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The 42-year rule of Moammar Gadhafi appeared on the verge of collapse Monday, with rebel supporters making it to the same Tripoli square where regime loyalists had congregated for month.
But in a possible indication that the fight is not over, celebrations in Tripoli's Green Square gave way to tension Monday morning after rebels told CNN that they'd heard Gadhafi army forces were heading their way. CNN could not confirm any movement of Gadhafi forces.
Here are some of the latest developments of the fighting in Tripoli, the latest installment of battles in a months-long uprising in Libya.
[Updated at 12:34 p.m. ET, 6:34 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Matthew Chance is reporting that ferocious fighting has broken out near the Rixos Hotel where journalists are staying in Tripoli. Chance described hearing heavy explosions and artillery shelling.
"It is ongoing and it's not just a firefight, we're talking about heavy explosions," he said. "This is a huge, all-out battle for control."
Chance said the situation has gotten even more difficult for journalists as the generators are out of fuel and electricity is out at the hotel.
He said the symbolic nature of the hotel as well as the proximity to Gadhafi's compound is likely why the fighting is happening in that area specifically.
“While there are pockets of rebel control, this is one pocket which remains firmly in the hands of the Gadhafi loyalists," Chance said.
He tweeted: (@MChanceCNN) "All electricity down, running low on food and water. Sitting at #Rixos in the dark as bullets fly outside."
He added, "Mood in Rixos much darker than before. Everyone really worried about what's going to happen to us."
[Updated at 12:24 p.m. ET, 6:24 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Matthew Chance reports there is intense fighting and gunfire near the Rixos Hotel where he and other international reporters are staying in Tripoli.
[Updated at 12:14 p.m. ET, 6:14 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Atika Shubert tweets about French President Nicolas Sarkozy's latest message to Libya's Gadhafi: @atika_cnn: Sarkozy's office urges Gadhafi troops to lay down arms and stop following the "criminal blindness" of their leader.#Libya
[Updated at 11:26 a.m. ET, 5:26 p.m. in Libya] United Nations officials have unsuccessfully tried to reach Moammar Gadhafi, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters Monday.
"We've been trying to get in touch with him, and I also myself tried to speak with him recently, but as you may expect and understand ... it has not been possible," Ban said, adding that he did not know Gadhafi's whereabouts.
The U.N. chief described events in Tripoli as "testimony to the courage and determination of the Libyan people to seek a free and democratic future."
"It is crucial now for the conflict to end with no further loss of life," he added.
Ban said he plans to hold an urgent high-level meeting this week to discuss the situation with several regional organizations, including the African Union, the League of Arab States and the European Union.
"This is a hopeful moment but also there are risks ahead. Now is the time for all Libyans to focus on national unity, reconciliation and inclusiveness," he said.
[Updated at 11:21 a.m. ET, 5:21 p.m. in Libya] Pentagon Spokesman Col. David Lapan says they believe leader Moammar Ghadafi is still in Libya.
"We do not have information he left the country," Lapan said.
[Updated at 11:21 a.m. ET, 5:21 p.m. in Libya] The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court spoke with authorities from the rebels' National Transitional Council Monday, the court said in a statement.
The council "explained the efforts to stabilize the situation in Tripoli," the statement said.
Future conversations with Libyan authorities will determine how cases will proceed against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi, the court said. The court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, issued arrest warrants for the men earlier this summer.
[Updated at 11:17 a.m. ET, 5:17 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Ivan Watson (@IvanCNN) tweets: Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu's office confirmed his plans to fly to Benghazi for meetings with TNC leadership Tuesday. #Libya #Turkey
[Updated at 11:08 a.m. ET, 5:08 p.m. in Libya] Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the chair of Libya's transitional council, said he does not know where Moammar Gadhafi is but that they hope to find him alive and bring him to trial.
"I have no idea how he will defend himself against these crimes that he committed against the Libyan people and the world," he said. "The real moment of victory is when Ghadafi is captured."
A former Gadhafi interpreter told CNN that based on the nine years that he worked with the Libyan leader he expects him to fight until the end.
"I know he is not going to surrender," Abubaker Saad told CNN. " He is not the type to surrender."
[Updated at 11:01 a.m. ET, 5:01 p.m. in Libya] A Russian official urged NATO countries and forces on both sides battling in Libya Monday to follow international law and avoid harming civilians and infrastructure.
