Welcome to Middle East Live. Rumours that David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy planned to visit Libya first starting circulating yesterday.
Downing Street is refusing to confirm the trip, but it is being reported by al-Jazeera and other media organisations that both men are expected in Tripoli and Benghazi.
Last night officials in the new Libyan government indicated that both men would become the first world leaders to visit post-Gaddafi Libya.
The French president is said to be revelling in his new nickname "Sarkozy the Libyan" and will be hoping that trip will revive his flagging poll ratings and France's tarnished image in the Arab world.
Writing earlier this month, our Paris correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis, said:
Sarkozy wants to take credit for helping to establish a workable post-Gaddafi country, he wants France to succeed where the US failed in Iraq. By showing he could win over others as part of an alliance of world partners on Libya, Sarkozy hopes he can redress his public image as impulsive, undiplomatic and with a tendency for going out on a limb.
Here are the other key developments in the region:
Libya
Mass graves are being discovered every week in Libya, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. It is sending forensic experts to ensure that exhumations are properly conducted to ensure that information about the dead is not lost. In the latest discovery 34 bodies were exhumed from a mass grave near al-Qawalish, in the Nafusa mountains in western Libya, according to Human Rights Watch.
Syria
Collis was filmed alongside several other ambassadors at a vigil for Giyath Matar on Sunday. He said:
It is important to show Giyath's family and Syrians that the world has noticed what is going on and to increase awareness of the wider situation in Syria. I spoke to his father: the family are very keen that what happened is known.
The broader message to the regime is that this killing and torture must end. Giyath was so clearly associated with peaceful protests and for somebody like that to die in custody is outrageous.
British diplomats said that if Collis had been in the country at the time he would have joined the US and French ambassadors on their celebrated trips to Hama in July, which drew attention to the threat of a bloodbath in the opposition stronghold.
• Three rescuers and a patient were injured in an attack on a Red Crescent ambulance, Human Rights Watch has documented, in an incident it says highlights the need for independent investigation into human rights violations in Syria. "If Red Crescent volunteers are not safe from harm, who is?" asks Sarah Leah Whitson, its Middle East director.
Israel and Palestinian territories
The United States, Europe and the Middle East quartet are engaged in a last-ditch effort to set up a fresh round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in an attempt to head off a major diplomatic embarrassment over the looming Palestinian request for recognition of statehood at the UN. The US is leading diplomatic pressure on Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a bid to persuade the parties back to negotiations rather than risk a damaging collision in New York next week.
Reuters has more on Cameron and Sarkozy's trip to Libya, which it describes as their "victory lap".
Both leaders are hugely popular on the streets of Libya, where "Merci Sarkozy" and "Thank you Britain" are common graffiti slogans. Both may hope to earn political dividends back home from what now appears to have been a successful bet.
But on the eve of their visit, the leader of Libya's National Transitional Council said heavy battles lie ahead against Gaddafi loyalists who have refused to surrender.
National Transitional Council vice chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghogo told Reuters the two leaders would visit both Tripoli and Benghazi, where the NTC rulers are still based even though Gaddafi opponents seized the capital more than three weeks ago.
Reuters also reports that Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected in Libya on Friday with Egypt's foreign minister, Mohammed Kamel Amr.
Until now US assistant secretary of state Jeffrey Feltman has been the highest ranking western official to visit Libya. After his trip on Wednesday Feltman confirmed that US was monitoring the influence of Islamic groups in Libya. Speaking to the New York Times he said:
I think it's something that everybody is watching. First of all the Libyan people themselves are talking about this. Based on our discussions with Libyans so far, we aren't concerned that one group is going to be able to dominate the aftermath of what has been a shared struggle by the Libyan people.
We can stop being coy about the visit of Cameron and Sarkozy to Tripoli. Downing Street has confirmed that the plane has landed. Cameron is being accompanied by foreign secretary William Hague.
Our political editor Patrick Wintour has this report on the visit:
David Cameron landed in liberated Tripoli this morning to undertake a high-risk visit to the Libyan capital along with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, the other main western champion of the five-month Nato bombing campaign that eventually ousted Colonel Gaddafi from power.
William Hague, the foreign secretary, is also on the visit, along with the french intellectual Bernard-Henry Lévy, who persuaded Sarkozy that a victory for the Libyan rebels was essential if the momentum of the Arab Spring was to be retained.
Cameron is bringing with him an aid package and will hold talks with the leaders of the National Transitional Council (NTC) on the progress they are making on stabilisation, driving out the remaining pockets of Gaddafi-supporting resistance in the south of the country and preparing for a democratic future.
It will be the first visit to Libya by western leaders since the collapse of Gaddafi's regime, and is likely to spark big scenes of celebration for the two men who championed the Libyan revolution, at some political and diplomatic risk. It is also expected that Cameron wll fly to Benghazi, the cradle of the resistance and still the base for the NTC.
The trip has been under discussion for over a fortnight, but the two leaders have been advised that the security situation is safe enough for them to travel to a city that only three weeks ago appeared to be under the iron grip of Gaddafi.
