TRIPOLI came under air attack as Libyan rebels celebrated the captured the strategic Misrata airport, while reports said rockets had struck the compound of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli.
The airport of Libya’s third-largest city fell to the rebels after long and intense fighting, an AFP correspondent said. Misrata had been under siege by loyalist forces for almost two months.
By yesterday afternoon, insurgent fighters were in full control, as people celebrated the victory in the streets and others set ablaze tanks left behind by Gaddafi troops.
In Tripoli, CNN reported that four rockets had struck Gaddafi’s compound today, killing at least two people, according to a government spokesman.
After the blasts, which could be heard in the center of Tripoli, sirens blared and at least two emergency vehicles sped toward the Bab al-Aziziya compound, CNN reported.
The Libyan government took journalists near the site of the blast and smoke could be seen still rising from the compound.
At least two dead bodies were at a nearby hospital, both of them men.
The strikes came just a few hours after Libyan state TV lateyesterday showed footage it said was of Gaddafi meeting with tribal leaders, the first new video of him aired since an April 30 air strike that the regime termed an attempt on his life.
The regime said that strike killed his son Seif al-Arab and three of his grandchildren, in “a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country”.
State TV said the footage was of a meeting between Gaddafi and tribal dignitaries from the east of Libya, an area held by rebels seeking his ouster.
A Libyan official told AFP the video was shot about 7.30pm on Wednesday (0330 AEST today).
The capture of Misrata airport was the rebels’ first significant advance in weeks.
The rebel-held city had been nearly cut off from the outside world. Its port, which has been repeatedly shelled, has been the only route in or out.
Human rights groups have warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in the city of 500,000 people, which faces acute shortages of food and medical supplies.
Insurgent forces captured 40 Grad rockets from the regime troops, whose mortar fire wounded 13 rebels, the AFP correspondent said.
A spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) in Benghazi, Abdel Busin, confirmed that Misrata airport had been captured and pushed back Gaddafi forces around 15km.
The AFP correspondent said the airport had been “completely destroyed” and that fires were burning around it.
Salah Badi, who commanded the assault on the airport, said Gaddafi officers had retreated and forced soldiers to stay. Some tried to carry on the fight, but most tried to leave in civilian clothes.
He said rebel positions were now only 10km away from Zliten to the west and that, after resting, they will attempt to continue their advance.
Meanwhile Britain said that the head of Libya’s rebel council will visit the country on Thursday and meet Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss the possibility of setting up a London office.
Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil will also meet Foreign Secretary William Hague and finance minister George Osborne to examine measures agreed at last week’s Contact Group meeting in Rome, the Foreign Office said in a statement.
It will be the first time that Jalil has met the British leader for face-to-face talks.
In Washington, officials said the first shipment on non-lethal US aid to Libyan rebels arrived in the rebel-held eastern city of Benghazi.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the aid, which arrived Tuesday, “consisted of more than 10,000 halal meals ready to eat, so-called MREs”, from US Defense Department stocks.
“Other items are en route and include medical supplies, uniforms, boots, tents, and personal protective gear,” also from US reserves, Toner said.
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