"We hope that restraining signals will be sent both to supporters of Moammar Gadhafi and the opposition forces by the states and international organizations that have influence over them," said Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ombudsman for human rights, democracy and rule of law.
[Updated at 10:52 a.m. ET, 4:52 p.m. in Libya] Egypt has recognized the National Transitional Council as the only political representative of the Libyan people, the state-owned MENA news agency of Egypt reported, citing a statement from Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel.
[Updated at 10:43 a.m. ET, 4:43 p.m. in Libya] Libyan rebels said Monday that they had taken control of the country's state television network. Rebel TV reported that rebels had taken control of the station. The Libyan state network was broadcasting a black screen.
[Updated at 10:25 a.m. ET, 4:25 p.m. in Libya] A senior State Department official tells CNN that, up until the last minutes before the rebel offensive on Tripoli began, senior Libyan officials close to Moammar Gadhafi were trying to reach out to the U.S. in a desperate attempt to stop the “inevitable.”
In a telephone interview from Cairo Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said that, until Saturday night, six officials with whom the U.S. had previous contact were still trying to reach out to the Obama administration but were taking a “defiant” approach, saying they were ready to negotiate but it would not be about Gadhafi leaving.
“It hinted to us that there’s a sense of desperation,” Feltman, who leads State Department efforts on Libya and who was in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi over the weekend, said, “that they’re trying all channels to reach us, that the balance was tipping on behalf of the rebels or why would these people be so desperate to find us?”
“I think they were looking for a way to find a lifeline, buy time, to prevent what was then becoming inevitable, which was the uprising in Tripoli,” he said.
[Updated at 10:13 a.m. ET, 4:13 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Sara Sidner described the scene just outside the capital as rebels regroup before heading back into Tripoli: Rebels are on the outskirts of the capital and there are a lot of men walking around with guns and ammunition. There are pickup trucks with guns welded into them that continue to pour into the area.
"They’re all gathering to do something … we don’t know when its going to happen," Sidner said. "We expect they are going to try to go into the city and do a street-by-street sweep."
Sidner said there is a continuous stream of rebels continuing to come in from the west of the city. She added that rebels know coordination is key during this stage of the battle for Libya.
"A lot of these people don’t know each other," she said, noting many are just regular people. " They want to fight against the regime, but they have to do it in a coordinated way."
She added it was unclear where the coordination was coming from but there was clearly some kind of instructions being handed down.
As the battle rages on CNN's Nic Robertson and Paul Armstrong take a look at whether it is too early to celebrate a rebel triumph.
[Updated at 9:29 a.m. ET, 3:29 p.m. in Libya] Libyan rebels say they have detained a Libyan state television anchor who brandished a weapon on air and pledged to fight for Moammar Gadhafi.
Over the weekend, anchor Hala Misrati grabbed a handgun from the top of the anchor desk as news reports said that rebels were advancing toward the Libyan capital of Tripoli. She warned rebels trying to oust Gadhafi that staffers at government-run al-Libiyah would become martyrs if they had to.
[Updated at 9:24 a.m. ET, 3:24 p.m. in Libya] Rebel commanders told CNN's Sara Sidner they are working on a systematic and coordinated push to make sure they have control of the entire capital of Tripoli.
Sidner said that in Tripoli she is not seeing large number of pro-Gadhafi troops.
"Everyone was expecting thousands of members of Gadhafi's army to fortify where the stronghold and compound is," Sidner said.
Sidner said one rebel told her they were surprised to have not seen large tanks. People are wondering where the thousands of expected troops supporting Gadhafi are, or whether the "last stand" argument by Gadhafi was just an attempt to scare rebels.
[Updated at 9:19 a.m. ET, 3:19 p.m. in Libya] "The latest dramatic development of the Libyan conflict apparently shows that the power in this country will be handed over to the rebel forces very soon. We hope that this will put an end to the protracted intra-Libyan bloodshed, which brought so many woes and so much suffering to this country's population and caused serious damage to the national economy," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
[Updated at 9:12 a.m. ET, 3:12 p.m. in Libya] Rebels do not know whether Moammar Gadhafi is inside Libya, the head of the rebels' National Transitional Council said Monday.
"The real moment of victory is when Gadhafi is captured," Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the council's chairman, said.
[Updated at 9:09 a.m. ET, 3:09 p.m. in Libya] U.S. and NATO officials say they remain concerned that forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli still might be able to stage a last ditch attack aimed at Libyan civilians.
