The Libyan rebels announced that in the past 24 hours they have captured another strategically important city not far from Tripoli, thereby ending the encirclement of the Libyan capital.
The rebels have announced that they have captured the city of Garjan (south of Tripoli) and that means only one thing - that the most important route to the capital of Libya has been cut.
"Garjan is completely under the control of the revolutionaries and Gaddafi is now isolated. He is cut off from the rest of the world," said rebel spokesman Abdurahman.
The spokesman of the Libyan government, Musa Ibrahim, said that the rebels are in Garjan, but that they will succeed in driving them out of the settlement.
A US Defense Department official also said that forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi fired a Scud missile for the first time since the beginning of the rebellion, which landed in the desert without any consequences.
The unnamed official said the missile was fired from a location about 80 kilometers east of Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte and fell east of the city of Brega on Libya's east coast.
Analysts claim that the talks in Tunisia could mean the end of the civil war in Libya
According to him, it is not known who or what was the target of the missile attack.
Gaddafi's forces also fired mortar shells and rockets at the town of Zawiya, the central part of which was captured by the rebels the day before. The capture of Zavia cut the highway that goes from Tripoli to the border with Tunisia.
UN representative Abdel Elah al-Hatib arrived in neighboring Tunisia, where, according to various sources, rebels and government representatives met on the island of Djerba. Hatib pointed out that he will meet with "certain figures from Libya" in Tunisia.
Analysts say these talks could mean the end of the civil war in Libya. In their view, the rebels lack the manpower to attack Tripoli, but they hope that Tripoli's environment will cause the fall of Gaddafi's government or encourage an insurgency.
Government representatives in Tripoli have denied all allegations of a meeting with rebels.
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