Libyan rebel fighters in the besieged city of Misrata are claiming victory after Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime finally pulled back its forces after almost two months of fighting.
Deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said that it was a tactical withdrawal, leaving the city to the local pro-government tribes who have grown impatient with the prolonged stalemate.
But the claim was dismissed by the rebels who questioned how much support there really was for Gaddafi among the tribes in the area.
The Ministry of Defence said that coalition warplanes were continuing to fly "intensive" missions, focusing on the area around Misrata in the west on the fluctuating front line between Brega and Ajdabiya in the east.
Nato, meanwhile, confirmed that US unmanned Predator drones had carried out their first airstrikes since their use for mounting attacks was approved on Thursday by President Barack Obama, although no details of the action were being released.
The apparent lifting of the siege of Misrata came as a huge boost to the rebels who have suffered hundreds of casualties in the regime's onslaught on their last enclave in the west of the country.
"After they heard the news, people began breathing freely. The women were making ululations and they went onto the streets beeping their car horns," one rebel activist told Associated Press.
Kaim said that if the rebels did not now surrender, the local tribes would attack them and finish them off.
"We will leave it for the tribes around Misrata and the Misrata people to deal with the situation in Misrata," he told reporters in the capital, Tripoli.
However, his threats were dismissed by the rebels as an attempt by the regime to buy time.