“If there is a last ditch effort we want to protect civilians,” said a senior NATO official speaking on condition of anonymity because of sensitive intelligence matters.
The official said NATO is watching closely for any sign of a massing of Libyan government forces, or moving of weapons such as rockets or artillery. Striking such targets in the heavily populated areas of Tripoli could be a difficult problem because rebel forces, civilians and loyalists are mixed in among the entire population, he said.
[Updated at 8:54 a.m. ET, 2:54 p.m. in Libya] The U.S. was able to spearhead the imminent collapse of Moammar Gaddfi's regime in Libya on the cheap, writes Mark Thompson on TIME.com, using NATO to handle most of the war-fighting burden. And NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen thinks the Libyan operation could act as a blueprint for a less U.S.-centric way of waging war. Read the TIME blog.
[Updated at 8:49a.m. ET, 2:49p.m. in Libya] CNN's Matthew Chance tweets from Libya: @mchancecnn: Power cut in #Rixos !! If generator goes here, we will be cut off from outside world
[Updated at 8:21 a.m. ET, 2:21 p.m. in Libya] Oil prices were mixed Monday as Moammar Gadhafi's regime appeared to be closer to tottering on the brink of defeat.
Brent oil, which is tied to the European market, dropped 1% to $107.55 a barrel, while U.S. crude prices rose more than 1% to $83.46 a barrel.
The disparity between the two prices is due to the fact that Brent will feel the more immediate impact from Libyan oil coming back online, whereas U.S. prices are more insulated. CNNMoney reports.
[Updated at 8:20 a.m. ET, 2:20 p.m. in Libya] The International Organization for Migration sent a boat to Tripoli Monday to evacuate stranded migrants in the Libyan capital. The boat, which can carry 300 people, left the Libyan city of Benghazi Monday morning, the organization said in a statement. It is scheduled to arrive in Tripoli Tuesday, the organization said.
[Updated at 8:10 a.m. ET, 2:10 p.m. in Libya] French President Nicolas Sarkozy sharply criticized Moammar Gadhafi Monday, saying the Libyan leader's calls to continue fighting were "desperate and irresponsible."
"While the developments of the military situation on the ground and the many defections taking place in (Gadhafi's) camp confirm that the end of Gadhafi and his regime is now inevitable and near, the president condemns in the strongest terms the desperate and irresponsible calls of Colonel Gadhafi to continue fighting at all costs," Sarkozy's office said in a statement.
[Updated at 8:03 a.m. ET, 2:03 p.m. in Libya] Rebels on Monday afternoon pulled back from an area near Green Square - which rebels are renaming Martyrs' Square - to coordinate some sort of offensive in the city, although it was not immediately clear what they were planning.
Gadhafi's regime remained in control of at least three sites in the city - a hospital, a military barracks and the Rixos hotel, where international journalists are staying, said Guma El-Gamaty, the Britain-based coordinator for the rebels' Transitional National Council.
[Updated at 7:56 a.m. ET, 1:56 p.m. in Libya] The Libyan Embassy in Damascus, Syria, declared Monday that it was siding with the rebels' Transitional National Council government.
"What is happening in Libya today is the re-writing of the history of this country all over again through a revolution that has been baptized by the blood of its youth, and history will not forgive those who do not participate or support this great event that will not be repeated in Libya's modern history," the ambassador and staff of the embassy said in a statement.
[Updated at 7:43 a.m. ET, 1:43 p.m. in Libya] Rebel forces half a mile from Tripoli's Green Square began pulling back Monday after facing heavy resistance in the Libyan capital from troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.
[Updated at 7:26 a.m. ET, 1:26 p.m. in Libya] Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told Italy's Radio Rai radio Monday morning that Moammar Gadhafi's forces controlled only 10% to 15% of the capital city of Tripoli.
"The rest is in the hands of the rebels," he said.
[Updated at 7:15 a.m. ET, 1:15 p.m. in Libya] Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday that Britain will "soon release" frozen Libyan assets to help support the rebel government.
"At the UN, we will ... be taking early action in the Security Council to give the new Libyan authorities the legal, diplomatic, political and financial support they need," Cameron said. "We will soon be able to release the frozen assets that belong to the Libyan people."
[Updated at 7:12 a.m. ET, 1:12 p.m. in Libya] Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi must surrender, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Monday.
