'Sleeping cells' attack Tripoli
Rebels clashed with regime loyalists and staged large anti-government protests around Tripoli today.
Heavy machine gun fire and explosions rang out across the capital on the second day of attacks by what the opposition called "sleeping cells" inside the city that has been Muammar Gaddafi's stronghold throughout the six-month-old civil war.
At the same time, hundreds of rebel forces were rapidly closing in on Tripoli, advancing to within 15 miles west of the capital and rushing forward at full speed in pick-up trucks and on foot.
"We are scared and staying in our houses, but the younger boys are going out to protect our homes," said a woman from the pro-rebel Tripoli neighbourhood of Bin Ashour.
Nuri al-Zawi, another resident of Bin Ashour, said the rebels were using light arms to protect their streets.
"We are used to this situation now. We are a city that is cut off from the world now," he said.
Libyan rebels yesterday announced they had launched their first attack on Tripoli in co-ordination with Nato and gunbattles and mortar rounds rocked the city. Nato aircraft also made heavier-than-usual bombing runs after nightfall, with loud explosions booming across the city.
The residents reported clashes in neighbourhoods all over Tripoli as well as the city's Mitiga military airport. They said they heard loud explosions and exchanges in of gunfire in the Fashloum, Tajoura and Bin Ashour neighbourhoods.
Residents and opposition fighters also reported large anti-regime protests in those same neighbourhoods. In some of them, thousands braved the bullets of snipers perched atop high buildings.
Mukhtar Lahab, a rebel commander closing in on Tripoli and a former captain in Gaddafi's army, said his relatives inside the capital reported mass protests in four neighbourhoods known as sympathetic to the opposition: Fashloum, Souk al-Jouma, Tajoura and Janzour.
He said mosques there were rallying residents with chants of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great," broadcast on loudspeakers.
Hundreds of rebels were also advancing rapidly toward Tripoli from the west and the south.
Those in the west moved beyond the village of Jedaim to within 15 miles of Tripoli, according to an AP reporter with them at the front. He saw hundreds of rebels at the front line streaming toward the capital, some in pickup trucks and others on foot trying to hitch rides.
Rebel Murad Dabdoub said Gaddafi's forces were pounding rebel positions west of the city with rockets, mortars and anti-aircraft fire.
"We are not going back. God willing, this evening we will enter Tripoli," said Issam Wallani, another rebel. He spoke from Jedaim, which has been turned into the staging area for fighters moving toward the capital.
A Tripoli resident said the capital was virtually deserted today, with stores shuttered and no cars or pedestrians out on the streets. Some areas suffered power cuts.
"There are thousands and thousands of soldiers who are willing to defend the city," Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told a news conference in Tripoli. He accused the rebels of committing atrocities in areas under their control and appealed for a ceasefire.
He warned of "disasters" if Gaddafi's regime falls.
Nato said the shifting battle lines and concentration of fighting in towns and villages are making it more difficult to identify and engage targets for airstrikes.
"It's much tougher to do in an urban area," he said. "This requires very precise and deep intelligence to achieve without endangering the civilian population."
In Dubai, Libya's new rebel-allied ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, urged for stepped up Nato air attacks over Tripoli, including the use of helicopter gunships.
"We are asking for more Apache action" to counter Gaddafi forces clashing with rebels, said Aref Ali Nayed, who is also spokesman for a rebel transition team.
The United Arab Emirates is among the Arab states that have strongly backed the rebellion against Gaddafi and could provide critical assistance if the Libyan leader is ousted.
Later Libyan rebels captured a major military base that defends Gaddafi's stronghold of Tripoli.
Rebels took over the base of the Khamis Brigade, 16 miles west of the capital, on Sunday.
Gaddafi's 27-year-old son Khamis commands the 32nd Brigade, also known simply as the Khamis Brigade, one of the best trained and equipped units in the Libyan military.
The rebels were seizing large stores of weapons from the base, driving away with truck loads of new supplies.
Inside the base, hundreds of rebels cheered wildly and danced, raising the rebel flag on the front gate of a large, grey wall enclosing the compound. They seized large stores of weapons from the base, driving away with truckloads of whatever arms they could get their hands on. One of the rebels carried off a tube of grenades, while another carted off mortars.
Ahmed al-Ajdal, 27, a fighter from Tripoli, was loading up a truck with ammunition.
"This is the wealth of the Libyan people that Gaddafi was using against us," he said, pointing to the haul. "Now we will use it against him and any other dictator who goes against the Libyan people."
Inside the large open compound filled with eucalyptus trees were three gigantic wooden crates labelled Libyan Armed Forces. They were loaded with large-calibre ammunition for anti-aircraft guns.
