NTC to control Libya's entire coastline soon

Anti-Gaddafi fighters run for cover while their comrade (R) fires a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) along Omar Mukhtar street during clashes with Gaddafi forces in Sirte, October 11, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

BRUSSELS - A NATO spokesman said on Tuesday that Libya's NTC (National Transitional Council) forces will control the whole coastline of the country soon, as Gaddafi loyalists are losing control of the city of Sirte, which lies on the Mediterranean coast.

"NTC forces have made significant advances, reaching the core of the city (Sirte). Now, Gaddafi forces have been dislodged from university, conference centre and main hospital. They have lost key positions and cannot effectively control the city or reinforced or resupplied," Colonel Roland Lavoie told a press briefing from Naples via video link.

"Sirte is also the last city with a seaport under Gaddafi control, which means that soon the entire coast of Libya will be controlled by NTC," he said.

In Bani Walid, the other remaining bastion of Gaddafi loyalists, NTC forces have started to move towards the outskirts, where "significant proportion of the population has already left," Lavoie said.

Lavoie told reporters that Gaddafi loyalists' resistance "at this stage just does not make sense" and could not "change or influence the outcome of this conflict."

At the press briefing, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the end of the mission will be a political decision, which is up to NATO's decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, to decide.

"We will coordinate the decision with the United Nations, which mandated our mission, and with the legitimate Libyan authorities," She said.