Thousands of foreigners trapped in Tripoli by rebel advances that have cut off the Libyan capital will be evacuated in a massive international rescue, probably by sea, an international body said on Friday. After months of stalemate, rebels have transformed the battlefield this week by seizing the city of Zawiyah west of the capital and cutting off Tripoli.
The rebels seized another nearby town on Friday, extending their grip on the strategic coastal highway that links Tripoli to the outside world. Nato war planes pounded targets in the capital overnight. Libyan officials brought journalists to a residential district where a compound of several large buildings was blasted to pieces. Neighbours said it belonged to Abdullah al-Senussi, Qadhafi's brother-in-law and head of intelligence.
In another sign the fighting is hitting closer to Qadhafi's inner circle, the brother of the spokesman who has served as the Tripoli government's public face was reported killed in a front line city. The government blamed Nato attack helicopters. East of the capital, where fighting has been bloody and advances slow, rebels launched an assault on Friday but were taking heavy casualties, a Reuters reporter there said.
A spokeswoman for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Jemini Pandya, said the operation to rescue thousands of Egyptians and other foreigners trapped in Tripoli by the latest fighting would begin within days. "We are looking at all options available, but it will probably have to be by sea," she told a Geneva news conference.
More than 600,000 of an estimated 1.5 million to 2.5 million foreigners, mostly Asian and African migrant workers, have fled Libya in six months of fighting. However, many thousands remained in Tripoli, which until this week was far from fighting and a safe two-hour drive from the Tunisian border.
That route has been cut since the rebels took Zawiyah, which straddles the coastal highway, six days ago. On Thursday they took the neighbouring town of Sabratha, and on Friday they seized the nearby town of Surman. Several hundred rebels and rebel supporters were gathered on the streets of Surman, just off the highway, to celebrate the victory, flying the rebel green, red and black flag.
In Tripoli, Omar Masood, an oil engineer who lives across the street from the compound that was destroyed, said it had been struck before dawn and belonged to Senussi, one of the most senior figures in Qadhafi's leadership. Neighbours and Libyan officials said one guard, from India, had been killed. Officials could not comment on whether it was Senussi's house or whether he was present at the time.
A large building had been reduced to rubble. The grounds appeared to be grand, with a fountain and children's swing set amid the ruins. Senussi, who is married to Qadhafi's sister, is one of three figures along with Qadhafi and his son Saif al-Islam wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for war crimes. The court's prosecutor blames him for killing civilians. "Even if he was someone from the intelligence, it wouldn't justify an attack on a residential house," said Ares Fahim Ahmed, another neighbour. Nato says it is bombing military targets to protect civilians.