It looks like Gadaffi has fallen and Tripoli's been overrun by the rebels. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14608807 A convoy of Libyan rebels has rolled into Tripoli past celebrating crowds after a day of heavy fighting in and around the capital. They appeared to meet little resistance and civilians emerged to cheer them, waving flags and firing celebratory shots as they passed in their pick-ups. An Associated Press correspondent said the rebels were 3km (two miles) from the city centre. The rebels say they have captured Col Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam.
I wonder what will happen to the extended Gaddafi clan - the best case would probably be a jail cell with the key forgotten. Will the NTC be able to unite the country in the aftermath?
At least 3 of Gaddafi's (many) sons have surrendered / been captured. Al Jazeera is reporting that 2 South African aircraft are at the major airport's primary tarmarc, and South Africa would be a cozy retirement spot...
Much as it pains me to admit it the people who have been first with the news on this over here has been Sky News and this lass... She was actually travelling with the rebels as they entered the city and was reporting with some kind of mobile satellite video camera. The picture kept breaking up and there was almost constant gunfire, (of celebration she said ), but it was actually very impressive. As you probably know, Sky News is the British bit of News International of Faux News fame. But I agree, AJE's analysis is better.
With Junior gone, I hope Gaddafi sees the writing on the wall and let's it end without more bloodshed.
I thought they were still fighting around Brega; how did the rebels get to Tripoli? There must have been a very rapid collapse in Q's ability to fight.
The Cyrenaican rebels stalemated around Brega against a large part of Gaddafi's army. Another uprising in Misrata was besieged by Gaddafi's army as well. But a 3rd uprising southwest of Tripoli in the Nafusa Mountains has proved decisive, as Gaddafi has not been able to handle the rebels on 3 fronts. NATO airpower has also been a consistent help for the rebels.
Really hope that the Transitional Government can hold this together and keep the momentum going to keep the country intact.
I wonder if it comes back to how some of us thought it would go some months back... that he'd fight to the last drop of someone ELSE'S blood and when he ran out of them it would fall apart quite quickly. I suspect there will still be pockets of military resistance in different parts of the country but it's what happen next that's the more important, (and maybe more difficult), bit.
I seriously doubt there is going to be much military resistance, UNLESS, the transitional government starts having internal divisions and bickering what is now the rebel army splits apart and start fighting each other. That's the only way to give any Qaddafi supporters a chance to keep fighting.
What could be worrying is how the tribal factors inside Libya plan out, lets hope there isn't a nasty civil war to follow.
CNN and Al-Jazeera are nice, but the coverage on RT ("Russia Today") is priceless right now. A taste: http://rt.com/news/rebels-attack-tripoli-misinformation-795/
In other news, the director of EVERYTHING YOU DO IS WRONG, has released a statement that says, "everything you are doing is wrong."