"Time is up. There are no alternatives to his surrender. If Gadhafi keeps calling for a civil war, he will be considered the only one responsible for the bloodbath," Frattini said in an interview with Italian news channel Sky Tg24.
[Updated at 6:22 a.m. ET, 12:22 p.m. in Libya] British Prime Minister David Cameron says the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is falling apart and in full retreat.
[Updated at 6:12 a.m. ET, 12:12 p.m. in Libya] Mahmoud Jibril, the head of Libya's Transitional National Council, is expected to travel to Paris in the coming days to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, France's minister of foreign and European affairs, Alain Juppe, said Monday.
The anticipated visit follows a scheduled telephone conversation between the two men on Monday, Juppe said.
[Updated at 6:06 a.m. ET, 12:06 p.m. in Libya] Rebel fighters are clashing with forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi near the Rixos Hotel, one of the remaining Gadhafi strongholds in Tripoli, according to a report Monday by CNN's Matthew Chance, who is at the hotel.
The hotel, where CNN and other international journalists have been staying, is near Gadhafi's compound where fierce fighting is also raging between rebels and Gadhafi's forces, Chance said.
[Updated at 6:03 a.m. ET, 12:03 p.m. in Libya] Since NATO began operations in Libya on March 31, it has conducted a total of 19,877 sorties, including 7,505 strike sorties. NATO is operating under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force to protect Libyan civilians.
[Updated at 5:48 a.m. ET, 11:48 a.m. in Libya] A rebel field commander told CNN Monday that fighters from Libya's western mountains were deployed to the country's northern coastal road, the main thoroughfare to Tunisia, to cut off the last of Moammar Gadhafi's forces in the region.
[Updated at 5:43 a.m. ET, 11:43 a.m. in Libya] South Africa's foreign affairs minister, Maite Nkoana Mashabane, told CNN Monday that there are no plans to send planes to Libya to evacuate Moammar Gadhafi or his family.
"I'm actually amazed that there is even an insinuation that we are facilitating the exit of anyone because I know for sure that there was never ever such a request," Mashabane later told reporters. "So we are amazed that there is this insistence that we will be evacuating people out of the country."
Mashabane said the position of South Africa and the African Union with regard to Libya has been clear.
"We have been saying consistently as the AU the solutions of the political problems of Libya should be made by Libyans themselves," Mashabane said.
But in a possible indication that the fight is not over, celebrations in Tripoli's Green Square gave way to tension Monday morning after rebels told CNN that they'd heard Gadhafi army forces were heading their way. CNN could not confirm any movement of Gadhafi forces.
Here are some of the latest developments of the fighting in Tripoli, the latest installment of battles in a months-long uprising in Libya.
[Updated at 12:34 p.m. ET, 6:34 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Matthew Chance is reporting that ferocious fighting has broken out near the Rixos Hotel where journalists are staying in Tripoli. Chance described hearing heavy explosions and artillery shelling.
"It is ongoing and it's not just a firefight, we're talking about heavy explosions," he said. "This is a huge, all-out battle for control."
Chance said the situation has gotten even more difficult for journalists as the generators are out of fuel and electricity is out at the hotel.
He said the symbolic nature of the hotel as well as the proximity to Gadhafi's compound is likely why the fighting is happening in that area specifically.
“While there are pockets of rebel control, this is one pocket which remains firmly in the hands of the Gadhafi loyalists," Chance said.
He tweeted: (@MChanceCNN) "All electricity down, running low on food and water. Sitting at #Rixos in the dark as bullets fly outside."
He added, "Mood in Rixos much darker than before. Everyone really worried about what's going to happen to us."
[Updated at 12:24 p.m. ET, 6:24 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Matthew Chance reports there is intense fighting and gunfire near the Rixos Hotel where he and other international reporters are staying in Tripoli.
[Updated at 12:14 p.m. ET, 6:14 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Atika Shubert tweets about French President Nicolas Sarkozy's latest message to Libya's Gadhafi: @atika_cnn: Sarkozy's office urges Gadhafi troops to lay down arms and stop following the "criminal blindness" of their leader.#Libya
[Updated at 11:26 a.m. ET, 5:26 p.m. in Libya] United Nations officials have unsuccessfully tried to reach Moammar Gadhafi, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters Monday.
"We've been trying to get in touch with him, and I also myself tried to speak with him recently, but as you may expect and understand ... it has not been possible," Ban said, adding that he did not know Gadhafi's whereabouts.
