[An Nahar] Libyan rebels entered the capital on Sunday and were greeted by residents who ran alongside their convoy, an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent said.The welcome followed gunbattles with fighters loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffy
...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years....
On their way into Tripoli from the west, the rebels advanced in a convoy of around 100 vehicles as onlookers fired celebratory gunfire into the air, the correspondent said.
Earlier on Sunday, rebels snuck into Tripoli by sea to launch the first salvos in the fight for the capital.
A regime front man acknowledged a small band of cut-throats had penetrated the capital but insisted that Tripoli was well-defended by "thousands" of troops.
The dawn assault by the advance party, who were joined by Tripoli rebels, marked the start of what the opposition has dubbed "Operation Mermaid" and which it vows will end only when the veteran strongman surrenders or departs.
Rebel front man Abdullah Melitan said the covert operation, more than six months after an uprising turned into civil war, was launched from their western enclave of Misrata, 200 kilometers from Tripoli.
An advance party "from Misrata reached Tripoli this dawn by sea and joined Tripoli rebels. They are now fighting alongside them," front man Abdullah Melitan told Agence La Belle France Presse in Misrata.
A separate rebel party seized control of an army barracks at a western entrance to Tripoli, raiding missiles and other ammunition, AFP correspondents at the scene said.
They also released dozens of prisoners held in Maya, 25 kilometers west of Tripoli, they said.
And the eastern Tripoli suburb of Tajoura also fell to rebels, according to a witness. He said forces loyal to Qadaffy were shelling the suburb since its capture by rebels.
"Between now and tomorrow we expect it (Tripoli) to fall in our hands," said rebel commander Abdel Hakim Belhaj.
Intermittent gunfire crackled in Tripoli shortly after four strong blasts were heard at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) as NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
warplanes flew overhead, an AFP journalist said. This was followed by more gunfire and further blasts.
The targets were not immediately identifiable but witnesses reported festivities in several districts between cut-throats and Qadaffy supporters, especially the eastern suburbs of Soug Jomaa, Arada and Tajoura.
Government front man Moussa Ibrahim said on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
there had been "small festivities" that lasted 30 minutes and the "situation is under control."
Ibrahim later told news hounds "thousands" of professional and volunteer soldiers were defending the capital against rebels, whom he accused of carrying out "34 executions" and raping women in the western coastal town of Sorman.
Qadaffy himself earlier Sunday aired a message urging supporters to "march by the millions" to liberate cities held by "traitors and rats."
"These scum enter mosques to cry 'God is great.' They are dirty. They are defiling the mosques," the embattled strongman said in an audio message carried on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Rebel front man Ahmed Jibril said "Operation Mermaid" was a joint effort between the Benghazi-based rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), cut-throats fighting in and around Tripoli and NATO forces.
In Dubai, rebel envoy Aref Ali Nayad said the National Transitional Council had urged NATO to join the final battle with Apache assault helicopters.
Rebel fighters told an AFP correspondent that they were battling Qadaffy loyalists in the Gadayem forest some 24 kilometers west of Tripoli which they hoped to reach later Sunday.
"We want to go to Tripoli today," one of the fighters, Bassam, said, adding that NATO forces had been attacking the forest all night.
Another rebel, Mohammed, later said: "We have taken the forest."
Fighting was later centered on a strategic bridge, a rebel fighter, Tareq Gazel, told AFP.
"We are fighting the Khamis brigade (named after and headed by Qadaffy's son Khamis) on the bridge 27," he said. "We are fighting for control of the bridge. We have had some injuries but no deaths."
The rebels have been moving from the center of Zawiyah, one of three strategic towns on the road to Tripoli which cut-throats claim to have captured last week. The other two are Brega and Zliten.
In his eastern stronghold of Benghazi, rebel chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil claimed that victory was within reach, six months after the insurgency was launched.
"We have contacts with people from the inner circle of Qadaffy," the chairman of the NTC said. "All evidence (shows) that the end is very near, with God's grace."
His words prompted celebrations in rebel-held towns, including Sabratha, 50 kilometers west of Tripoli, and in Benghazi, where people crowded in front of television sets to follow the news, AFP correspondents said.
"Goodbye Qadaffy," they chanted in the rebel-capital, Benghazi.
The White House, too, predicted Qadaffy's day was nearing the end of the road. "We believe that Qadaffy's days are numbered," said White House front man Josh Earnest.
Another sign of the regime's frailty came as fighters said former premier Abdessalam Jalloud, a popular figure who fell out of favor with the Libyan strongman in the mid-1990s, had defected and joined their ranks.
Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa confirmed the reports.
Jalloud piled the pressure on Qadaffy in statements broadcast Sunday on Al-Jazeera news, calling on his tribe to disown him, saying the "tyrant" Qadaffy will go. "The noose has tightened around him."
Striking another blow to Qadaffy's regime, Tunisia, Libya's neighbor to the west, on Sunday decided to recognize the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, the news agency TAP reported.
A rebel front man in Benghazi, Fathi Baja, said Tunisia's recognition of the NTC was a clear message to Qadaffy that his end was near.
In Warsaw, Polish ministry spokeswoman Paulina Kapuscinska told AFP that the Maltese boat MV Triva 1 which was due to evacuate foreign nationals from Libya was unable to enter the port of Tripoli on Sunday morning.
"It was swept by gunfire and it returned to its anchorage," she said.
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Colonel Muammar Qadaffy