Colonel Gaddafi cannot be bombed into exile. Four months after the launch of a British and French-led military mission to remove him, that is the reality that the Government is being forced to accept. According to the new thinking in Paris and London, as long as the Libyan leader is prepared to give up power, he can stay in the country. The shift represents a welcome, if belated, outbreak of realism.

Eyewitness

Rebel fighters seized a village south of the Libyan capital Tripoli and another group advanced towards the city from the east yesterday in the biggest push in weeks towards Muammar Gaddafi's main stronghold.

France has been covertly arming rebels in the mountains south of Tripoli eyeing a push on the Libyan capital to hasten the demise of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s 41-year regime.

No wonder people who don’t call an argument a ‘narrative’ are beginning to think that politics has little to do with them

Nato's secretary general today admitted that an alliance air strike was responsible for an attack on a suburb of Tripoli which killed nine civilians, according to Libyan officials.

Libyan officials have claimed that several civilians, including a woman and two children, were killed yesterday in a Nato airstrike on Tripoli, an allegation that will do little to ease concerns over the fractured alliance's protracted military campaign.

Provoked by renewed daylight Nato bombing of his capital, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi raged against the alliance, screaming his message and daring Western forces to keep it up.

An envoy leading Moscow's efforts to help end the war in Libya departed for Tripoli today for talks with senior officials in Muammar Gaddafi's government, Russian media reported.

Memo seen by <i>The Independent</i> reveals Tripoli negotiations

Fresh attacks on Tripoli as Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi vows to 'fight to the end'.

Low-flying Nato planes pounded Tripoli today in a series of 26 strikes that shook the Libyan capital in rare daytime raids designed to step up pressure on Muammar Gaddafi to leave power.

Shortages of food and medicine will become critical in Libya within a few weeks, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator in the country said yesterday. Severe fuel shortages are also reported with motorists lining up for days.

As the fighting continues in Libya, residents in Zintan have moved into near-by caves for shelter from the gunfire and shelling.