The French finance minister denied that the visit of Sarkozy and Cameron was about picking up the economic spoils of war. AP has this:
Francois Baroin, speaking on France-Info radio, said the visit "is a strong gesture, it is a historic moment to go today to Libya."Asked whether there were economic arguments for the visit, Baroin says, "we are not at that stage."
He says France's focus is not yet on reconstruction contracts but on supporting the interim leadership and pursuing "the last pro-Gaddafi pockets."
"In my three weeks here, people have often come up to me unprompted and said: 'Thank you, Cameron, thank you, Sarkozy, thank you, Obama," David Smith reports from Tripoli. In a telephone call on a crackly line David said:
There is still a lot of goodwill towards the Nato allies. In Tripoli there will be an extremely warm reception [for David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy]. [But] a guarding against any sense of "mission accomplished". Of course fighting goes on in some Gaddafi strongholds. [But] This will be something of a victory lap. The arrival of these senior figures will be seen as yet another step towards normality.
The two leaders are expected to give a press conference and visit a field hospital in Tripoli before travelling to Benghazi, David said. There is a security lockdown at the Tripoli Corinthia hotel where a press conference is expected, he said.
There are no chances being taken with security, there are airport style metal detectors, the hotel is in lockdown, many surrounding rounds have been closed. They are clearly conscious of the security risk ...
It is an important measure of the apparent return to normality in Tripoli that this visit is happening at all. When you drive through Tripoli there are fewer and fewer military checkpoints every day. There is more and more traffic and more and more shops open. You can walk very late at night and feel safer than you would in many parts of London or New York. There hasn't been any sign of an insurgency.
Any satisfaction that David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy will draw from today's visit may be tempered with anxiety about when exactly this war will finish, writes Chris Stephen in Misrata.
It is nearly four weeks since rebel forces entered Tripoli, yet pro-Gaddafi forces are still holding out in the coastal stronghold of Sirte and in the towns of Bani Walid and Sabha.
On 27 September, Nato's mandate, already extended by three months in June, is due to run out. A further three months' extension can be agreed by the alliance, but Cameron is likely to want to bring down the curtain on what has proved a controversial mission without wanting to seek a further extension.
That may be one reason why Nato jets continue to pound Sirte each day: no city, apart from Tripoli, has endured such punishment from Nato strike planes in this war.
Since 24 August, when attention was switched from the Libyan capital, Nato has destroyed 296 military targets in and around Sirte; Yesterday's strikes included a command post, a multiple-barrelled rocket launcher and four radar sites.
The problem for Nato, and for rebel forces outside the city, is that Sirte, built near the site of the ancient Phoenician city of Macomedes-Euphranta, is Gaddafi's birthplace, home of the Gaddafi tribe, and has a lot of kit; much of it around the sprawling Ghardabiya air base just south of the city.
On 20 March, the second day of the air war, and seven days before Nato agreed on taking command of the operation, 42 hardened aircraft shelters were destroyed by American B2 stealth bombers.
A Sirte rebel who escaped the town on Monday to join opposition forces ringing the city said that any attacking force must cope also with the hostility of the Gaddafi tribe, and its tribal militia who patrol the streets of the town.
Adding to the problems rebel forces face is that the city centre is home to merchants originally from Misrata, who are now penned in, effectively as human shields, by Gaddafi militias who have cut power and food supplies going in.
Around 160 French riot police were sent to Libya ahead of Sarkozy's arrival to secure his visit, writes Angelique Chrisafis in Paris.
They will not be uniformed and were reportedly instructed to wear jeans and trainers.
For the Elysée, timing and image is everything. Nicolas Sarkozy wanted to get to Libya as soon as possible to cement his media image as "Sarkozy the Libyan" after what has been dubbed "Sarkozy's war".
It will help his personal rebranding exercise as a more presidential, global statesman before a difficult bid for re-election next year. He was keen to arrive before Turkey's Erdogan, who he has a complicated relationship with. The visit will also neatly overshadow the Socialists' live TV debate tonight, their first face-off in the primary race to chose a candidate to against Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential election.
Timing is also important for the foreign minister, Alain Juppé, who was supposed to be giving evidence to the Jacques Chirac corruption trial.
The French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, who had promoted himself as a kind of replacement foreign minister at the start of the Libya campaign saying he influenced Sarkozy's stance, was said to have travelled separately. It will be interesting to see how he interacts with Juppé. Things could be frosty.
Sarkozy fever has hit Benghazi according to Mary Fitzgerald of the Irish Times:
Sarkozy fever here in eastern Libya. Talk of streets, schools, cafes, stadiums + even children being named after him
No talk yet of babies being named after Cameron. Nevertheless the PM said he was "delighted" to be in Tripoli, according to the BBC.
Cameron is due to outline plans to send a military experts to Libya, according to the BBC.
It has these bullet points on what Cameron is due to announce in a speech during his visit.
• deploy a UK military team to advise the NTC on security
• return Libyan assets totalling £500m ($790m) to the interim authorities as soon as possible
• make 50 places available in UK specialist hospitals for critically ill Libyans
• provide £600,000 for de-mining efforts in Libya and £60,000 to pay for a police communications system
In Egypt students at the American University in Cairo - the breeding ground for the country's future leaders - have joined the protest movement in strikes and sit-ins , writes Jack Shenker.
