4:49 pm 

Alain Juppe, France's foreign minister, has declared that NATO's involvement in Libya must end "as soon as possible", according to Sky News. Mr Juppe said Britain and France were responsible for 75-80 percent of NATO's air operations.



4:42 pm

Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr tweets that heavy fighting is taking place between government forces and opposition fighters in Mansoura close to Gadhafi’s Bab al-Azizia compound. Gadhafi’s men using mortars and heavy weapons.

4:21 pm

Libyan opposition TV has warned rebels to be on the look-out for "snipers and mercenaries who are still there in Tripoli", BBC reports. Meanwhile Al Arabiya TV is reporting that Libyan rebels have clashed with an army convoy coming from the city of Sirte, killing tens of Gadhafi's troops. 

3:40 pm

Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says he expects contracts held by Italian companies in Libya will be respected in the post-Gadhafi era, Reuters reports. Mr Frattini adds he has already agreed with the Libyan rebel government on broad cooperation and reviving Italy-Libya ties.

3:28 pm

The International Organization of Migration (IOM) is planning to evacuate hundreds of foreign nationals from Tripoli by sea and has appealed to both sides of the conflict to allow people to leave safely, BBC reports.

2:58 pm

BBC reporter Matthew Price tweets from Tripoli: Big explosion in distance. Not sure if NATO.

2:20 pm

More now on the confusion in Libya over Gadhafi’s son’s astonishing appearance on the streets of Tripoli.

Most Libyans are just waking up to the images of Saif al-Islam free and defiant. Benghazi resident Ahmed Mekbassy told the BBC that "It was a surprise [seeing] images of Saif al-Islam on television and hear[ing] reports that he is in a safe place at (Gadhafi's compound) Bab al-Azizia. Of course, it is kind of contradiction, but it is not the end of the world. We did not fight to arrest Saif, we fought to liberate Libya. And I'm sure Saif will be tried sooner or later," he says. Libyan dissident Sabri Malik told the broadcaster that Saif was captured on Sunday and then freed by a rebel faction secretly protecting the Gadhafis.

2 pm

Good afternoon. Its 2 pm in Beijing and 8 am in Tripoli. Welcome to our continuing coverage of the dramatic events in Libya. Here’s a recap of the recent developments in the battle for Tripoli.

• The manhunt for Col Gadhafi continues and his whereabouts remain unclear this afternoon as sporadic clashes rumble on in different parts of the Libyan capital Tripoli.

• Libya’s opposition is facing tough questions after one of Gadhafi’s sons made a startling reappearance on the streets of Tripoli saying the capital is still "under control" of the regime, just 16 hours after they held a news conference declaring Saif had been captured by rebel fighters. Gadhafi's other son Mohammed also escaped from house arrest.

• A doctor at Tripoli’s only working hospital says they are overwhelmed with casualties and appealed for medics and supplies.

• On the markets, the current price of Brent crude rose to $108.86 a barrel as fighting continued and in anticipation of a fall in US crude stockpiles.

1:07 pm

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has repeated her call for pro-Gadhafi troops to give up. "The regime of a tyrant has come to an end... But the fighting and risk of bloodshed is not yet over," she told the BBC. "So we do call, as other international communities have, for Col Gadhafi's forces to lay down their arms, for fighting to cease."

11:52 am

Rebel leaders have reacted with shock to reports that Saif al-Islam is free, Telegraph reports. Spokesman Sadeq al-Kabir, had no explanation and saying, "This could be all lies." He could not confirm whether Saif al-Islam escaped rebel custody, but he did say that another one of Gadhafi's sons, Mohammed, had escaped the home arrest that rebels had placed him in a day earlier.

 

11:35 am 

CNN Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance tweets that the power at the Rixos Hotel, where many international journalists are staying, is off again. “We are plunged back into darkness and discomfort,” he said on Twitter.

11:09 am

The only working hospital in Tripoli has been overwhelmed with casualties, a doctor told Sky News. Dr Mohmed Harisha said some patients had been waiting for three days for treatment because of staff shortages. "We need more doctors, surgeon doctor, orthopedic and anesthesia doctor. We need nurse, we need technician for x-ray, we need everywhere. Everybody can give us help, who will come here."

11:04 am

More now on extraordinary events surrounding Saif al-Islam appearing at a hotel used by international reporters in Tripoli. ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had earlier said the 39-year-old was arrested and in detention. Saif told reporters: "This is a war of technology and electronics to cause chaos and terror in Libya. They also brought in armed gangs by sea and by road." Video from Tripoli shows Saif shaking hands with supporters on the streets of the city. He said the government had "broken the spines of those rats and gangsters," referring to the rebels. Asked about the International Criminal Court's warrant for his arrest for crimes against humanity, he said: "To hell with the ICC."

10:56 am

Libya's former Prime Minister Mustapha Ben Halim has told CNN that Gadhafi is unlikely to ever give himself up to the rebels. "He will not admit defeat. He, I think, he might go outside Libya and sort of say that he's going to continue this fight. But I doubt this guy will get reason, get the real thinking and that the circus is finished.”

10:34 am

Al-Urubah TV - the only remaining pro-Gadhafi channel - is showing recent footage of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi on a loop, BBC reports. It is also claiming that NATO and rebel forces have entered Tripoli under darkness after cutting power supplies. "NATO and their rebels have hit the main power lines that supply Tripoli and are entering the city in complete darkness... but dawn is near," it reported in the early hours of Tuesday.

10:28 am

NATO has been dropping leaflets in the area of Tripoli, Al Jazeera reports. The majority of the leaflets are intended to encourage pro- Gadhafi soldiers to lay down their weapons and to join the Libyan rebels and the wider Libyan people.

 

9:50 am

Libyan rebels vowed to capture Muammar Gaddafi as NATO continued airstrikes on Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli early Tuesday.

9 am

Good morning. It is 9 am in Beijing and 3 am in Tripoli. Welcome to our live rolling coverage of the dramatic events in Libya. Here’s the latest developments.

• Muammar Gadhafi is still in hiding, his whereabouts unknown, as fighting continues in a number of locations across the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

• NATO warplanes have bombed Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli. Scud-missiles have been fired by pro-Gadhafi forces from Sirte towards the city of Misrata which is held by the rebels.

• Saif al Islam, the son of Libya leader Muammar Gadhafi appeared at a Tripoli hotel where foreign reporters are staying to disprove reports of his capture.

8:14 am

Saif al Islam, the son of Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi who rebels and the International Criminal Court had been arrested, arrived in the early hours of Tuesday at the Tripoli hotel where foreign reporters have been staying.

BBC correspondent Matthew Price said Saif told another journalist, when asked if his father was safe and well in Tripoli, "Of course."

7:24 am

NATO carried out airstrikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's compound in the Libyan capital of Tripoli early Tuesday, the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya cited rebel sources as reporting.

5:10 am

A group of Libyan migrants stormed the Libyan embassy building in Athens Monday afternoon, as the opposition forces announced seizure of much of Tripoli, capital of the war-torn northern African country.

1:30 am

The Libyan embassy in Belarus on Monday replaced the Libyan state flag with the flag used by the Libyan rebels. The crescent and star emblazoned red-black-green flag that became a rallying symbol for the rebels in Libya was raised at the Libyan embassy in the Belarusian capital here.

 

00:50 am

Tunisia's interim prime minister Beji Caid Essebsi congratulated Libya's people for their "victory on the way to freedom and dignity," the state-run press agency TAP reported on Monday.

 

 See Monday's report on Libya as it happened