Hunt is on for safe houses where dictator can lie low

The most urgent mission for the liberation forces and their Nato and Arab allies is to hunt down the leaders of the Gaddafi clan, and shut down any heavy weaponry they may possess with which they could launch a sudden strike-back.

The rebels will be led by special forces from Gulf nations, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which spearheaded yesterday's final assault on the dictator's Bab al-Aziziya compound.

It is known that the Qataris were first into Colonel Gaddafi's private residence in the complex, to look for computers and sensitive documents. The Gulf states have offered their forces because, in the words of one of their officers, "this is an Arab matter and it is right that Arab allies should come to the aid of the Libyans."

The Arab units and the insurgents have been receiving training and guidance from British, French and American military advisers, most with a special forces background.

The rebels will be searching a string of known safe houses that the Gaddafi family and their entourage kept in the capital. Another target will be the Rixos hotel, where foreign journalists are under virtual house arrest by Gaddafi gunmen, and where the regime has run a radio station from the basement.

Outside Tripoli, the main target for the mopping-up operation is Colonel Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, where the military headquarters is even larger than Bab al-Aziziya. A Scud missile was fired from there yesterday, and there is some suspicion diehards have stocks of mustard gas, which could be fired in missile warheads.

Tracking down Muammar Gaddafi and his sons is a priority. With their defiant broadcasts, albeit of a deteriorating quality and to a diminishing audience, they can still form a potent centre for opposition. One possibility is that at least part of the family has gone to remote desert villages in the south, where they might hole up undetected for months. Saddam Hussein managed to go on the run for more than six months in 2003, and remained a symbol of resistance until he was caught.

In the next two days the new interim government of the National Transitional Council must set up in Tripoli, empower its police and militia to bring peace to the capital and bring vital food and medical supplies in through the port and airport.

But they will be mindful that quite a number of diehards, particularly the presidential guard and the 32nd Brigade commanded by Colonel Gaddafi's son Khamis, have still not given up the fight.