Cameron and Sarkozy have arrived at the Corinthia hotel in Tripoli. Live footage from the hotel also showed Libya's interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril.
Cameron and Sarkozy are due to hold talks with Jibril and Mustafa Abdul Jalil the chairman of the National Transitional Council.
Here's a screengrab from Sky News of footage and Cameron, William Hague and Sarkozy arriving at Tripoli's airport.
The fortunes of the Corinthia hotel - the venue for today's triumphant Cameron-Sarkozy press conference - have mirrored those of the Libyan capital, writes Luke Harding, who has just returned from his stint in Tripoli.
When I checked in hours after the fall of Tripoli, Muammar Gaddafi propaganda posters still hung in the lobby. Rebels warned us there might be snipers inside the building.
Instead I found four terrified staff members cowering under a desk. They quickly removed the posters and checked me in. During the battle for Tripoli the Corinthia's terrace offered a ringside seat of the fighting: there was continuous gun and mortar fire, you could see plumes of smoke rising above Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya complex; the "wumpfing" began
soon after dawn.At one point someone - probably mistakenly - fired a few anti-aircraft rounds into the hotel itself; five bullets hit the room next to mine. After a week officials from Libya's National Transitional Council arrived. Suddenly the lobby become the fulcrum of the new Libya's dealmaking and politics, though it was never entirely clear who was in charge. The politicians sat around the coffee bar, guarded by men with guns in shiny new uniforms. Let's hope that David Cameron doesn't stay for lunch. The restaurant buffet at the Corinthia was generally terrible; the orange juice ran out after five minutes.
Cameron and Sarkozy were greeted by cheers and victory chanting during a visit to a hospital in Tripoli. Footage from the visit, broadcast by Sky News, showed staff at the hospital applauding the two leaders. Many of the staff also filmed the event on mobile phones.
Cameron, Sarkozy, Hague and Juppe met a 25-year-old patient who lost a hand in the fighting. "It is an honour to meet you. Are you getting everything you need?" Cameron said.
The latest Nato update on the bombing campaign in Libya has just been published. It is reminder that Gaddafi's forces still control some key towns despite the scenes of celebration in Tripoli.
In the vicinity of Sirte: 1 Command and Control Node, 1 Military Vehicle Storage Facility, 4 Radars Systems, 2 Surface to Air Missile Systems.
In the vicinity of Waddan: 2 Anti Aircraft Guns, 1 Radar System, 2 Military Logistic Vehicles, 3 Surface to Air Missile Systems.
In the vicinity of Zillah: 1 Multiple Rocket Launcher, 2 Armed Vehicles.
In the vicinity of Bani Walid: 2 Armed Vehicles.
In the vicinity of Sebha: 1 Vehicle Storage Depot, 2 Military Staging Areas.
Britain is still sitting on the fence on Palestinian bid for UN statehood. In a Parliamentary answer Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt, said Britain would consider its stance on the issue if and when a bid was submitted.
"Without knowing the content of any such application, it would premature to speculate on what the government's response might be," he said.
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The UK and other countries will be pushing for a new UN resolution on Libya, David Smith reports after getting a briefing from a Downing Street official.
Speaking from the Corinthia hotel where David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy are due to give a press conference shortly, David said:
The draft has four main principles. One is to establish a new UN mission to Tripoli. Second is to lift the arms embargo. Third is to create a managed process for unfreezing assets and number four is to lift the no-fly zone for civilian flights.
The press conference has begun in Tripoli with Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the chairman of the Libyan National Transitional Council, paying tribute to David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy. Mahmoud Jibril, the NTC's prime minister, does the same.
Jibril says the NTC will take Libya's seat at the UN now. There are three fronts that are still in trouble and we still need protection for civilians from Nato, Jibril says. The UK will help clearing mines and Britain and France will help speed up the unfreezing of assets, he says.
This will be remembered as a significant point for the three countries, says Jibril. It's a free relationship between the three.
Sarkozy is speaking now. He says he is touched by the welcome the Libyan people have shown him. Our commitment in Libya has not finished. As long as peace is threatened, France will remain on Libya's side. Gaddafi should be arrested and all those sought by international law held to account, he says.
There should be no vengeance and human rights should be respected, Sarkozy said. Those who committed crimes or robbed the Libyan people will be tried, he says.
He says France is happy and proud to have worked alongside Britain.
He says he will be on the side of the young Libyans who have given up their lives. The future for young Libyans lies in Libya.
Cameron is speaking now, and thanking the two Libyan leaders. He says there has been an impressive transformation since Gaddafi was overthrown.
He says he is proud of Britain's role, but "this was your revolution". He pays tribute to the brave people around the country who removed "the dreadful dictatorship of Gaddafi". But "this is not finished ... This is not over." Parts of Libya are still under Gaddafi's control and he is still at large.
He says Britain is going to help clear mines in Libya. There is still a need for very specialised medical help and Britain stands ready to provide help with that, he says.
Libya can be a great success story, Cameron says. He has started the unfreezing protest for Libyan assets, but he says if they pass the UN resolution they can unfreeze another $12bn in the UK alone. The Arab spring could become an Arab summer and we could see democracy advance in other countries, he says.
