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Rebels surged into the Libyan capital Sunday night, meeting only sporadic resistance from troops loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and setting off raucous street celebrations by residents hailing the end of his 42 years in power.
The rebel leadership announced that insurgents had captured two of Colonel Qaddafi’s sons, including Seif al-Islam, his heir apparent. The leadership also announced that the elite presidential guard protecting the Libyan leader had surrendered.
Libyan rebels battled their way towards Tripoli on Sunday to help fighters inside the city who rose up overnight declaring a final showdown with Muammar Gaddafi.
The Libyan leader dismissed the rebels, fighting since February to topple him, as “rats” and said he would not yield.
In a coordinated revolt that rebel cells had been secretly preparing for months, shooting started on Saturday night across Tripoli moments after Muslim clerics, using the loudspeakers on mosque minarets, called people on to the streets.
The Turkish government’s offensive against the Kurdish Workers Party or PKK has continued for a third night, with airstrikes against rebels in northern Iraq.
Libyan rebels battling Colonel Muammar Qaddafi’s troops along the country’s Mediterranean coast said they have captured all of the strategic eastern port city of Brega, which has repeatedly changed hands in the six-month-old civil war.
Rebel military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani said fighters gained control Saturday of the industrial section of Brega, after having captured its residential areas last week.
Libyan freedom fighters have taken control of the city of Zlitan after fierce fighting that has lasted for weeks. Gaddafi’s forces have withdrawn to Wadi Kaam and Khums west of the city on the road to Tripoli.
According to reports coming from the battle field, rebels from Misurata and Zlitan have entered the city center after they liberated Souq Al-Thulatha and have taken control of most of the city. By six o’clock in the evening the whole city was under their control.
After the Israeli Air Force struck 12 Hamas and other terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday, Aug. 18, a hail of missiles hit the towns of Ashdod, Beersheba, Ashkelon and the smaller Sdot Negev, Shar Hanegev and Eshkol villages in a continuous blitz Friday, Aug. 19.
Ten worshippers were injured - two seriously - when one of the six Grads aimed at Ashdod hit a synagogue. Police detonated a second in a controlled explosion. The town’s population is advised to stay in sheltered spaces.
Iron Dome is in action in Ashkelon. Red alerts have sounded in Gedera, Kiryat Gath and Gan Yavne.
Since 20 heavily armed gunmen killed eight Israelis and injured 33 in a multiple terrorist attack outside Eilat in southern Israel Thursday, Israel’s armed forces, police and emergency services have been on high alert and reinforced. All weekend public events were cancelled in the South.
Israel’s response to the terror attacks from the Sinai Peninsula came swiftly Thursday evening when the Israel Air Force bombed the southern Gaza Strip, killing the leadership of the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), who had orchestrated the attacks.
At least seven Israelis, including a soldier from the Golani Brigade, were killed earlier in the day in a multiple-stage attack carried out by PRC members who infiltrated into Israel from Egypt.