Libyan Rebels Seize Major Tripoli Military Base

Libyan rebels celebrate after gaining positions against regime forces in Zawiya. Reports suggested the fighters had captured the base of the Khamis Brigade, 16 miles west of the capital. It is said to be one of the best trained and equipped units in the Libyan military. Regime forces use machine guns and mortars to confront armed opposition groups in Tripoli, witnesses say. Outside of Tripoli, rebel fighters closed in. They advanced tens of kilometres from Zawiyah, to the west, seizing the town of al-Mayah and putting themselves within several kilometres of the capital's suburbs. Other rebel formations remained further way, stationed to the south, in Gharyan, and to the east, in Zlitan.
Gunfire and explosions were reported near the Bab al-Aziziyah - a sprawling regime command and control compound - and in the Souq al-Jomaa and Abu Sita neighbourhoods. Rebels said some regime troops defending the Mitiga air base in the capital had abandoned their posts, though mass defections were not reported.
Taher, a resident near the Bab al-Aziziyah, told Al Jazeera that men in his neighbourhood, some of whom were armed with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, had begun protesting last night and blocked the roads.
Around 30 to 40 regime security forces responded on Sunday morning with assault rifles and anti-aircraft guns. Some took positions on the rooftops of the nearby Nigerian Embassy and an eye clinic and opened fire, forcing the men to take cover inside the walled compounds of neighbourhood homes. Youssef, another Tripoli resident who lives in the Abu Sita neighbourhood, said regime gunmen had taken positions on the top of the nearby Libyana mobile company building and were firing indiscriminately, as other forces launched mortar rounds. The streets in the area were deserted, he said, as occasional gunfire and booming explosions could be heard in the background. The rebel flag, a tricoloured emblem of the country's first post-colonial days, flew over many buildings in the neighbourhood, he said. "We are waiting for the revolutionaries to come to conquer Tripoli, because we don't have weapons to defend ourselves," he said. "Gaddafi troops are using heavy artillery and heavy weapons, and we don't know what's going to
happen in the next two to three hours."
The fighting inside Tripoli, combined with rebel advances to the outskirts of the city, appeared to signal the decisive phase in a six month conflict that has become the bloodiest of the “Arab Spring” uprisings and embroiled NATO powers. But Mr. Qaddafi’s fall is far from certain. His security forces did not buckle as some rebels had predicted. The uprising appeared to be isolated to a few neighborhoods, and had not spread to the whole city. If the Libyan leader is forced from power, there are question marks over whether the opposition can restore stability in this oil exporting country. The rebels’ own ranks have been wracked by disputes and rivalry. But at daybreak, more than 12 hours after the fighting first broke out, shooting could still be heard in the capital, though it was less heavy and sustained than during the night. A Reuters reporter at a hotel in the city center said she could hear bursts of machine gun fire about every few minutes, and occasional booms from heavy weapons. “Our revolutionaries are controlling several neighborhoods and others are coming in from outside the city to join their brothers at this time,” Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice-chairman of the rebel National Transition Council, told Reuters in the eastern city of Benghazi. Rebel advances outside Libya in the past week tipped the balance of the conflict against Mr. Qaddafi, and their ability to march into the city could now decide the outcome of the battle for Tripoli. “Qaddafi’s chances for a safe exit are diminishing by the hour. The more he stays the narrower his base, and the easier it will be for him to be caught or killed,” Ashour Shamis, UK-based opposition editor and activist, said. “I think he’s not being told the whole picture. (His son) Saif al-Islam is the one who is leading the fight for him.” Mr. Qaddafi’s whereabouts have been kept secret.
The Libyan government has appealed for an immediate ceasefire and an end to Nato's "aggression" as the rebel force approaches the capital Tripoli. Beleaguered Colonel Muammar Qaddafi appealed to the Libyan people on Sunday to march “by the millions” and repel an assault on Tripoli by “rats,” This comes after there has been four loud explosions in Libya's capital, Tripoli, hours after Col Muammar Gaddafi said attackers had been "eliminated" and as rebels advance on three fronts on their key target. Reports tell of four loud explosions in Tripoli on Sunday morning.
“We have to put an end to this masquerade. You must march by the millions to free the destroyed towns" controlled by rebels he labeled as “traitors” and “rats.” “These scums enter mosques to cry ‘God is great.’ They are dirty. They are defiling the mosques,” Colonel Qaddafi said in an audio message broadcast over state television early on Sunday. "I know you are happy and I saw the fireworks in Green Square, I know that there are air strikes but the fireworks were louder than the air bombing."
Before dawn, state television showed Colonel Qaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam addressing what it called a youth conference. A roomful of supporters broke into occasional chants and applause as he declared that the rebels would be defeated. “The revolt in Libya will not succeed. You will never see us as Libyans surrender and raise the white flag: that is impossible. This is our country and we will never leave it.” Saif al-Islam, ruled out any possibility of surrender. "I see ourselves as victorious, I see our position is strong," he said in a speech on state TV. He did, however, urge the rebels to open talks."If you want peace, we are ready," he said.
Earlier, a Tripoli resident said cries of “Allahu Akbar” could be heard from mosques in the city’s eastern sectors. Colonel Qaddafi accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country is helping lead NATO-coordinated air strikes on the strongman's military assets, of recruiting the rebels as “agents” to steal Libya’s vast oil wealth.
