Near Sirte: National Transitional Council forces swept further into Sirte on Saturday as at least 6,000 fighters battled in and around the hometown of fugitive Muammar Gaddafi.
At a checkpoint some 30 kilometres west of the town, Commander Salem Jeha, a member of Misrata Military Council, told AFP: "We are now concentrated in a handful of buildings in the city and on the outskirts including Wadi Abu Hadi where Gaddafi's forces are concentrated."
Sirte airport came under complete control of National Transitional Council combatants late on Friday, he said, adding that there was "no possibility for them (Gaddafi's forces) to continue their resistance."
At the Gate 30 checkpoint, truckloads of ammunition could be seen heading towards the front, along with more pick-ups bearing fighters and anti-aircraft guns.
Jeha said there were some 1,200 NTC armed vehicles plus the thousands of fighters, mostly from Misrata, in the Sirte area.
"There may be houses and pockets of resistance, but they will not be able to overcome the rebels' massive forces," he said, adding that he had received reports that half of the city's civilians had fled.
The attacking fighters were trying to prevent civilian loss of life and were not seeking revenge: "We are not using heavy weapons except to protect our rebels when they are targeted."
Jeha added: "This matter is sealed, it's over. Our focus will now shift to free the south."
UN votes to establish new mission in Libya
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has unanimously approved a new UN mission in Libya and the unfreezing of assets of two major oil companies.
A resolution approved by the council also lifts a ban on flights by Libyan aircraft and modifies the arms embargo on Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
The resolution was circulated on Tuesday. The council acted swiftly to approve it on Friday.
Under the resolution, the no-fly zone imposed in March after Gaddafi launched his crackdown on regime opponents would remain in place but be kept under review.
Gaddafi loyalists beat back assault on strongholds
Gaddafi's fighters have beaten back an attempt by Libya's new government to crush remnants of the old regime, forcing revolutionary troops into retreat in the mountains and turning Gaddafi's seaside hometown into an urban battlefield of snipers firing from mosques and heavy weapons rattling main boulevards.
Revolutionary forces began the day by streaming into Bani Walid but pulled back after intense fighting failed to dislodge pro-Gaddafi snipers and gunners from strategic positions.
The two sides traded relentless mortar and rocket fire across a 500-yard-wide desert valley called Wadi Zeitoun that divides the town between north and south.
In Sirte, Gaddafi's birthplace on the Mediterranean coast, his backers rained gunfire down from mosque minarets and high-rise buildings on fighters pushing into the city from the west. In the streets the two sides battered each other with high-caliber machine guns, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades.
UN approves Libya seat for former rebels
Also on Friday, the UN General Assembly voted to give Libya's seat in the world body to the former rebels' National Transitional Council which led the rebellion that ousted Gaddafi.
The resolution was approved Friday by a vote of 114-17 with 15 abstentions, revealing divisions in Africa and Latin America over who should represent Libya.
The General Assembly's credentials committee had unanimously recommended that the former rebels be seated.
The vote in favor means that the National Transitional Council will be able to speak for Libya at next week's ministerial meeting of the General Assembly.
Last bastion
Earlier Friday it was reported that "columns" of anti-Gaddafi forces sped towards Bani Walid on Friday after their position came under attack. On fighter said they were planning to take the town, one of the last bastions of support for the ousted Libyan leader.
"We have received orders from our commanders and we are going into Bani Walid today from different locations," anti-Gaddafi fighter Mohammad Jwaida told Reuters at a factory 20km north of the city, where the rebels were dug in.
"We were planning to do this today anyway but Gaddafi forces launched this attack to prevent our advance. They thought we would run away, they are cowards," he said.
