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Rebels say up to 85 per cent of Tripoli is under their control, except for Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound. They also claim to have taken control of the state TV building.

Libyan rebels have captured a major base defending Muammar Gaddafi's stronghold of Tripoli, the Associated Press reported. A reporter with the rebels saw them take over the base of the Khamis Brigade, 16 miles west of the capital on Sunday.

About ten British citizens together with other foreigners are due to leave Tripoli today on a motorboat specially sent by the Maltese government, reports Agence France-Presse.

Reports of tracer bullets and explosions over the Libyan capital have sparked rumors of the imminent defeat of Colonel Gaddafi and his regime. However, it transpired that most of these shots were fired by victorious Gaddafi loyalists.

The areas of Libya under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi?s control have shrunk significantly, and his regime is under tightening pressure as rebels have fought their way toward Tripoli from the west, east and south, with NATO?s support from the north.

Libya's interior minister has reportedly left the country and travelled to Cairo. Reports also suggest Libyan rebels have taken control of parts of the strategic city of Zawiya, just fifty kilometers west of Gaddaffi's Tripoli stronghold.

The Libyan government has denied rebel reports that Muammar Gaddafi?s youngest son Khamis was killed in a NATO strike on the western town of Zlitan on Friday. It is the second time Khamis has been mistakenly reported dead.

Rebels say up to 85 per cent of Tripoli is under their control, except for Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound. They also claim to have taken control of the state TV building.Eyewitnesses are tweeting that an ?Independence? flag has been raised on Abdel Ghani mosque.

Some estimates put the death toll from this weekend alone at more than 1,300 people, with around 5,000 injured.Two of Gaddafi's sons have reportedly been captured by the rebels. According to the Libyan leader?s spokesman, Gaddafi is prepared to negotiate directly with the head of the rebel transitional council, but says the rebels are not ready to listen.The International Criminal Court says it can confirm that Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam has been arrested.Earlier on Sunday Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan leader?s son and a well-known face in the West, has been captured, the head of Libyan rebel national transitional council told the Al Jazeera television network.Afterward came reports of Saadi Gaddafi being captured in Tripoli.Mohammed Gaddafi has surrendered to the rebels and his movements are being controlled.

A rebel sprays graffiti depicting Col. Muammar Gaddafi on a wall in Gadayem, west of the capital Tripoli, on August 21, 2011 (AFP Photo / Filippo Monteforte)

Earlier, Gaddafi said he will stay in Tripoli "until the end" and called on his supporters around the country to help liberate the capital from a rebel offensive, Reuters quoted the Libya strongman as saying, citing state television. In a broadcasted audio message, Gaddafi said he was "afraid that Tripoli will burn" and that he would provide weapons to supporters to fight off the rebels.The country's major military base is now thought to be in rebel hands, strengthening their chances of outright victory. It is also believed that after major clashes the rebels captured Tripoli?s Mitiga airbase. Opposition forces also claim to have freed prisoners locked up during the uprising against Gaddafi's regime.­US declares Gaddafi?s rule is coming to an endNATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has released a statement on the situation in Tripoli ? saying the Libyan people should be spared further bloodshed.A key player in the military campaign against the Libyan regime, Washington, claimed the rule of Muammar Gaddafi is coming to an end. The US is reported to be in close contact with rebel leaders and is monitoring the situation on the ground.?If Gaddafi cared about the welfare of the Libyan people, he would step down now," the US State Department declared on Sunday night.

The State Department encouraged the National Transitional Council, the rebels? provisional body, to start planning for a ?post-Gaddafi Libya.?The UK government has called on Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to step down to save his people from further suffering.?It is clear from the scenes we are witnessing in Tripoli that the end is near for Gaddafi,? read a statement from Downing Street. ?He has committed appalling crimes against the people of Libya and he must go now to avoid any further suffering for his own people.?Earlier on Friday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the newly appointed Libyan charge d?affaires to Downing Street, where he underlined his ?optimism? for Libya?s democratic future.Meanwhile, President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his full support for the rebels battling Muammar Gaddafi's troops in and around the Libyan capital.

People in Tajura, a suburb of Tripoli, celebrating in the early morning on August 22, 2011 after Libyan rebels surged into Tripoli (AFP Photo / Mahmud Turkia)The UK government has called on Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to step down to save his people from further suffering.?It is clear from the scenes we are witnessing in Tripoli that the end is near for Gaddafi,? read a statement from Downing Street. ?He has committed appalling crimes against the people of Libya and he must go now to avoid any further suffering for his own people.?Earlier on Friday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the newly appointed Libyan charge d?affaires to Downing Street, where he underlined his ?optimism? for Libya?s democratic future.Meanwhile, President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his full support for the rebels battling Muammar Gaddafi's troops in and around the Libyan capital.

