Libyan War, Libyan Rebels | featured news

Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, who ruled Libya for 42 years, died Thursday as his last stronghold fell to the Libyan forces who drove him from power, officials of Libya’s transitional government said. There were conflicting initial reports of the specific circumstances of his death: some said he was killed in Surt, his hometown; others said he died while fleeing it.

Fighters for Libya's new leadership managed to take over the port in Sirte on Tuesday morning, a senior military commander in Tripoli said.

Sitting on a carpet under the shade of a tree, the men say they know where Moammar Gaddafi is today — and where he will always be. “He is in our hearts,” they say, almost in unison, tapping their chests with their right hands. Two weeks ago, almost every house in the town of Ajaylat, a Gaddafi stronghold about 50 miles west of Tripoli, flew the green flag of the autocrat’s regime. Today, those flags have been taken down, but the rebels’ red, black and green banner flies over only a handful of government buildings.

"Negotiations are over, and we are waiting for orders" to attack, said Mohammed al-Fassi, a rebel commander at a staging area about 45 miles from Bani Walid.

The rebels' Tripoli military commander, a former leader of an Islamic militant group, insisted Friday that the new Libya will shun extremism.

Rebel fighters gave loyalists in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown until Monday to disarm or face "liberation," an opposition spokesman said.

There is no water, scarcely any gas or fresh food, and only intermittent power, but Tripoli’s heart is slowly beginning to beat again. Streets in the Libyan capital were mostly quiet Saturday, and there were no signs of snipers as the city’s new rulers eliminated a last pocket of loyalist resistance on the road to the international airport.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called on his supporters on Thursday to march on Tripoli and "purify" the capital of rebels, who he denounced as "rats, crusaders and unbelievers."

The son and heir apparent of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam, resurfaced free and defiant early Tuesday a day after rebels claimed to have captured him, boasting in a bizarre reappearance that his father's loyalists still control parts of Tripoli and would crush the rebellion.

With Libyan rebels reaching Tripoli, the endgame is at hand. Intense fighting may lie ahead, but three of Moammar Gadhafi's sons are reportedly in custody and the power of the regime appears to be rapidly eroding.