The U.N. chief described events in Tripoli as "testimony to the courage and determination of the Libyan people to seek a free and democratic future."
"It is crucial now for the conflict to end with no further loss of life," he added.
Ban said he plans to hold an urgent high-level meeting this week to discuss the situation with several regional organizations, including the African Union, the League of Arab States and the European Union.
"This is a hopeful moment but also there are risks ahead. Now is the time for all Libyans to focus on national unity, reconciliation and inclusiveness," he said.
[Updated at 11:21 a.m. ET, 5:21 p.m. in Libya] Pentagon Spokesman Col. David Lapan says they believe leader Moammar Ghadafi is still in Libya.
"We do not have information he left the country," Lapan said.
[Updated at 11:21 a.m. ET, 5:21 p.m. in Libya] The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court spoke with authorities from the rebels' National Transitional Council Monday, the court said in a statement.
The council "explained the efforts to stabilize the situation in Tripoli," the statement said.
Future conversations with Libyan authorities will determine how cases will proceed against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi, the court said. The court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, issued arrest warrants for the men earlier this summer.
[Updated at 11:17 a.m. ET, 5:17 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Ivan Watson (@IvanCNN) tweets: Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu's office confirmed his plans to fly to Benghazi for meetings with TNC leadership Tuesday. #Libya #Turkey
[Updated at 11:08 a.m. ET, 5:08 p.m. in Libya] Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the chair of Libya's transitional council, said he does not know where Moammar Gadhafi is but that they hope to find him alive and bring him to trial.
"I have no idea how he will defend himself against these crimes that he committed against the Libyan people and the world," he said. "The real moment of victory is when Ghadafi is captured."
A former Gadhafi interpreter told CNN that based on the nine years that he worked with the Libyan leader he expects him to fight until the end.
"I know he is not going to surrender," Abubaker Saad told CNN. " He is not the type to surrender."
[Updated at 11:01 a.m. ET, 5:01 p.m. in Libya] A Russian official urged NATO countries and forces on both sides battling in Libya Monday to follow international law and avoid harming civilians and infrastructure.
"We hope that restraining signals will be sent both to supporters of Moammar Gadhafi and the opposition forces by the states and international organizations that have influence over them," said Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ombudsman for human rights, democracy and rule of law.
[Updated at 10:52 a.m. ET, 4:52 p.m. in Libya] Egypt has recognized the National Transitional Council as the only political representative of the Libyan people, the state-owned MENA news agency of Egypt reported, citing a statement from Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel.
[Updated at 10:43 a.m. ET, 4:43 p.m. in Libya] Libyan rebels said Monday that they had taken control of the country's state television network. Rebel TV reported that rebels had taken control of the station. The Libyan state network was broadcasting a black screen.
[Updated at 10:25 a.m. ET, 4:25 p.m. in Libya] A senior State Department official tells CNN that, up until the last minutes before the rebel offensive on Tripoli began, senior Libyan officials close to Moammar Gadhafi were trying to reach out to the U.S. in a desperate attempt to stop the “inevitable.”
In a telephone interview from Cairo Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said that, until Saturday night, six officials with whom the U.S. had previous contact were still trying to reach out to the Obama administration but were taking a “defiant” approach, saying they were ready to negotiate but it would not be about Gadhafi leaving.
“It hinted to us that there’s a sense of desperation,” Feltman, who leads State Department efforts on Libya and who was in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi over the weekend, said, “that they’re trying all channels to reach us, that the balance was tipping on behalf of the rebels or why would these people be so desperate to find us?”
“I think they were looking for a way to find a lifeline, buy time, to prevent what was then becoming inevitable, which was the uprising in Tripoli,” he said.
[Updated at 10:13 a.m. ET, 4:13 p.m. in Libya] CNN's Sara Sidner described the scene just outside the capital as rebels regroup before heading back into Tripoli: Rebels are on the outskirts of the capital and there are a lot of men walking around with guns and ammunition. There are pickup trucks with guns welded into them that continue to pour into the area.
"They’re all gathering to do something … we don’t know when its going to happen," Sidner said. "We expect they are going to try to go into the city and do a street-by-street sweep."
Sidner said there is a continuous stream of rebels continuing to come in from the west of the city. She added that rebels know coordination is key during this stage of the battle for Libya.
"A lot of these people don’t know each other," she said, noting many are just regular people. " They want to fight against the regime, but they have to do it in a coordinated way."
