TRIPOLI, Libya — Rebel fighters pushed increasingly leaderless regime gunmen to the outskirts of Tripoli on Saturday, as severe shortages of fuel, water and electricity paralyzed the battle-scarred capital and the stench of growing piles of garbage filled the air.

The rebels, who now control most of Libya, said they are preparing for an assault on Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte, his last major bastion, if negotiations with tribal leaders there fail. Rebels deployed in Bin Jawad, a town about 100 miles east of Sirte, said they are waiting for NATO to bomb Scud missile launchers and possible weapons warehouses there.

Additional Photos

Libyans celebrate the liberation of their district, Qasr bin Ghashir in Tripoli, on Saturday. Much of the city, however, lacks power and water and is littered with garbage and wreckage. The Associated Press

Earlier this month, two Scuds were fired from near Sirte, a first in the six-month civil war.

“What we fear most is chemical weapons and the long-range missiles,” said Fadl-Allah Haroun, a rebel commander. Once NATO has cleared the path, rebels will advance toward Sirte, he said.

Gadhafi’s whereabouts are unknown, but there has been speculation he may have sought refuge in his tribal area.

The rebels’ information minister, Mahmoud Shammam, said the hunt for the defeated dictator won’t hold up efforts to build a new administration and try to get the situation in Libya under control. “We are not going to wait for everything to find Gadhafi and his sons,” he said.

Rebel fighters were also trying to open up the coastal road from Tunisia to Tripoli, a major supply route.

Rebels have taken control of the Tunisian-Libyan border crossing on the Mediterranean, but have been unable to ferry goods from Tunisia because regime loyalists were shelling the coastal road near the city of Zwara, about 70 miles from Tripoli, on Saturday.

A large ferry chartered by the International Organization for Migration docked in Tripoli’s harbor Saturday, unloading food, water and medical supplies. Today, the vessel is to take aboard 1,200 stranded foreigners, an IOM official said.

While fighting has died down in the city, life remains difficult.

Much of the capital is without electricity and water. Streets are strewn with torched cars and stinking garbage, because trash hasn’t been collected in many neighborhoods for months. Corpses crowd abandoned hospitals. Stores are closed. Bombed planes sit on the Tripoli airport’s tarmac.

Fuel prices have skyrocketed. In Tripoli, the cost of about 5 gallons of gas has jumped to about $100 – 28 times the price before fighting broke.

Shammam, the information minister, said 30,000 metric tons of fuel were being distributed Saturday, and that shipments of diesel fuel, for running power stations and water pumps, are on the way.

He said he hoped the area’s largest refinery, near the city of Zawiya, some 30 miles west of Tripoli, could be restarted soon. Mohammed Aziz, an operations manager there, said the refinery would start operating Monday.

In Tripoli’s Abu Salim neighborhood, residents said gas is increasingly scarce. “We buy it mainly on the black market, mainly from Tunisians,” said Osama Shallouf, a resident. “When you hear that somebody in the neighborhood is selling it, you go to his house and buy it.”

The shortages come as Muslims around the world, including in Libya, prepared for a three-day holiday, Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan early this week. Traditionally, children get new clothes, shoes, haircuts and toys for the holiday.

In a string of towns stretching to the west of Tripoli, clothing stores were bustling with mothers, children in tow, shopping for Eid clothing. In Zawiya, Sabratha and Surman, the main highway was partially blocked by masses of cars parked in front of the roadside shops.

Rebel fighters rode into Tripoli nearly a week ago, capping a blitz offensive following months of battlefield deadlock. After days of fierce fighting that left at least 230 dead, said hospital doctors, rebels seemed to be in control of nearly the entire capital.

On Saturday, they claimed victory over the suburb of Qasr bin Ghashir, near Tripoli’s airport, following an overnight battle. Residents celebrated by firing guns and anti-aircraft weapons into the air and beating portraits of the toppled leader with their shoes. Regime troops had shelled the airport from the area.

“You can say that bin Ghashir has been liberated from Gadhafi soldiers,” said Omar al-Ghuzayl, 45, a field commander in charge of rebel forces at the airport. “We’ve been able to push them completely outside Tripoli.”

Related Stories