In Lybia Opposing Forces Have Reached Way Deep Into Tripoli

guardian.co.uk

Libyans celebrate in Tripoli in an image taken from television after hundreds of rebel fighters surged into the capital, leaving Muammar Gaddafi facing the end of his 42-year reign. Photograph: al-Jazeera

It's mid morning there now on Aug, 22nd.10.19am:

 Gaddafi's forces control only 10-15% of Tripoli, according to the Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini.

Reuters reports: 

Frattini told Sky Italia television that "time has run out" for negotiations over a possible exile for Gaddafi and he must face trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

"Not more than 10-15% of Tripoli is in the hands of the regime," Frattini said, adding that the arrest of two of Gaddafi's sons was a decisive moment in the conflict.

The Guardian's Luke Harding said such "slide rule" calculations about the level of control of Gaddafi's forces were impossible to verify on the ground (see 8.17am).

10.06am: Foreign media, who have been corralled in the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli for the past six months, appeared to be trapped inside the compound due to heavy fighting in nearby streets, writes Harriet Sherwood (who had a stint in the notorious hotel earlier this year).

The hotel is close to Bab Al-Azizya, Gaddafi's sprawling compound in the city which has been bombed repeatedly by Nato war planes.

Journalists at the Rixos reported that most of the government officials and minders have left in the past 24 hours. "I noticed the translators we have been working with for months now had also left. So too the state television staff who have worked out of here since their headquarters were bombed by Nato," wrote BBC correspondent Matthew Price.

The media corps held a meeting to discuss tactics as rebels entered Tripoli. There have been fears among journalists for months that they could be held as human shields by Gaddafi loyalists in the face of a rebel onslaught on the capital.

9.58am: The rebels advance on Tripoli last night is a morale boost for Syrian activists hopping that once Gaddafi goes Syrian president Bashar al-Assad will be next on the list, writes Nour Ali.

"The germs of Syria congratulate the rats of Libya," read many a Tweet, referring to the terms used by each of the countries leaders for those fomenting unrest against the autocrats' rule.

Others activists used the network to urge Assad to watch the news and realise he was next. The situation in Syria is less certain as the regime continues to crack down against almost exclusively unarmed protesters and without the appetite for military invention that helped push the Libyan rebels to victory.

But the impending end of Gaddafi's rule - who came to power just a year before the Assad dynasty in Syria - has certainly bolstered morale among protesters.

It is also likely to rattle the regime in Damascus despite Assad's assertions during a television interview last night that he is "not worried".

"It is a great boost to morale," Ahmad, an activist and protester from Latakia told the Guardian. "On the street pro-regime people said Gaddafi will stay even with military intervention, but now it shows that is not true. I think it will cause fear. And maybe that those who want to be on the winning side will start shifting."

Another protester, a 30-year-old man from Damascus, said he was "so happy" at the news and felt more determination to carry on. "I think there will be more international attention on Syria now," he said. "We are seeing freedom all over!"

Some diplomats have expressed fears that last weeks call by the US and UK for Assad to step aside in combination with the endgame in Libya will lead to calls for military intervention in Syria. So far that has been resolutely rejected by Syrian protesters as well as the international community.

Nour Ali is a pseudonym for a reporter based in Damascus

9.37am: "There is tremendous gratitude towards Nato," Luke Harding reports in his latest audio dispatch from Tripoli.

This district where I am is completely in opposition hands. I met one guy in an England T-shirt who was praising loudly David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy. Saying 'England good, England good. Thank you, thank you'. It was almost like a Conservative Party spin doctor's dream.

Speaking above the sound of gunfire, Luke said he had heard that Gaddafi's tanks had entered the area around Green Square. There is also sniper fire.

Locals say there are not huge pockets of resistance from the regime, but there are what they call fifth columnist losing off a couple of shots and then running away.