She added it was unclear where the coordination was coming from but there was clearly some kind of instructions being handed down.
As the battle rages on CNN's Nic Robertson and Paul Armstrong take a look at whether it is too early to celebrate a rebel triumph.
[Updated at 9:29 a.m. ET, 3:29 p.m. in Libya] Libyan rebels say they have detained a Libyan state television anchor who brandished a weapon on air and pledged to fight for Moammar Gadhafi.
Over the weekend, anchor Hala Misrati grabbed a handgun from the top of the anchor desk as news reports said that rebels were advancing toward the Libyan capital of Tripoli. She warned rebels trying to oust Gadhafi that staffers at government-run al-Libiyah would become martyrs if they had to.
[Updated at 9:24 a.m. ET, 3:24 p.m. in Libya] Rebel commanders told CNN's Sara Sidner they are working on a systematic and coordinated push to make sure they have control of the entire capital of Tripoli.
Sidner said that in Tripoli she is not seeing large number of pro-Gadhafi troops.
"Everyone was expecting thousands of members of Gadhafi's army to fortify where the stronghold and compound is," Sidner said.
Sidner said one rebel told her they were surprised to have not seen large tanks. People are wondering where the thousands of expected troops supporting Gadhafi are, or whether the "last stand" argument by Gadhafi was just an attempt to scare rebels.
[Updated at 9:19 a.m. ET, 3:19 p.m. in Libya] "The latest dramatic development of the Libyan conflict apparently shows that the power in this country will be handed over to the rebel forces very soon. We hope that this will put an end to the protracted intra-Libyan bloodshed, which brought so many woes and so much suffering to this country's population and caused serious damage to the national economy," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
[Updated at 9:12 a.m. ET, 3:12 p.m. in Libya] Rebels do not know whether Moammar Gadhafi is inside Libya, the head of the rebels' National Transitional Council said Monday.
"The real moment of victory is when Gadhafi is captured," Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the council's chairman, said.
[Updated at 9:09 a.m. ET, 3:09 p.m. in Libya] U.S. and NATO officials say they remain concerned that forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli still might be able to stage a last ditch attack aimed at Libyan civilians.
“If there is a last ditch effort we want to protect civilians,” said a senior NATO official speaking on condition of anonymity because of sensitive intelligence matters.
The official said NATO is watching closely for any sign of a massing of Libyan government forces, or moving of weapons such as rockets or artillery. Striking such targets in the heavily populated areas of Tripoli could be a difficult problem because rebel forces, civilians and loyalists are mixed in among the entire population, he said.
[Updated at 8:54 a.m. ET, 2:54 p.m. in Libya] The U.S. was able to spearhead the imminent collapse of Moammar Gaddfi's regime in Libya on the cheap, writes Mark Thompson on TIME.com, using NATO to handle most of the war-fighting burden. And NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen thinks the Libyan operation could act as a blueprint for a less U.S.-centric way of waging war. Read the TIME blog.
[Updated at 8:49a.m. ET, 2:49p.m. in Libya] CNN's Matthew Chance tweets from Libya: @mchancecnn: Power cut in #Rixos !! If generator goes here, we will be cut off from outside world
[Updated at 8:21 a.m. ET, 2:21 p.m. in Libya] Oil prices were mixed Monday as Moammar Gadhafi's regime appeared to be closer to tottering on the brink of defeat.
Brent oil, which is tied to the European market, dropped 1% to $107.55 a barrel, while U.S. crude prices rose more than 1% to $83.46 a barrel.
The disparity between the two prices is due to the fact that Brent will feel the more immediate impact from Libyan oil coming back online, whereas U.S. prices are more insulated. CNNMoney reports.
[Updated at 8:20 a.m. ET, 2:20 p.m. in Libya] The International Organization for Migration sent a boat to Tripoli Monday to evacuate stranded migrants in the Libyan capital. The boat, which can carry 300 people, left the Libyan city of Benghazi Monday morning, the organization said in a statement. It is scheduled to arrive in Tripoli Tuesday, the organization said.
[Updated at 8:10 a.m. ET, 2:10 p.m. in Libya] French President Nicolas Sarkozy sharply criticized Moammar Gadhafi Monday, saying the Libyan leader's calls to continue fighting were "desperate and irresponsible."
