LIBYAN REBEL forces in Tripoli continued battling last night with government units surrounded in the centre of the city as the regime of Muammar Gadafy clung to power.
There was no sign of the Libyan leader himself as rebels fought street-to-street battles in the streets around his Bab al-Azizia compound.
Also unknown was the fate of journalists in the Rexis hotel nearby, amid reports that loyalist units were using the basement as a communications base and gunmen were surrounding the walls.
US president Barack Obama called for Gadafy to end the bloodshed and surrender, declaring that his 42-year rule was “coming to an end”. Rebel units were pushed back from a section of the the west of the city by mortar and rocket fire in the afternoon, but say they have overrun the state broadcaster.
Elsewhere in Libya, confusion reigned. In rebel-held Misurata cheering crowds filled the streets through the early hours of yesterday morning while, 50 miles away, opposition forces battled with government units on the highway to Tripoli.
By early evening reports on Misurata radio stations claimed rebels had pushed west from the city to reach the outskirts of Tripoli and join multiple rebel assaults on the Gadafy compound.
Pro-Gadafy forces remained in pockets on the highway, and there was no indication of the status of loyalist forces garrisoning towns along the 250-mile highway between Misurata and the contested oil town of Brega.
Rebel forces in Tripoli captured another of Gadafy’s sons, former footballer Sadi, claiming he was caught after trying to slip through an opposition checkpoint disguised in a burqua.
But while Gadafy’s most prominent son, Saif al Gadafy, remains under arrest, another son, Mohammed, captured on Sunday was freed yesterday by armed men.
The Tripoli fighting is centred around what is a huge complex. Bab al-Azizia is both the living quarters for Gadafy, containing his collection of tented bedrooms, and also the base for his presidential guard.
Nato jets have in recent weeks begun systematic bombing of the compound walls, with rebels in the city saying this will aid their attacks.
The western alliance continues to heavy launch air strikes on Tripoli, with Nato bombing returns showing 18 targets destroyed in raids on Sunday.
Amid the fighting there was a moment of poignancy in Misurata when the hospital received two wounded brothers, aged six and three, hit when a government shell exploded in their house in nearby Zlitan.
Doctors at Mujama Aleiadat hospital fought for four hours to save the older brother, who died in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The other brother, Mohammed Halifa, was lying in a cot with both hands and arms heavily bandaged and dressings over a shrapnel wound to the abdomen.
Hospital staff expressed dismay that the shell had been fired on Sunday night, even as it seemed clear that Tripoli had largely fallen to rebel units. “I don’t know what this guy [Gadafy] wants,” said Dr Abdul Rahman.
“What does he want from us? His sons are in prison, what does he think he can do? I don’t know why they [government forces] believe in him.” Rebel units in Misurata were last night on high alert, worried that pro-Gadafy forces anxious to return to their homes further west would mount an assault on the city, through which runs the main east-west highway.
“It’s not over, it’s too soon to celebrate,” said Misuratan rebel fighter Abdullah Maiteeg (24) as he prepared to spend the night on the front line west of the town.
“We need to be ready, we need to check on things.”
And, many rebels across Libya would add, they need to find Col Gadafy.