The NTC has continually proved the sceptics wrong, Cameron says. Go on proving the sceptics wrong by the generosity of your vision of the future and rights for all, he tells them.
I'm very proud to be standing there and that Britain has played a part in the revolution, Cameron says.
On to questions.
Jalil says Libya will not forget the help France and Britain gave them as it rebuilds.
Sarkozy says France will stand alongside Libya in times of peace and reconstruction and says there has been no agreement about the resources of Libya behind the scenes. We ask for no preference when it comes to financial dealings, Sarkozy says. We did what he did because we thought it was right, he says.
Allegations and statements in the press are lies and manipulations, Sarkozy says. We have not thought about political gains of this sort, he says. The NTC has led a just revolution and the coalition took part because it believed it was just.
The leaders are asked about criticism of Nato strikes. Sarkozy says strikes will continue as long as the leaders of a free Libya believe Libyans are still in danger.
He pays homage to the military leaders of the coalition, especially French and British soldiers. Our desire was to avoid civilian casualties, he says.
(Nato was unusually successful at this during the Libya campaign.)
By contrast, Sarkozy says, Gaddafi was using schools, hospitals and shelters for civilians as human shields.
Sarkozy says one day the young people of Syria will have the same chance Libyan youngsters have now.
He dedicates his visit to all those who want Syria to be a free country one day.
Cameron is asked about the fact that the government "does not have the confidence" to fully move to Tripoli. How confident is he that the NTC do have a grip on the country?
Cameron says he has just held a meeting with the NTC in Tripoli and people have consistently underestimated them. He hopes they will go on proving people wrong and he will go on supporting them. The biggest thing is to unfreeze Libyan assets now.
The Nato mission will go on for as long as it is necessary to protect civilians.
His message to Gaddafi is: "It is over. Give up. The mercenaries should go home." Those who think Gaddafi has any part in the governing of Libya should "forget it".
It is time for Gaddafi to face justice, he says.
He says he does not know where Gaddafi and his family are. They should all give themselves up and face justice "for the crimes they have undoubtedly committed".
Here are a couple of direct quotes from David Cameron a little earlier.
On Britain's help for Libya:
We want to help you diplomatically, militarily, economically and with your development. We are your friends, but this is your country, your leadership, your plan. We stand ready to help, but we want to know what it is you most want us to do.
This does go beyond Libya; this is a moment when the Arab spring could become an Arab summer and we see democracy advance in other countries too. I believe you have an opportunity to give an example to others about what taking back your country can mean.
On Nato's continuing involvement:
Let us be clear, this is not finished, this is not done, this is not over. There are still parts of Libya that are under Gaddafi's control. Gaddafi is still at large and we must make sure this work is completed.
Once the whole of Libya's territory is under NTC control we will announce the full liberation of the country, says Jalil, and the government will move from Benghazi to Tripoli.
Are you worried that an African country will offer Gaddafi exile? Jalil says he has asked for Cameron and Sarkozy's assistance about this. Tomorrow they are sending a delegation to Niger to ask Niger to hand over the people who have fled across the border and get the money back that they took with them.
Sarkozy says he thinks Niger will respect international law.
All the dictators of the world should know that in the 21st century there will be no place they can hide. Impunity is over.
And with that the press conference ends.
Nearly all the staff have been cleared out of the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital ahead of an anti-Israel protest, amid fears the mission could be attacked like the one in Cairo was last week, according to reports.
Here is Nicolas Sarkozy's full quote on Niger:
We have no doubt that they will respect international law. The chairman of the NTC has asked us to intervene. This will be done tomorrow. All the dictators of the world should know that in the world of the 21st century there will be no place where they can hide with impunity. Impunity is over.
My colleague Andrew Sparrow was also watching the Cameron-Sarkozy press conference and has summed it up on his Politics blog.
David Cameron has finished his joint news conference in Tripoli with Nicolas Sarkozy. He confirmed that Britain and France will be pushing for a new resolution at the United Nations tomorrow to unfreeze Libyan assets. He also said that some Libyan patients, such as a boy injured by a grenade, would be treated in British hospitals (but the Libyans would be paying). Cameron sought to avoid a triumphalist tone, and he stressed that difficult times were ahead.
"The hardest bit of work is probably still to come, of making sure that everyone has a future in this country, of getting it back on its feet. These will be difficult times."
But, overall, his tone was positive. He suggested that the "Arab spring" could be turning into an "Arab summer", with democracy advancing in other countries too. And he repeatedly paid tribute to the Libyans for what they had done. "This was your revolution, not our revolution," he said. One of the reasons why the aftermath of the Iraq war turned out so badly was because outsiders, not Iraqis, were in charge. Cameron stressed that this was different, and that it would be up to the Libyans to rebuild their country. Britain would just be helping. "We are your friends," he said. "We wish you well. We will be with you every step of the way."
