The Lede Blog: Battle Begins for the Libyan Capital

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi broadcast a speech to his supporters in Tripoli, characterizing the rebels as “rats” and insisting he had not fled the country, according to media reports. Those waging warfare, he said, are “bent on the destruction of the Libyan people,” according to Reuters. Matthew Chance, a CNN reporter observing the address from his hotel room in the center of Tripoli, reported that Col. el-Qaddafi gave the correct date and time to verify it was not a recording. The leader placed blame for the fighting on the French and said he was beloved by his people. The social media news wire Storyful created a map detailing the areas where fighting has broken out in Tripoli. View Tripoli in a larger map Gunfire and artillery <a href="http://www.trading666.com/others-t1-29.html"><strong>cheap marlboro red cigarettes online </strong></a> explosions echoed through the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Saturday night, as troops rebelling against the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, who has held power for 42 years, moved on the city, according to media reports. A resident of Tripoli told Reuters on Saturday night “We can hear shooting in different places,” said one. “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!” On CNN, Matthew Chance, reporting from a government-controlled hotel in the center of Tripoli, characterized the scene on the streets as “complete mayhem,” but he was unable to determine the nature of the conflict, whether it was part of the rebel advance or had another cause. A video on YouTube purporting to be from the streets in Tripoli emerged late Saturday evening. And on Twitter, journalists embedded in Tripoli reported what they heard. Missy Ryan, a Reuters reporter: According to Reuters,Â* Moussa Ibrahim, a Libya government spokesman, said “all of Tripoli is safe and stable,” on state television. Richard Engle, an NBC correspondent reported a different state of affairs: According to the Guardian <a href="http://www.trading666.com/jeans-Levis-men-jeans-f2-64-c3-103.html"><strong>fashion levis jeans for sale </strong></a> newspaper in London, A caller from Tripoli also told Libya’s Al-Aharar TV channel that anti-Qaddafi locals had closed off the city’s main Alsika Street, close to the French embassy and leading from Tripoli university to the former King’s palace. Government troops in pickup trucks with anti-aircraft guns were trying to enter, he added. Libyan state TV failed to report Saturday night’s dramatic events. It broadcast instead a report of a Ramadan prayer from a Tripoli mosque and old video of Qaddafi supporters waving flags in the city’s Green Square. The fighting in Tripoli potentially breaks months of deadlocked battle between the government, who have maintained control of much of the western part of the nation, and rebels, who wrested control of the strategically important coastal city of Ziltan, adding it to the other eastern areas they already dominate. Earlier today, my colleague Kareem Fahim reported that Col. el-Qaddafi's hold seemed to have begun to slip as rebels encircled the capital <a href="http://www.trading666.com/UGG-snow-boots-5815-f2-72-c3-140.html"><strong>wholesale cheap ugg 5815 online from china </strong></a> city of Tripoli, residents continue to stream out and reports cropped up that a third major government official had defected. "Rumors swept Libya that he was preparing to flee," Mr. Fahim wrote, "if he had not already." Rumors of imminent flight, became rumors of actual flight on Saturday evening. Unsubstantiated reports on social media that said alternately that Col. Qaddafi with two of his sons to the city of Sabha or was wounded, allegations government officials have stridently denied.