Libya

The end is in sight for Moammar Gadhafi. The beginning is in sight for the people of Libya.

Monday update: Here’s the latest from The Guardian.

• The vast majority of Tripoli is under rebel control after opposition fighters swept into the capital over the weekend. The rebels’ flag is now hanging over Green Square in the city centre. The rebels’ sudden success has variously been put down to Nato’s help, the strength of the forces in the western mountains, and the under-reported anti-Gaddafi feeling in the capital.

• Fierce fighting continues, however, in areas of the Libyan capital, and the battle for Tripoli is not over yet.

• Nato does not know where Muammar Gaddafi is, David Cameron reported. Gaddafi’s former close aide Abdel-Salam Jalloud said he thought the Libyan leader would not surrender or kill himself. The Guardian’s Chris Stephen predicted division among the rebels over whether to hand him to the international criminal court or not. World leaders are calling on Gaddafi to stand down. His son Saif al-Islam has been arrested and another son, Mohammed is reported to be under house arrest. The home of his daughter Aisha was stormed yesterday.

• France aims to host an international meeting as soon as next week to discuss what happens next in Libya.

• Cameron said he believed Nato’s decision to intervene in Libya had been vindicated.

• In Syria, activists are hoping that the fall of Gaddafi will lead to their own president, Bashar al-Assad, standing down. There is vague speculation the international community may now pursue a harder line against the Syrian government, in the wake of seeming success in Libya.

The Guardian UK is blogging the situation as it develops:

2.32am: Guma El-Gamaty, the UK spokesman for the National Transitional Council, told the BBC:

We are seeing the end now. Gadhafi has always maintained that as long as he holds on to Tripoli he still has some sort of power. Now that he looks like he’s losing Tripoli, that’s it.

1.55am: Gadhafi’s eldest son, Mohammad, has told al-Jazeera television he has been detained by rebels and was being kept under house arrest in Tripoli.

Gunmen surrounded my house and I am still at home and they are outside. They said they will guarantee my safety. They are besieging my house.

The interview was cut off abruptly after he said gunfire had reached the house.