Britain has said "the end is near" for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as rebel fighters launched a final push for victory with an attack on the capital Tripoli.
"It is clear from the scenes we are witnessing in Tripoli that the end is near for Gaddafi," said a statement from Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street office.
"He has committed appalling crimes against the people of Libya and he must go now to avoid any further suffering for his own people," added the statement.
Libyan rebels Sunday fought their way into Tripoli, where music played in the streets as residents celebrated, but Gaddafi has refused to surrender even as NATO said his regime is crumbling.
Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam was also captured on Sunday, rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said.
GADDAFI 'TRAPPED'
Ex-premier Jalloud said in an interview with Italian news program TG3 after fleeing Tripoli and escaping first to Tunisia and then Italy in recent days that Gaddafi was trapped.
"He has no way of leaving Tripoli. All the roads are blocked. He can only leave with an international agreement and I think that door is closed," said Jalloud, a former regime stalwart who helped Gaddafi win power in a 1969 coup.
"I think it would be difficult for Gaddafi to give himself up. And he is not like Hitler who had the courage to kill himself... I don't think the evolution of the situation in Tripoli will allow him to survive," he added.
Gaddafi earlier on Sunday aired a message urging supporters to "march by the millions" to liberate cities held by "traitors and rats."
"These scum enter mosques to cry 'God is great.' They are dirty. They are defiling the mosques," the embattled strongman said in an audio message carried on state television.
OPERATION MERMAID
Rebel spokesman Ahmed Jibril said Operation Mermaid was a joint effort between the Benghazi-based rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), insurgents fighting in and around Tripoli and NATO forces.
In Dubai, rebel envoy Aref Ali Nayad said the NTC had urged NATO to join the final battle with Apache assault helicopters.
In his eastern stronghold of Benghazi, rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil claimed that victory was within reach, six months after the insurgency was launched.
"We have contacts with people from the inner circle of Gaddafi," the chairman of the NTC said. "All evidence (shows) that the end is very near, with God's grace."
OTHER TOWNS CELEBRATE
His words prompted celebrations in rebel-held towns, including Sabratha, 50 kilometres west of Tripoli, and in Benghazi, where people crowded in front of television sets to follow the news.
"Goodbye Gaddafi," they chanted in the rebel-capital, Benghazi.
Striking another blow to Gaddafi's regime, Tunisia, Libya's neighbour to the west, on Sunday decided to recognise the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, the news agency TAP reported.
A ship chartered by the International Organisation for Migration was to leave for Tripoli from Benghazi during the night to evacuate about 300 foreigners, an IOM official said.
