UPDATE 25/08/2011: The manhunt for Gaddafi continues, with reports in the British Telegraph that SAS troops are assisting rebels in their search for the dictator, who is still thought to be in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. The rebels have now offered a $1.6 million reward for Gaddafi dead or alive.
The Telegraph also reports that the SASÂ helped organise the advance on Triploi that saw the rebel entry to the city coincide with uprisings in key districts and the surrender of core units of Gaddafi’s remaining forces.
The rebel Transitional National Council is lobbying hard for the release of national investments frozen by sanctions.
Tripoli is still experiencing heavy fighting in some quarters with a rump of Gaddafi loyalists continuing to inflict casualties on rebels.
Meanwhile, Gavin de Salis of OPS International – which has staff back on the ground  – says there is little evidence of damage to oil fields and that with the right incentives, oil copanies can get back to – or exceed – pre war production.
UPDATE 22/08/11: As of 9.30 GMT+3 The regime of Muammar Gaddafi has collapsed after 43 years, as Libyan revolutionaries continue to pour into central Tripoli meeting little resistance after marching on the capital on Saturday.
The entrance of rebels from outside Tripoli coincided with a coordinated wave of uprisings within the cityÂ
According to Sky News footage and Reuters reports, while rebels now have effective control of much of the city, there is still heavy fighting around Gaddafi’s Qaddafi’s Bab Al Azizya compound in the capital. Speaking to the world’s media, Gaddafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim raised fears of brutal reprisals against Gaddafi loyalists, rebel representatives deny.
Rebel National Transitional Council Coordinator Adel Dabbechi confirmed that Gaddafi’s younger son Saif Al-Islam had been captured. His eldest son Mohammed Al-Gaddafi had surrendered to rebel forces, he told Reuters.
Original story from 21/08/11 follows
The possibility of the six-month conflict in Libya reaching endgame increased over the weekend as rebel forces secured the only working oil refinery and began an assault on Tripoli, the capital where embattled ruler Colonel Gaddafi.
After heavy fighting, rebels took control of an oil refinery – the last such operational facility in the country – in the town of Zawiyah, 30 miles west of the capital Tripoli. They also blocked the main highway south of the capital on Thursday that has been one of the Gaddafi regime’s key supply routes to the capital, according to a Reuters report.
The oil town of Brega, home to the largets hydrocarbons complex in the country, has repeatedly changed hands over the course of the conflict and has come under heavy artillery shelling from pro-Gaddafi forces, forcing Rebels back to the east of the industrial zone of the city.
According to BBC and Al Jazeera reports, heavy and sustained gunfire and explosions have been heard in Western Tripoli that have contued throughout Sunday morning. Â Anti-Gaddafi protestors have also been reported to have publicly demonstrated in the last day.
Rebels said they have already taken control of Tajoura, an eastern suburb of Tripoli, Al Jazeera reports today. NATO aircraft raided Qaddafi’s Scud missile launchers and residents received text messages urging them to join the rebellion, the network reports.
Meanwhile, BBCÂ reports that pro-Gaddafi men and women within the city have begun to receive basic weapons training in preparation for the endgame of the Gaddafi regime.
The Rebels are also claiming that some production of up to 250,000 barrels of oil per day could be restored within a few weeks of Gaddafi’s overthrow. “Our fields are under maintenance and we’re still waiting for security,” Abdeljalil Mayouf, information manager at Libya’s Arabian Gulf Oil Company, which is operating the Sarir and Mesla fields, told Reuters. “When the security is okay we will start. Perhaps two or three weeks after the improvement in security. In three weeks maybe,” he said.
Tunisia has become the latest foreign government to recognise the legitimacy of the rebel National Transitional Council, a move which may have implications for crossings along Libya’s north-west border.
Reuters reports that representatives from both sides are meeting  under French mediation with a view to ending hostilities. Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin has been brokering talks he told Reuters were “extremely difficult” between the two sides.