"It was a self confident and bullish performance by David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy," David Smith reports from Tripoli:
What was really striking was the tone of looking forward. Nicolas Sarkozy said flying over Tripoli and meeting young Libyans had made him think of Syria. He said he dedicated this visit to young Syrians, who are hoping for a similar case of freedom one day. David Cameron also talked about the prospect of the Arab spring turning into an Arab summer, and how Libya could set an example to other countries. There was a self-confidence, almost an expansionist tone and that it has the potential for a knock-on effect elsewhere.
Despite the triumphalist aspects, they were careful to retain some humility and say this is not over. David Cameron said very bluntly the message to Gaddafi: give yourself up, it's over. It's time for the mercenaries to go down.
There was confusion on the role Nato is playing in the hunt for Gaddafi. Officially British and French representatives say [they are] not [involved]. Libyans say that as well. And yet today David Cameron said "we are helping with that" [the hunt for Gaddafi]. It is a badly kept secret that Nato is providing some intelligence, even though they won't say what.
This is a big day for the new Libya and for the National Transitional Council and so far it is going well and they are pleased. They are off to Benghazi and I would expect another warm reaction there.
You can listen to the full interview above.
The Israeli prime minister Binjamin Netanyahu said today he would address the United Nations next week and urge Palestinians to negotiate peace with Israel rather than pursue a bid for full UN membership for a Palestinian state.
Here is a lunchtime summary.
Libya
• David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy have flown into Tripoli for a meeting with the National Transitional Council, Libya's new leaders. The British prime minister and the French president said they would continue to help Libya in its reconstruction. Cameron said he hoped the Arab spring would now become an Arab summer (surely Arab autumn?) and democracy would advance in other countries too. Sarkozy singled out Syria (see 12.24pm). Cameron stressed that this was Libya's revolution, not Britain or France's.
• Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the chairman of the NTC, said he had asked for Cameron and Sarkozy's help following reports that key Gaddafi regime figures, including Saadi, one of the fugitive leader's sons, had escaped into Niger, perhaps with considerable sums of money. Jalil said tomorrow the NTC was sending a delegation to Niger to ask Niger to hand over those who had crossed the border and get the money back (see 12.31pm). Cameron told Gaddafi to "give up" and face justice (see 12.25pm), and said the UK would help: "We will help you to find Gaddafi and bring him to justice." Pro-Gaddafi forces are still holding out in the coastal stronghold of Sirte and in the towns of Bani Walid and Sabha (see 10.24am).
• Jalil said the new Libya would not forget its friends, but Sarkozy said France asked for "no preference when it comes to financial dealings", and had not intervened for political or economic reasons, but because it was the right thing to do (see 12.18pm).
• Cameron and Sarkozy said Britain and France would be pushing for a new UN resolution tomorrow unfreezing Libyan assets (see 1.07pm). The resolution will reportedly also establish a new UN mission to Tripoli, lift the arms embargo and lift the no-fly zone for civilian flights (see 11.56am). Cameron said some Libyan patients would be treated in British hospitals, and Britain is going to help with mine-clearance. Nato's mission would go on for as long as the NTC felt civilians were under threat (see 12.25pm).
• Jalil said that once the whole of Libya is under NTC control the new government will declare "full liberation" and move from Benghazi to Tripoli. Mahmoud Jibril, the NTC's prime minister, said the NTC would take Libya's seat at the UN now (see 12.04pm). Cameron and Sarkozy are off to Benghazi next.
Below the line Clunie has spotted that Cameron and Sarkozy have not been the only ones flying in to Tripoli.
Iran's ambassador, Ali Asghar Naseri, has returned in the hope of "deepening bilateral cooperation".
Libyan rebels this morning launched a major offensive to capture the city of Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace and the last of his coastal strongholds still holding-out, writes Chris Stephen in Misrata.
Nine hundred armed rebel pickup trucks, the largest mobile force so far assembled for a single operation, has attacked the western edge of city, defended by loyalist troops and armed militia from the Gaddafi tribe.
Misrata's military council said loyalist forces were massed in the western suburbs to fight off the attack, and claimed they are using civilians as "human shields".
Rebel sources in Misrata say they are concerned about the fate of several hundred families, originally from Misrata, living in the central First District, who loyalist militias have been surrounding for several days, having cut water, food and power supplies.
The Foreign Office is to update its travel advice on Libya to reflect the improved security situation. At the time of writing it advises against all travel to Libya, but this is due to change later today.
A government briefing said the new advice will say that essential travel to a number of key towns and cities is possible. They include: Zuwarah, Az Zawiyah, Tripoli, al Khums, Zlitan, Misrata, Ras Lanuf and Benghazi.
Downing Street has sent out a bullet-point guide on the measures that Cameron is setting out in Libya today.
It is divided into three sections: security, humanitarian aid, and reconstruction.
Security
• Deploy a small military liaison team for six months to work alongside the US with the NTC to establish a counter-proliferation programme, focussed on identifying, securing and disabling small surface to air missiles.
• Provide £1m from the UK's conflict pool to fund NGO teams of civilian experts who specialise in weapons decommissioning and disposal - who will work with NTC personnel to: undertake a full inventory of sites and systems; instigate physical security and stockpile management programmes; and identify which missiles can be destroyed.
• Offer technical assistance to help with the destruction of remaining chemical agent stocks under the auspices of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and in liaison with international partners.
