Rebels racing to Tripoli while Gaddafi warns city will burn

as 376 people on both sides and injured about 1,000.

Opponents of Col Gaddafi inside the capital rose up late on Saturday as rebels advanced from the east and west.

By last night, reports suggested the rebels had pushed to the western outskirts of Tripoli without meeting any resistance after they overran a major military base defending the capital.

Eyewitnesses said rebels had reached the Tripoli suburb of Janzour around nightfall last night and were greeted by civilians lining the streets and waving rebel flags.

Inside Tripoli, there was a second day of clashes between what the opposition called “sleeping cells” of rebels who are rising up against the regime and Col Gaddafi loyalists. The tide of the six-month-old civil war appeared to be turning quickly against the man who has led the country for more than four decades.

After capturing the Khamis Brigade, Ahmed al-Ajdal, 27, a fighter from Tripoli, was loading up a truck with ammunition taken from the base.

“This is the wealth of the Libyan people that Gaddafi was using against us,” he said, pointing to his haul. “Now we will use it against him and any other dictator who goes against the Libyan people.”

Last night more heavy machine gun fire and explosions rang out across the city following gun battles after rebels launched a first attack on Tripoli on Saturday night in a co-ordinated attack with Nato.

Residents reported clashes in neighbourhoods all over Tripoli as well as the city’s Mitiga military airport.

Mukhtar Lahab, a rebel commander closing in on Tripoli and a former captain in Col Gaddafi’s army, said his relatives inside the capital reported mass protests in four neighbourhoods 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.

At the same time, hundreds of rebels in pick-up trucks and some on foot were moving full speed toward the capital from the west.

Rebel Murad Dabdoub said that Col 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.

But Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told a news conference in Tripoli: “There are thousands and thousands of soldiers who are willing to defend the city”, warning of “disaster” if the regime fell.

He also said: “Every drop of Libyan blood shed by the rebels is the responsibility of the Western world”

At the same time, he urged the rebels to open talks. “If you want peace, we are ready,” he said.

Mr Ibrahim also accused Nato of “opening the roads ahead of the rebels who are too weak to do anything themselves”.

However, Nato spokesman Col Roland Lavoie said the alliance was involved only in protecting Libyan civilians.

Meanwhile a former deputy of Col Gaddafi called for the people of Tripoli to depose Libya’s long-time ruler.

Abdel Salam Jalloud was among three members of the Libyan regime to defect to the rebels last week.

He said: “The people of Tripoli, who account for more than a quarter of Libya’s population, rise up as one man, women, men, children and the elderly.

The White House said President Barack Obama was briefed yesterday morning on developments by counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan and heard reports from US teams on the ground in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Defence secretary Leon Panetta also received an update on the rapidly unfolding situation.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the US will remain in close contact with its allies and Libyan rebel leaders. Mr Brennan is with the president on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

US officials have said they believe Col Gaddafi’s days in power are numbered, and they are poised to assist the opposition as the country moves toward democracy.

Last night, Germany and France urged Col Gaddafi to step down immediately as rebels advanced on Tripoli. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it would be “good if he would give up as quickly as possible” to avoid further bloodshed.

Germany has not participated in Nato airstrikes in Libya but recognised the rebels’ National Transitional Council in June as Libya’s legitimate representative.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Col Gaddafi to “spare his people further useless suffering” by stepping down immediately.

And he underscored France’s “full support to complete the liberation of their country from oppression and dictatorship”.

He said the outcome of the six-month-long conflict “is no longer in doubt” and called on Col Gaddafi to order regime loyalists to put down their arms to prevent further bloodshed.