Libyan rebels fighting Muammar Gaddafi's forces say they have launched a major push toward a key town along the Mediterranean coast near Tripoli, backed by tanks and rocket fire.
Hundreds of fighters are on the move along the road in Yafran toward the front lines, where heavy fighting seems to be under way today.
The ground is reverberating with loud booms and rocket fire is echoing from the distance.
Two Libyan rebel fighters, Jumma Hussein and Youssef Bilin, say their forces are trying to "first liberate Bir Ghanam" and then capture a key coastal town, Zawiyah, before heading on to Tripoli.
The rebels said earlier this week they hope to reach the Libyan capital before the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Earlier rebel commander said his forces had unconfirmed reports that a Nato air strike destroyed a caravan of camels carrying weapons from neighbouring Chad.
Abdullah Aitha, who commands rebels fighting in the south-eastern Kufra region, said the caravan was made up of hundreds of camels and carried heavy-calibre machine guns, mortars and ammunition.
He said the air strike came last night in a desert 62 miles from the Chad border as the caravan was heading for the city of Sebha, 400 miles south of the capital Tripoli.
Sebha is a key Gaddafi stronghold deep in the country's south-western deserts where much of the Libyan leader's loyal troops hail from.
"The camels are totally burned and the weapons are all destroyed," Mr Aitha said.
Yesterday, a rebel commander said his forces had also received unconfirmed reports that Gaddafi's youngest son had been killed in a Nato air strike on the western town of Zlitan.
Mohammed al-Rijali in the rebel's de facto capital of Benghazi said Khamis Gaddafi was among 32 troops killed in the Nato strike on a government operations centre in Zlitan.
But in Tripoli, deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said Khamis was alive and spoke to Libyan government officials to confirm his wellbeing.
"He is OK and alive, and they (reports of death) are just lies," Kaim said.
He said the rebels spread reports of Khamis' death to "distract attention" from the killing late last month of rebel military chief Abdel-Fattah Younes.
The rebel leadership has insisted Younes' assassination was the work of the Gaddafi regime, but several witnesses say he was killed by fellow rebels. The killing has fuelled concerns about unity within the revel movement nearly six months after the revolt began.
Nato said it was aware of the reports that Khamis had been killed, but it did not confirm his death. It said alliance strikes on Thursday night hit an ammunition depot and military police facility in Zlitan, which is the main front of fighting between rebels and Gaddafi's troops, 90 miles south east of Tripoli.
Gaddafi's regime and Libya's rebels have been locked in a stalemate on various fronts across the country, despite a Nato bombing campaign directed against government forces.
The rebels control eastern Libya and pockets in the west, while Gaddafi clings to the rest, including the capital of Tripoli.