• Provide £60,000 worth of additional communications equipment for the Libyan police in Benghazi such as repeaters and antennas to enhance the current capacity and enable better coordination with Police throughout Benghazi.
• Provide expert forensic advice and assistance, if requested by the NTC, to help gather and preserve evidence of human rights abuses.
Humanitarian aid
• Assist in the treatment of those most seriously wounded in the war by providing 50 places at specialist hospitals in the UK. The costs of the treatment and transportation of those injured will be paid for by the Libyan authorities.
• Help to protect around a million people in Libya from the threat of deadly landmines and unexploded ordnance as they return to their homes and businesses in areas worst affected by providing an additional £600,000 to the Mines Advisory Group.
Supporting the NTC in their efforts to rebuild Libya
• Now make available approx £600m more of Libyan assets because they are no longer under the control of Gaddafi and as a result of EU delisting.
• Push a new resolution at the UN security council tomorrow which will mandate a new UN mission, continue the protection of civilians and release overseas Libyan assets. This will allow £12bn of assets frozen in the UK to be used to support transition and stabilisation over the coming months. And it will enable the Libyan oil companies to operate freely, which is critical to Libya meeting its immediate needs and funding its own reconstruction.
Comment is free is about to a live Q&A with Hussein Ibish and Yossi Klein Halevi to discuss the Palestinian bid for UN statehood. The debate is in conjunction with the Forward and will start at 3pm.
Syrian activists are furious with Turkey after the Syria government announced it had captured Hussein al-Harmoush, one of the leaders of the Free Officer Movement of deserted soldiers.
Syrian state TV is due to broadcast a "confession" from Harmoush, tonight. A preview of the broadcast appeared on YouTube.
Harmoush disappeared on way to a refugee camp following a meeting with Turkish security at the end of last month.
"The Turks handed him to the Syrian secret police," activist Omar al-Muqdad said, according to CNN.
"The Turkish government is directly responsible for Harmoush's destiny, because Harmoush was a refugee on their territory. They have to be honest about him. ...under international rules, any country that receives him has to protect him," al-Muqdad said.
There appears to better news from another high-profile Syrian deserter Adnan Muhammad al-Bakkour, the former attorney general of Hama who resigned in protest at the severity of the government's crackdown.
Security forces have been trying to track him down since he issued a video statement late last month declaring his defection to the rebels. The government claims he was forced to make the statement, something he subsequently denied in another video statement.
Now a new video message from Bakkour has emerged.
In the video Bakkour demands international protection for Syrian civilians - the theme of last Friday's protests across Syria.
A man was shot and killed by security forces in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani today, according to the Local Co-ordinating Committees, which monitor protests in Syria.
The LCCs named the man as Ahmad Abdulaziz Hamdan. Also in Zabadani, security forces shot and arrested a man named Redwan Awwad when he tried to escape capture, the LCCs said. In another suburb of the Syrian capital, Hasrata, "many" people were shot and injured, some of them critically, the LCCs reported. Half an hour ago the gunfire was still continuing, the LCCs said.
In Latakia, on the coast, the LCCs said that a 16-year-old boy, Mahmoud Bek, died after being tortured for eight days. "He was arrested during the storming of Latakia and his family was forced to declare that armed gangs had killed him and buried him secretly," they reported.
The LCCs also reported the death in Homs, in the west of the country, of a Red Crescent ambulanceman, Duraq Siba'i, who was shot and wounded a few days ago by security forces as he and his ambulance tried to rescue wounded people.
In the Karm Zaitoon neighbourhood of Homs, security forces fired on a demonstration about an hour ago, the activists said. A tank was firing in Khaldieh and there was "heavy shooting" in Cairo Street.
In the Bab area of Aleppo, in the north-west, security forces shot two young men who the LCCs said had nothing to do with recent demonstrations. The LCCs named them as Ahmad Hamdo Saleh and Ghassan Sua'adi.
In Idlib province, near the border with Turkey, where the army was reported earlier this week to be carrying out attacks, there was heavy gunfire in Rasha and Shorlin, and tanks were moving on Halwyeh and Kafarouid, the LCCs reported.
In Deraa, in the south, a women's demonstration took place calling for detainees to be freed and the regime toppled. in Latakia 65 people were arrested for participating in a protest. Other demonstrations were reported in various parts of the country.
This map shows where all those places are.
Foreign journalists are banned from Syria and it is hard to verify what is happening there.
Also today a group of Syrian activists announced the creation of a council designed to present a united front against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The new Syrian National Council, formed at a meeting in Turkey, will try to establish consensus on dealing with Assad and the outside world, the Associated Press news agency reported.
It includes 140 opposition figures, including exiled opponents and 70 dissidents inside Syria, said Basma Kodmani, a Paris-based academic. The members are drawn from Syria's various political, religious and ethnic groups, Reuters reported.
"This group, based on previous initiatives, and on what the street is demanding, is calling for the downfall of the regime with all of its limbs," Kodmani said.
While not ruling out foreign military intervention in Syrian as more protesters call for international protection, Kodmani said the focus for now was on stepping up diplomatic and economic pressure on Assad.
