Gadhafi defenses collapse

Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya

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.

Opposition fighters captured Gadhafi’s son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam. The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands said he would contact the rebels to discuss his handover for trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

Associated Press reporters with the rebels said the fighters easily advanced 20 miles Sunday from the west, took town after town — welcomed by residents — overwhelmed a major military base, then swept into the capital in a stunning turning of the tide in the 6-month-old Libyan civil war.

The fighters and Tripoli residents who support them flooded Green Square, shooting in the air in celebration, clapping and waving the rebels’ tricolor flag, according to television footage of the scene. Some set fire to the green flag of Gadhafi’s regime and shot holes in a poster with his image.

Thousands of Libyans celebrated in the streets of Benghazi, the rebels’ de facto capital in the east. Firing guns into the air and shooting fireworks, they cheered and waved the rebel tricolor flags, dancing and singing in the city’s main square.

Gadhafi’s whereabouts Sunday were unknown. But he delivered a series of angry and defiant audio messages broadcast on state television, calling on his supporters to march in the streets of the capital and “purify it” from “the rats.” He was not shown in the messages.

His defiance raised the possibility of a last-ditch fight over the capital, home to 2 million people. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim claimed the regime has “thousands and thousands of fighters” and vowed: “We will fight. We have whole cities on our sides. They are coming en masse to protect Tripoli to join the fight.”

Meanwhile, oil prices around the world should start falling if Libyan rebels succeed in toppling Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, though the full effect won’t be felt for months.

Independent analyst Andrew Lipow said oil markets will likely respond today by sending prices lower in “a sign of relief that conflict has come to the end.” But Lipow said it will take time for the market to erase the hefty price increase that resulted from the suspension of Libyan oil exports since the rebellion began in February.

When fighting broke out, oil was trading at around $84 a barrel. It quickly spiked above $93 and kept rising to a high above $110 at the end of April. Oil has fallen recently along with stocks because of concerns about the global economy.