[Becky Anderson:] Six months of civil war in Libya could be down to the final hours. The fall of Moammar Gadhafi appears imminent, but the battle is not over yet. I'm Becky Anderson in London. It's 9:00 p.m. here, 10:00 p.m. in Tripoli. Here is what is happening right now. Rebels are trying to rout the last few pockets of resistance after seizing most of the capital in a lightning quick advance. They say the Gadhafi era is over, but they still haven't managed to capture him or even track him down. And this video was filmed by our CNN crew in Green Square, or Martyrs Square, as it's been renamed, once the symbolic heart of Gadhafi regime. You can hear gunfire and shouting, as rebels take cover from snipers on rooftops. Well, heavy fighting is reported in several areas, including around the presidential compound. The presidential completed Gadhafi loyalists still control that area and some believe the leader himself may be holed up there. Well, Gadhafi may be a fugitive, but rebels say they have now captured three of his sons. Here's the file pictures of them. Saif al-Islam is on the left, Saddiq in the middle and Mohammed on the right. Gadhafi himself hasn't been seen in public for weeks. Just yesterday, as rebels broke down Tripoli's defenses, Gadhafi broadcast several defiant audio messages vowing never to surrender. Well CNN's Sara Sidner has been in Tripoli all weekend following the fast moving developments and she joins us now Sara, what can you tell us at this point?
[Sara Sidner, Cnn Correspondent:] What I can tell you is that we left the city, along with a lot of the rebels, actually, who went to have their evening meal. It was just not safe enough to stay in the city overnight, from what we assessed, the rebels telling us that we were not allowed to go down to Green Square, which is now they have renamed or want people to call it Martyrs Square. They say that they have gotten control of about 90 percent of the city. But we heard quite a bit of fighting and gunfire toward the Square, toward, also, Gadhafi's compound. So, certainly, the battle for Tripoli is not over, the rebels being very, very cautious. Every time there is any kind of rumor of a sniper, everyone goes running, no matter where they are, even if there are few buildings around them. There's a real fear of snipers and for good reason. Apparently, the rebels say, there were snipers in the area shooting from the tops of buildings. And it is very hard to seen. Now that it is dark, this becomes a very difficult war. And and remember, the rebels are less equipped than any force you might be thinking about. These are people, many of them, who have come from their neighborhoods from other parts, also, of the country, not just Tripoli. So some of these fighters do not know the city of Tripoli and are reliant on the locals there to to get them around. So important to note that the night battles can be very difficult, very confusing. So it makes people very suspicious and makes things very tense as night falls in the city of Tripoli Becky.
[Anderson:] Sara, we are just recon or we're just taking a look at video that was shot earlier on. You say that the rebels will rely on locals, as they don't know the area. This has turned into, of course, urban warfare at this point. Just how well supported are the rebels?
[Sidner:] It's hard to gauge that. But I can tell you that when I say they rely on locals who know the area, those are other rebels that they've been training with. They're not just stopping, for example, at someone's door saying where is this area of town or where is that area of town. They have tried to train as much as they can for what they knew would be urban warfare. And I think the one thing that really surprised them was that they did not face the kind of numbers that Moammar Gadhafi had promised would rise up or would fight on his behalf. They were surprised that they were able to get so far into the city so quickly. Once they got there, though, that's when a bit of the trouble started, because they weren't quite sure what they were dealing with. And it was eerily quiet, I have to tell you. Over the past 24 hours that we've seen these things unfold, at first this morning, there was quite a bit of driving up and down the street. And this afternoon, more of that. This evening, some celebrations, some families coming out. But as nightfall comes, things get eerily quiet in the in the city. People sort of retracting, trying to see what is going on around them. Very difficult. The power is out in in a couple of places in this country. So it is very difficult to know just how much of a fight is left in the Gadhafi forces and just how far the rebels will be able to when it is this dark and it's very difficult to navigate the city.
[Anderson:] Two big questions that may get answered, may or may not get answered in the hours to come. Sara, thank you for that, on the ground for you there in Libya. Well, this story, of course, far from over. In the next hour, I'm going to be joined by one man who ought to know what's going on behind the scenes in Libya. Saad Djebbar is a former legal adviser to the Libyan government. He knows the situation on the ground there better than most. Well, as Libyans cheer, we'll look to the future, to the challenges facing the National Transitional Council as it attempts to bring the country together. But before they can, Libya's rebels have a fight on their hands to finally rid their country of their dictator. So what stumbling blocks could they face and how can NATO help? That coming up in the next hour here on CNN. Plus, an exclusive interview with the man who helped to govern Libya before Gadhafi took charge some 41-and-a-half years ago. Find out what former Libyan Prime Minister Mustapha Ben Halim has to say about the colonel and what he believes comes next. Well, many world leaders are encouraging Moammar Gadhafi to see the writing on the wall and give himself up without further bloodshed. U.S. President Barack Obama spoke a short time ago. This is what he said.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] I want to emphasize that this is not over yet. As the regime collapses, there's still fierce fighting in some areas and we have reports of regime elements threatening to continue fighting. Although it's clear that Gadhafi's reign is over, he still has the opportunity to reduce further bloodshed by explicitly relinquish power to the people of Libya and calling for those forces that continue to fight to lay down their arms for the sake of Libya.