"While the developments of the military situation on the ground and the many defections taking place in (Gadhafi's) camp confirm that the end of Gadhafi and his regime is now inevitable and near, the president condemns in the strongest terms the desperate and irresponsible calls of Colonel Gadhafi to continue fighting at all costs," Sarkozy's office said in a statement.
[Updated at 8:03 a.m. ET, 2:03 p.m. in Libya] Rebels on Monday afternoon pulled back from an area near Green Square - which rebels are renaming Martyrs' Square - to coordinate some sort of offensive in the city, although it was not immediately clear what they were planning.
Gadhafi's regime remained in control of at least three sites in the city - a hospital, a military barracks and the Rixos hotel, where international journalists are staying, said Guma El-Gamaty, the Britain-based coordinator for the rebels' Transitional National Council.
[Updated at 7:56 a.m. ET, 1:56 p.m. in Libya] The Libyan Embassy in Damascus, Syria, declared Monday that it was siding with the rebels' Transitional National Council government.
"What is happening in Libya today is the re-writing of the history of this country all over again through a revolution that has been baptized by the blood of its youth, and history will not forgive those who do not participate or support this great event that will not be repeated in Libya's modern history," the ambassador and staff of the embassy said in a statement.
[Updated at 7:43 a.m. ET, 1:43 p.m. in Libya] Rebel forces half a mile from Tripoli's Green Square began pulling back Monday after facing heavy resistance in the Libyan capital from troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.
[Updated at 7:26 a.m. ET, 1:26 p.m. in Libya] Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told Italy's Radio Rai radio Monday morning that Moammar Gadhafi's forces controlled only 10% to 15% of the capital city of Tripoli.
"The rest is in the hands of the rebels," he said.
[Updated at 7:15 a.m. ET, 1:15 p.m. in Libya] Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday that Britain will "soon release" frozen Libyan assets to help support the rebel government.
"At the UN, we will ... be taking early action in the Security Council to give the new Libyan authorities the legal, diplomatic, political and financial support they need," Cameron said. "We will soon be able to release the frozen assets that belong to the Libyan people."
[Updated at 7:12 a.m. ET, 1:12 p.m. in Libya] Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi must surrender, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Monday.
"Time is up. There are no alternatives to his surrender. If Gadhafi keeps calling for a civil war, he will be considered the only one responsible for the bloodbath," Frattini said in an interview with Italian news channel Sky Tg24.
[Updated at 6:22 a.m. ET, 12:22 p.m. in Libya] British Prime Minister David Cameron says the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is falling apart and in full retreat.
[Updated at 6:12 a.m. ET, 12:12 p.m. in Libya] Mahmoud Jibril, the head of Libya's Transitional National Council, is expected to travel to Paris in the coming days to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, France's minister of foreign and European affairs, Alain Juppe, said Monday.
The anticipated visit follows a scheduled telephone conversation between the two men on Monday, Juppe said.
[Updated at 6:06 a.m. ET, 12:06 p.m. in Libya] Rebel fighters are clashing with forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi near the Rixos Hotel, one of the remaining Gadhafi strongholds in Tripoli, according to a report Monday by CNN's Matthew Chance, who is at the hotel.
The hotel, where CNN and other international journalists have been staying, is near Gadhafi's compound where fierce fighting is also raging between rebels and Gadhafi's forces, Chance said.
[Updated at 6:03 a.m. ET, 12:03 p.m. in Libya] Since NATO began operations in Libya on March 31, it has conducted a total of 19,877 sorties, including 7,505 strike sorties. NATO is operating under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force to protect Libyan civilians.
[Updated at 5:48 a.m. ET, 11:48 a.m. in Libya] A rebel field commander told CNN Monday that fighters from Libya's western mountains were deployed to the country's northern coastal road, the main thoroughfare to Tunisia, to cut off the last of Moammar Gadhafi's forces in the region.
[Updated at 5:43 a.m. ET, 11:43 a.m. in Libya] South Africa's foreign affairs minister, Maite Nkoana Mashabane, told CNN Monday that there are no plans to send planes to Libya to evacuate Moammar Gadhafi or his family.
"I'm actually amazed that there is even an insinuation that we are facilitating the exit of anyone because I know for sure that there was never ever such a request," Mashabane later told reporters. "So we are amazed that there is this insistence that we will be evacuating people out of the country."
Mashabane said the position of South Africa and the African Union with regard to Libya has been clear.
"We have been saying consistently as the AU the solutions of the political problems of Libya should be made by Libyans themselves," Mashabane said.
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