“Tonight, the momentum against the Kadhafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant,” Obama said as he took a vacation at the resort of Martha’s Vineyard.
“The Gaddafi regime is showing signs of collapsing. The people of Libya are showing that the universal pursuit of dignity and freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator.”
For his part, Jibril urged rebels to act with magnanimity.
“The world is watching us,” he added. “Do not avenge yourselves.”
He took particular pains to refer to those close to Kadhafi who might be captured.
“Prove that we are up the responsibility to protect them and their lives,” he said.
The New York Times said meanwhile that intensified US aerial activity in and around Tripoli may have helped tilt the balance of power toward the rebels.
Citing unnamed officials, the newspaper said that in recent days, the US established around-the-clock surveillance over the dwindling areas that Libyan military forces still controlled, using armed Predator drones to detect, track and occasionally fire at those forces.
At the same time, Britain, France and other nations deployed special forces on the ground inside Libya to help train and arm the rebels, the report said.
Libya rebels surge into the heart of Tripoli