“To win the upcoming elections, he wants to be able to say to his people: ‘Here, I'm offering you Libyan oil’ and this is going to be achieved with the help of traitors. “But the Libyan people will not allow France to take its oil or leave Libya to the hands of traitors,” he said.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said rebels had tried to attack Tripoli but had been "dealt with". Ibrahim appeared on state television in the early morning hours in Tripoli's central Green Square, riding in a car and surrounded by tens of supporters. Gaddafi himself never appeared. Ibrahim told reporters the rebels were nothing without Nato and they would never be able to take Libya. He also claimed the people of Tripoli would not rise up and join them. "Tripoli is well protected and we have thousands upon thousands of professional soldiers ready to defend this city against any possible invasion by rebels under the cover of Nato." He added: "What is happening now and what is going to happen is not the power of the rebels.  "It's the power of Nato - a major force for evil that has no heart, using armed gangs to occupy a whole nation."  "Sure, there were some armed militants who escaped into some neighbourhoods and there were some scuffles," Ibrahim said. "But we dealt with it within a half hour and it is now calm." Ibrahim said that pro-regime volunteers had repelled insurgents' attacks in several neighbourhoods. He dismissed mounting speculation that the regime was on the brink, but more gunfire was heard after he spoke on television. Mr Ibrahim's made the comments as the rebels came under sniper fire at the western gate of Tripoli following quick progress along the coast to the capital.
A senior official in the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Sunday that operations in Tripoli were co-ordinated between opponents of Gaddafi in the city and the rebels in the east. "The zero hour has started. The rebels in Tripoli have risen up," said Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice-chairman of the NTC, in the eastern city of Benghazi. "There is co-ordination with the rebels in Tripoli. This was a pre-set plan. They've been preparing for a while. There's co-ordination with the rebels approaching from the east, west and south," he said. Ghoga said NATO warplanes were launching raids to distract Gaddafi's forces. "The next hours are crucial. Many of their (pro-Gaddafi) brigades and their commanders have fled." He added.
Tunisia on Sunday decided to recognise the rebel National Transitional Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, the news agency TAP reported. "The political decision has been taken," a government source confirmed to AFP, as the rebels in Libya pushed their advance and were said to be only 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the capital Tripoli. Since the outbreak of the conflict, Tunisia has observed a prudent neutrality towards the warring sides. As Libya's neighbour, Tunisia has taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting. Many Libyan representatives from both the regime of Moamer Kadhafi and the rebellion have transited Tunisia, where negotiations and informal discussions have been held, notably on the resort island of Djerba.
Fighters from the western city of Zawiyah had pushed forward and taken Jaddaim, less than 20 miles (30km) from Tripoli. Sky News' special correspondent Alex Crawford, who is reporting from nearby village Mayah, said the rebel force consisted of several dozen foot soldiers and an armed convoy. She said they had encountered "very little resistance" as they passed from Jaddaim into Mayah and advanced towards Tripoli. "This is a march on the capital, they are heading for the presidential palace," she said. "They will try to indicate to the Tripoli-based population that they are in charge and, as quick as they can, they need to switch sides. "They want to raise the rebel flag above Gaddafi's presidential palace. "They are very much speaking of today being the end day for Colonel Gaddafi."
Rebel advances on Tripoli have transformed the war since they seized the city of Zawiyah on Tripoli’s Western outskirts a week ago, cutting the capital off from its main road link to the outside world and putting unprecedented pressure on Colonel Qaddafi. Fighting was still raging after midnight around Mitiga airbase in Tripoli’s Tajourah district, an area said to be under rebel control, an opposition activist told a Reuters journalist outside Libya. The gun battles left a number of rebels dead in the suburb of Qadah and elsewhere, along with at least three pro-Qaddafi soldiers in the Zawiyat al-Dahmania district of Tripoli, he said. A Tripoli resident told Reuters that Muslim clerics in parts of Tripoli had called on people to rise up, using the loudspeakers on minarets. The resident said the call went out around the time people were breaking their Ramadan fast. “We can hear shooting in different places,” one resident said. “Most of the regions of the city have gone out, mostly young people ... it’s the uprising... They went out after breaking the (Ramadan) fast.” “They are shouting religious slogans: ‘God is greatest!’” The latest rebel advance on Tripoli came a day after they seized the town of Zliten, which is 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the capital.
On Saturday rebels took Zlitan, 160km (100 miles) east of Tripoli, and Zawiya 30km to the west. A rebel official said the uprising had begun in Tripoli, but the violence appeared to peak late on Saturday night and there is still much support for Colonel Gaddafi in the city, correspondents say. Pro-Gaddafi forces have been fighting back at the oil port of Brega, with the rebels admitting that they had fallen back from the eastern town's industrial zone under heavy bombardment. Clerics 'call to rise up' Four loud explosions were heard in Tripoli on Sunday morning following hours of sustained gunfire in the city. There were reports of protests and gunfire in areas to the north and east of Tripoli, including the Tajoura district, where there was trouble at the start of this uprising against Col Gaddafi, the BBC's Matthew Price reports from the capital. The most intense period of fighting came at around 11pm but the level of gunfire was much reduced by Sunday morning.
Colonel Fadlallah Haroun, a military commander in Benghazi, said the battles marked the beginning of Operation Mermaid Dawn. Tripoli's nickname in Libya is "Bride of the Sea," or mermaid. Haroun told the AP news agency that weapons were assembled and sent by tugboats to Tripoli on Friday night. "The fighters in Tripoli are rising up in two places at the moment - some are in the Tajoura neighbourhood and the other is near the Matiga airport," he told Al-Jazeera. Tajoura has been known since the beginning of the uprising in February as one of the Tripoli neighborhoods most openly opposed to Gaddafi's rule. The Matiga airport is located in the city, while the international airport is located around 30km south. A rebel representative for Tripoli on the NTC told the AP that rebels were surrounding almost every neighbourhood in the capital, and there was especially heavy fighting in Fashloum, Tajoura and Souq al-Jomaa. In Benghazi, thousands of Libyans celebrated in the main city square, shooting fireworks and guns into the air, and waving rebel flags.