"At the moment when decisive events are taking place in the Tripoli region, in Tripoli itself, and elsewhere in Libya, the president salutes the courage of the rebel fighters and of the Libyan people who are rising up,"Sarkozy's office stated on Sunday night, as quoted by the Reuters news agency. Sarkozy reiterated that France is backing the National Transitional Council, the ?legitimate Libyan authorities.? He also called on Gaddafi to immediately give up power and order his forces to cease fire.?I feel that my life is in danger right now?Journalist Mahdi Nazemroaya is in the central Tripoli hotel where much of the international press has been housed. He told RT the situation on the ground is very dangerous, and that the hotel is surrounded by rebel gunmen.

Nazemroaya said that children are defending Gaddafi against NATO's onslaught, and that the rebel forces have no respect for the international media.

?This war is not about Colonel Gaddafi, Colonel Gaddafi is just a pretext for this war,? he claimed. ?This war has [everything] to do with stealing money from the Libyan people. There is shock, there is fear, there is denial, and then there is resistance. And many of [the defenders of Tripoli] are children. It hurts me to say this, but I?ve seen young men picking up guns to defend this country.?According to Nazemroaya, international journalists are being targeted by the rebels and the NATO forces that support them.?They are specifically targeting the areas where international journalists are, to sow panic here,? he argued. ?NATO has done all the heavy work. This is a NATO war. They heavily bombed cities west of [Tripoli], they?ve bombed all night, without even 10 seconds of stopping. They have bombed this entire city and NATO landed the insurgents on the coast of Tripoli.? ?They have no respect for the international press,? Nazemroaya declared. ?I was putting up a sign on top of the hotel ? I took the initiative to do that and write "Press" [on the sign] ? and a sniper shot at me.?Nazemroaya also says that an unconfirmed source told him that people are gathering on Green Square in the center of the capital and are ready to defend their city.?They?ve got arms and they are ready to fight,? he said. Independent journalist Lizzie Phelan, speaking from Tripoli, described the situation in the Libyan capital as ?grave and crucial.? ?Here in Tripoli, NATO bombs, as [Gaddafi?s regime spokesman] Ibrahim Moussa has said, ?anything that moves,?? Phelan told RT. ?The time is well overdue for a cease-fire and negotiations.?

?In fact, the same thing happened in Yugoslavia and in Eastern Europe,? he said, ?There will be a massive privatization taking place, the public economy that the Gaddafi government had built over 40 years, which included public subsidies for housing, for education, for healthcare ? all those things will be privatized. The oil fields will be handed over to private companies for private profit.?

Libyan rebels have captured a major base defending Muammar Gaddafi's stronghold of Tripoli, the Associated Press reported. A reporter with the rebels saw them take over the base of the Khamis Brigade, 16 miles west of the capital on Sunday.

Hamas insist they have agreed to respect the ceasefire with Israel and say the series of rockets fired into southern Israel overnight were launched by splinter groups in breach of the truce mediated by Egypt at the weekend.

Is it coincidence that all these dictators around the world are armed by Russia?I remenber many years ago when I was with UN in middle east that the Sinai desert was full of knocked out Russian T 54 /55.Is it Russian policy to arm trouble makers ?

SHAME TO NATO SHAME TO US. They do not spread democracy, they colonize in a modern way, do not care about civilians :( I do not trust UN anymore :

God bless all that supported the rebels. To the Russian and Chinese devils may God forgive you for being so short sighted to a brutal regime. Oil is your game no matter what the cost and you lost.

Oil is NATO?s game as well. It is why the civil war was prolonged, resulting in unnecessary civilian deaths. It is why NATO forces have acted as the rebels? air force, grossly exceeding the terms of the UN resolution (as expected). It is why NATO intervened to enforce a no-fly zone supposedly to protect civilians while actually killing civilians. Despite legitimate grievances among Libyans, their uprising will be (and, to an extent, has already been) co-opted to serve Western corporate interests. Why do you think the US intervened in Libya but silently backed Mubarak and Ben Ali until the end? Why do you think NATO did nothing when Saudi forces were sent to crush protests in Bahrain?