[ 2011-08-23 ]

Gaddafi son vows to fight rebels
Two of Moammar Gadhafi's sons, who had been
reported captured over the weekend, were free
early Tuesday as forces loyal to the embattled
Libyan leader battled rebels trying to consolidate
their hold on Tripoli.

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi showed up at the Rixos
Hotel, one of the remaining strongholds of
pro-Gadhafi forces, in a convoy of armored Land
Cruisers. In a brief interview with CNN's Matthew
Chance, he said his father and several of his
sisters were safe in Tripoli, and that loyal
troops had "broken the back" of the rebels who
moved into the capital over the weekend.

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, who is wanted on war crimes
charges by the International Criminal Court in The
Hague, had been reported captured on Sunday along
with two of his brothers. Another of those
siblings, Mohammed Gadhafi, was reported to have
escaped Monday, according to the Libyan ambassador
to the United States.

There was no immediate explanation from the
National Transitional Council, the rebel
leadership that had announced their capture
Sunday.

The younger Gadhafi said news of his arrest had
been a trick by the rebels, and that he had been
traveling around Tripoli in his armored convoy the
entire time. He said that government forces had
lured the rebels into a trap in the capital, and
that Gadhafi loyalists "have broken the spines of
those rats and those gangsters."

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC's chief prosecutor,
had said Sunday that he would seek Saif al-Islam
Gadhafi's extradition following his capture. Asked
about the warrant for his arrest, Saif al-Islam
Gadhafi told reporters, "To hell with the ICC."

The rebels had most of Tripoli under their control
late Monday, but pitched battles continued at
various points around the city and Moammar
Gadhafi's whereabouts remained unknown. Gun
battles in the area around the longtime Libyan
strongman's former Bab al-Aziziya compound echoed
until after nightfall Monday.

"The real moment of victory is when Gadhafi is
captured," NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil told
reporters in Benghazi.

Gadhafi has held power in Libya since a September
1969 coup. The rebellion against him began in
February and has been aided by NATO airstrikes
that began in March, under a U.N. mandate to
protect civilians.

The revolt gained momentum rapidly in the past two
weeks, with rebel forces launching their push on
Tripoli over the weekend. In a statement to
reporters from his vacation on the Massachusetts
resort island of Martha's Vineyard, U.S. President
Barack Obama said that while situation remained
fluid, it was clear that "Gadhafi's rule is
over."

"The pursuit of human dignity is stronger than any
dictator," he said.

On Sunday, Gadhafi took to the airwaves several
times urging citizens, including women, to fight
the rebels -- whom he called "very small groups of
people who are collaborators with the
imperialists."

"Get out and lead, lead, lead the people to
paradise," he said.

Under Gadhafi, Libyans lived "as slaves," a
23-year-old Tripoli woman, who agreed to be
identified only as Noura, told CNN's "Anderson
Cooper 360." Though Gadhafi is the only Libyan
leader she has ever known, his ouster "will be the
best thing that ever happened to me," Noura said.

"I will thank Allah for every moment I will live
without him, without his control and without his
sons' control as well," she said.

If the Gadhafi regime falls, it would follow
revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt this year in what
is known as the Arab Spring. A spate of other
countries in the region -- including Bahrain,
Yemen and Syria -- have also seen protests by
citizens demanding more freedom and a change in
regime. In many cases, these demonstrations have
been met with brute force.

But pro-Gadhafi forces were still fighting into
the early hours of Tuesday. Tracer fire,
anti-aircraft guns and artillery could be seen and
heard around Zawiya, about 30 miles west of the
capital, which was a strategic steppingstone for
the rebel advance into Tripoli over the weekend.
NATO warplanes flew overhead at times, and
ambulances raced through the town after the
fighting erupted.

Gadhafi's forces also fired at least three
missiles at the rebel-held city of Misrata, east
of Tripoli, on Monday evening, the NATO alliance
reported. NATO said it had no reports of damage or
injuries, but called the launches a "direct threat
to innocent people."

"Although the surface-to-surface missiles in
Gadhafi's arsenal are highly inaccurate, and are
not designed to hit a specific target, they are a
weapon of terror," NATO said. "Their use against
an urban or industrial area is utterly
irresponsible."

At least one missile was a Soviet-era Scud,
launched from near Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte,
said a U.S. military official who spoke on
condition of anonymity Monday evening.

NATO forces destroyed another of the missiles on
the ground over the weekend, and another of the
short- to medium-range missiles was fired at rebel
forces last week but exploded harmlessly in the
desert, a senior NATO official said.

U.S. and NATO officials said they were concerned
forces loyal to Gadhafi might stage a last-ditch
attack against civilians. Senior levels of NATO
were watching closely for any sign of a massing of
Libyan government forces or the movement of
weapons such as rockets or artillery, said a
senior allied official, speaking on condition of
anonymity because of sensitive intelligence
matters.

Former U.S. diplomat Nicholas Burns told CNN that
it was "imperative" that Gadhafi be found quickly
and the fighting brought to an end.

"The danger here is that this insurgency could
continue, the fighting could continue, as long as
Gadhafi believes he's still in power," Burns
said.

The rebels on Monday also arrested Hala Misrati,
an anchor from Libya's state-run television.
Misrati had brandished a gun on air over the
weekend and said that staffers at the television
station were prepared to become martyrs.

"With this weapon, I either kill or die today,"
she said Sunday.

Rebels said they found her in her car near a
coffee shop Monday, and pandemonium ensued when
word got out that Misrati had been arrested.
Witnesses said Misrati was unharmed but would not
be speaking to reporters. A cordon of soldiers
quickly formed to isolate her from media
representatives, other rebels and gawkers.

CNN's Sara Sidner, Jomana Karadsheh, Kareem
Khadder, Raja Razek, Christine Theodorou, Kamal
Ghattas, Roba Alhenawi, Holly Yan, Chelsea J.
Carter, Josh Levs and Barbara Starr and journalist
Mike Mount contributed to this report.

Source - CNN

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