[Anderson:] Hmm, for the sake of Libya, as far as Obama is concerned. Well, the Pentagon says it believes Moammar Gadhafi is still in Libya. What evidence does it have for that? Well, let's get to the Pentagon and to our correspondent there, Chris Lawrence, for more on the U.S. intelligence at this point what do we know?
[Chris Lawrence, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Well, Becky, it it's more a process of elimination. What they haven't seen is evidence that Moammar Gadhafi has left the country. They know he hasn't been seen in public in some time. They noted his last address was a radio address. But they're not getting into specific intelligence that leads them to say today that they believe that Moammar Gadhafi still resides in Libya.
[Anderson:] Thank you for that. Chris Lawrence is at the Pentagon. Chris, I'm going to leave it there for the time being. I'm going to get to a man who's with me in the studio now. The opposition National Transition Council is already planning for post-Gadhafi Libya, saying it will soon move its headquarters to Tripoli. Officially established March the 5th in Benghazi, the Council is led by Chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil, Libya's former justice minister. The NTC, now recognized by more than 30 countries as Libya's legitimate governing authority. And the Council says its aim is to steer Libya for an interim period toward free elections and the establishment of a constitution. Well, a film adviser to the Libyan government agrees with the opposition that Moammar Gadhafi's reign is now over. Saad Djebbar now joins us in the studio with some perspective. And you say it's over. The Americans say, well, their evidence is is it's difficult to know who is where and what's going on at this point. But you certainly say that Gadhafi is finished, but is he still at large? That is the big question.
[Saad Djebbar, Former Legal Adviser To Libyan Government:] Well, he's a fox, you know. He's a survivor, a manipulator. He's not like his sons. I'm sure if he's in the country, he would have been near the border with chad, Niger or Mali, or in his own tribal scene in Sirte. He would not be in Tripoli, whereby he could be caught easily.
[Anderson:] So you're saying you say he'll flee rather than fight on?
[Djebbar:] I think he will try to manipulate, try to enhance his negotiating presentation to the bitter end. And I must say that this is a time for the Russians, the Chinese and the Algerians, a neighboring country who have been supporting him indirectly and helping his position or his intransigence for some for the last few months, to move on to try to find a way out for him. And that, if it's met with the, you know, the help of the United States and others, maybe they will get him to leave with some sort of deal. But Gadhafi is very well known when he's losing. He likes to portray himself as winning. He did that in
[Anderson:] But, Saad, though, do you think he still has leverage with the rebels, with the National Transitional Council, so far as a safe passage might be concerned? Has he got any negotiating power left at this point?
[Djebbar:] Let's look at Libya's history and present. Libya became independent thanks to the international efforts of the U.N. Now, Libya or the rebels are they are what they are because of the international effort. So however it seems that it's between in issues, between Libyans, the international community, headed by the United States, the U.K., France and other major powers, are going to have their own theory. And I think they will decide the future of how to set with Gadhafi. Gadhafi will go if he knows that he will leave with some sort of dignity and immunity.
[Anderson:] Saad, though, in the last couple of months, the international community has moved from saying I'm talking about Cameron, I'm talking about Obama here moved from saying he has to leave the country to just saying he must step down. And even in the last 24 hours, British Prime Minister David Cameron says it's up to the Libyans and the Libyan people as to what happens next.
[Djebbar:] Well, his saying that is normal, because he doesn't want to be seen as a colonialist dictating how the Libyan course of results should take. But at the end of the day, Gadhafi has Gadhafi's chapter has to be closed. If we close if we want to close Gadhafi's charter, the fact about the charter is this. Gadhafi could lose. But he has distributed arms, explosives, money to his own loyalists. Even if they were thousands or hundreds, they could create problems like in the IRA in in Northern Ireland. Therefore, it's better to get him, to say agree on this. You leave the country. You will get immunity and that's it.
[Anderson:] You're going to stay with me throughout the hour. We're going to discuss just how long this is going to take, if, indeed, this is the end of the regime and what happens next as we move through this next hour. It's 12 minutes past 9:00 in London. That is 12 minutes past 10 in Tripoli. We want to take a very short break. Special coverage of what is going on in Libya here on CNN after this short break. Stay with us.