final battle for Libya was under way last night as advancing rebel forces routed loyalist troops on the outskirts of Tripoli and Nato declared Col Muammar Gaddafi’s regime was “crumbling”.

Rebels claimed they encountered no resistance from Gaddafi forces as they were just four miles from the centre of the capital.
“Clearly we’re into the last stage of the regime – the writing is on the wall,” Oana Lungescu, the chief Nato spokesman, said. “We’re seeing people packing their bags – three top people defecting in the past couple of days, and Gaddafi-controlled territory shrinking before our eyes.”
Last night, residents of Tripoli took to the streets to celebrate the expected defeat of the regime.
After quickly consolidating their triumph in the key oil town of Zawiyah, 30 miles west of Tripoli, rebels have fought their way through towns on the capital’s western fringes as residents of the anti-regime eastern suburbs staged their own uprising.
Last night, rebels said regime forces were negotiating the surrender of the country’s main military airbase, Mitiga, in eastern Tripoli. They also claimed Gaddafi’s Presidential Guard had surrendered.