A French foreign ministry spokesman said today that Syrian opposition figures are meeting French officials in Paris today and tomorrow, though he did not name the figures.
France used to be Syria's colonial ruler.
William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, has confirmed plans to change Foreign Office travel advice on Libya.
Since 3 March, we have advised against all travel to Libya. However in light of the improving security situation on the ground I have decided to change our Travel Advice to advise against all but essential travel to Zuwarah, Az Zawiyah, Tripoli, al Khums, Zlitan and Misratah, and the coastal towns from Ras Lanuf to the Egyptian Border, including Benghazi. We still advise against all travel to all other areas of Libya.
Our travel advice is kept under constant review and the safety of British nationals remains our priority. Any British national thinking of travelling to Libya should take care and check our travel advice regularly. It is also important to note that the UK mission in Tripoli is only able to provide very limited consular assistance at this time, but we do plan to deploy additional staff when the situation allows.
David Cameron is speaking in Benghazi, Libya, now, alongside Nicolas Sarkozy.
The two leaders are really getting a hero's welcome in Benghazi.
"It is great to be here in a free Benghazi. People in Britain salute your courage ... you showed the world you can get rid of dictator," Cameron told the cheering crowd.
Cameron said Gaddafi wanted to hunt the rebels down like rats, but they showed the courage of lions.
Nicolas Sarkozy is speaking now, also getting an incredible reception.
France, Great Britain and Europe are with you, he tells the Benghazi crowd.
We want a united not a divided Libya, Sarkozy says.
You have shown us your courage. We need a new courage for forgiveness and reconciliation, Sarkozy says. Long live the friendship between Libya and France. And that's it from both leaders.
National Transitional Council chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil pins a badge of the new Libyan flag to William Hague's lapel.
Sarkozy is now out in the crowd, rock star-style. Some of the security staff look a bit worried.
Sarkozy is out of the crowd and waving to the crowds.
Here is a picture of Nicolas Sarkozy, Mustafa Abdul Jalil and David Cameron in Benghazi this afternoon.
Photograph: BBC News
Today has been a PR triumph for the leaders of Britain and France, and they look like they know it.
Here's David Smith's report from Tripoli on Sarkozy and Cameron's visit.
Bashar al-Assad's opponents are putting pressure on the international community to act in Syria, but who would intervene, and how, asks Brian Whitaker on Comment is free.
Nobody has yet come up with a military proposal that looks workable and has a reasonable chance of success – which is as good a reason as any not to pin any hopes on it.
The options internationally are far more limited than they were in Libya. Merely supplying arms to the Syrian opposition, as some countries may be tempted to do surreptitiously, is likely to prolong the conflict rather than hasten its end. That raises the spectre of Lebanon next door, and its 15-year civil war.
The Syrians who burned Russian flags in Homs and Deraa probably had the right idea. Pressuring the countries that still back Assad seems the best step forward at present. If a solid international consensus can be established, it will become possible to put a serious squeeze on the regime – diplomatically and economically – from outside, while others work inside until enough of the regime's key supporters decide that the game is up.
Chris Stephen in Misrata has more on the NTC's offensive to capture Sirte, Libya. After heavy fighting, NTC forces advancing from the west claim to have pushed thirty miles to the outskirts of the city.
"The independence flag is flying over the last petrol station before the city," said a statement from the Misrata Military Council, which is coordinating the attack.
Nato planes are in the air, and the alliance reported destroying eight targets in Sirte overnight, part of a bombardment that has the western alliance strike nearly 300 targets in the city over the past three weeks.
NTC sources say negotiations over the peaceful surrender of the city broke down last weekend.The opposition objective is to punch through the front and reach District One, inhabited by families originally from Misrata who NTC sources say are being held hostage by pro-Gaddafi militias.
"Answering to the call of our people in the city of Sirte and in order to remove the injustice inflicted upon them by the ousted tyrant, more than 900 armed car[s] went toward Sirte this morning," said the military council.
Loyalist forces are fighting back with artillery, mortars and long-range grad rockets.
Conditions for civilians inside Sirte are described as desperate, with water, power and food supplies cut.
The NTC forces are anxious to capture Sirte because it lies on lies on Libya's strategic coastal highway, in effect leaving the country split in two.
Nato is also anxious to get the war over, as its mandate runs out on 27 September, and Paris and London would prefer to have the war finished by then, rather than ask for an extension.
Misrata Military Council just issued a statement saying rebels are inside Sirte proper, fighting for control of Gardabya bridge, Chris Stephen reports.
Here is an evening summary.
Libya
• David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy flew into Tripoli for a meeting with the National Transitional Council, Libya's new leaders. The British prime minister and the French president said they would continue to help Libya in its reconstruction. Cameron said he hoped the Arab spring would now become an Arab summer and democracy would advance in other countries too. Sarkozy singled out Syria (see 12.24pm). Cameron stressed that this was Libya's revolution, not Britain or France's. The two leaders than travelled to Benghazi, where they received a rock star's welcome from a large crowd (see 4pm).
• Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the chairman of the NTC, said he had asked for Cameron and Sarkozy's help following reports that key Gaddafi regime figures, including Saadi, one of the fugitive leader's sons, had escaped into Niger, perhaps with considerable sums of money. Jalil said tomorrow the NTC was sending a delegation to Niger to ask Niger to hand over those who had crossed the border and get the money back (see 12.31pm). Cameron told Gaddafi to "give up" and face justice (see 12.25pm), and said the UK would help: "We will help you to find Gaddafi and bring him to justice."
• Jalil said the new Libya would not forget its friends, but Sarkozy said France asked for "no preference when it comes to financial dealings", and had not intervened for political or economic reasons, but because it was the right thing to do (see 12.18pm).
• Cameron and Sarkozy said Britain and France would be pushing for a new UN resolution tomorrow unfreezing Libyan assets (see 1.07pm). The resolution will reportedly also establish a new UN mission to Tripoli, lift the arms embargo and lift the no-fly zone for civilian flights (see 11.56am). Cameron said some Libyan patients would be treated in British hospitals, and Britain is going to help with mine-clearance. Nato's mission would go on for as long as the NTC felt civilians were under threat (see 12.25pm). Mahmoud Jibril, the NTC's prime minister, said the NTC would take Libya's seat at the UN now (see 12.04pm).
• NTC forces claim to be inside Sirte and fighting for control of Gardabya bridge (see 5.10pm). Jalil said that once the whole of Libya is under NTC control the new government will declare "full liberation" and move from Benghazi to Tripoli. Pro-Gaddafi forces are still holding out in Bani Walid and Sabha (see 10.24am).
• Britain announced changes to its travel advice on Libya, lifting curbs that had held back businesses seeking to win contracts to rebuild the country (see 3.58pm).
Syria
• The death of a 19-year-old woman in Homs was reported by the Local Co-ordinating Committees, which monitor protests in Syria. The LCCs say Zainab Hesni was abducted by the pro-Assad militia called shabiha ("ghosts") and was delivered to a military hospital today with the marks of torture on her face and body.
• A man was shot and killed by security forces in Damascus today, according to the LCCs (see 3.56pm). Many others were shot and injured elsewhere in the capital, the LCCs said. Large artillery pieces have been positioned facing the city, and there is a fear of shelling. In Latakia, on the coast, the LCCs said that a 16-year-old boy, Mahmoud Bek, died after being tortured for eight days. The LCCs also reported the death in Homs, in the west of the country, of a Red Crescent ambulanceman, Duraq Siba'i, who was shot and wounded a few days ago by security forces as he and his ambulance tried to rescue wounded people. Foreign journalists are banned from Syria and it is hard to verify what is happening there.
• A group of Syrian activists announced the creation of a council designed to present a united front against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The new Syrian National Council, formed at a meeting in Turkey, will try to establish consensus on dealing with Assad and the outside world.
• Syrian activists are claiming that Turkey handed over one of the leaders of the Free Officer Movement of deserted soldiers, Hussein al-Harmoush, to the Syrian secret police (see 2.52pm). Syrian state TV is due to broadcast a "confession" from Harmoush tonight. A new video message emerged from another high-profile defector, former Hama attorney general Adnan Muhammad al-Bakkour (see 3.27pm). In his video Bakkour demands international protection for Syrian civilians.
Turkey
• On a visit to Tunisia, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned Israel that his country wopuld not stand by and let it do as it wished. Erdoğan is on a crowd-pleasing tour of the region.
Palestinians
• The Palestinians will ask the UN security council to accept them as a full member of the United Nations on Friday 23 September, they announced.
My colleague Nour Ali sends this analysis of the attempt by Syrian opposition forces to form a unified front today (see 3.56pm):
Syria's opposition has struggled to coalesce, creating numerous groupings and initiatives in various cities over the past six months. Today's announcement, made in Istanbul, of a national council has left many onlookers underwhelmed. It is hard to assess the importance of the opposition grouping until all 140 members, including 70 dissidents in Syria, most of whom have not been named, are known and the reaction of protesters and other members of the opposition becomes clear. But this is very unlikely to be the final word on a body to represent the opposition.
The academics who announced the council are unknown: they are not among the veteran dissidents or the opposition figures who have been emerging as popular in recent weeks, including Burhan Ghalioun, who topped a proposal for a national council released in Ankara in late August. This is not the only attempt to create a representative body for the opposition – at least two other groupings have been working on a national council. Most recently, at the end of August, activists frustrated by the ongoing fragmentation of the opposition released a "wish-list" under Ghalioun, who said he would attempt to bring various groups together.
With years of oppression, exiles and insiders, young activists and old dissidents, Kurds and Arabs, unification of the opposition has been hard. In recent weeks opposition members who had largely been calling for the same things have also started to diverge, with some members keener to call for foreign intervention than others. Kurds, frustrated at what they see as marginalisation by the Arab opposition, have also started to hold their own conferences.
Some in Syria are sceptical of opposition groupings made in Turkey, which they see as keen to influence which figures are nominated for any council, with a bias towards the Muslim Brotherhood – although opposition members announcing today's council said it included Islamists and secularists. Other countries are now starting to host and increase efforts to unify the opposition. Qatar hosted several opposition figures in Doha last week and France has said that it will extend its contacts with the opposition.