People celebrate the capture in Tripoli of Moammar Gadhafi’s son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, at the rebel-held town of Benghazi, Libya, early Monday, Aug. 22, 2011. Libyan rebels raced into Tripoli in a lightning advance Sunday that met little resistance as Moammar Gadhafi’s defenders melted away and his 40-year rule appeared to rapidly crumble. The euphoric fighters celebrated with residents of the capital in the city’s main square, the symbolic heart of the regime. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)
People celebrate the capture in Tripoli of Moammar Gadhafi’s son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, at the rebel-held town of Benghazi, Libya, early Monday, Aug. 22, 2011. Libyan rebels raced into Tripoli in a lightning advance Sunday that met little resistance as Moammar Gadhafi’s defenders melted away and his 40-year rule appeared to rapidly crumble. The euphoric fighters celebrated with residents of the capital in the city’s main square, the symbolic heart of the regime. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)BENGHAZI, Libya – The long reign of Col. Moammar Gadhafi appeared to collapse Sunday as rebels swept into Tripoli, captured two of his sons and set off wild street celebrations in a capital that he’d ruled by fear for more than four decades, Libyan officials and NATO said.
With NATO bombings paving the way, rebel forces entered Tripoli with surprising ease and by early Monday controlled much of the city. Gadhafi’s personal guard surrendered to rebel forces, and television showed crowds of opposition fighters in Tripoli unfurling the tricolor flag of pre-Gadhafi Libya and smashing the ruler’s portraits.
“This is historic,” Amal Abdelrazk,, 41, a resident of downtown Tripoli’s Andalus Street, said by phone. “After 41 years, eight months and 27 days, we witness this moment. … “The whole thing is like a dream.”
Rebel military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani told McClatchy that his forces were looking for Gadhafi in and around Tripoli. Gadhafi’s whereabouts were unknown, but a U.S. official said: “We have no reason to believe (he) has left the country.”
Late Sunday Gadhafi made a brief audio statement on Libyan TV, sounding desperate as he called on individual tribes and cities to “take weapons” and defend “beautiful Tripoli.”