from celebration to confusion in less than one day. this time yesterday we were reporting how rebels were gaining on tripoli. international leaders talking about a new political era and rebels bragging they had captured gadhafi s son. then saif appeared overnight and said he lured them into a trap. as we look at the live pictures out of tripoli, we still don t know if gadhafi is in his compound or not but nato jets are flying low over his compound. at least one explosion has been reported. nato won t confirm any bombing, however. and rebels are engaged in fierce fighting near the compound as well. as we heard just a moment ago, a rebel official reporting they have actually breached the gates there. we are hitting the story hard with multiple correspondents on the ground. matthew chance in the heart of tripoli. arwa damon reporting from the city s airport and sarah sidener and frederik pleitgen is in ben gaza. state to matthew chance who is caught up in a pretty dangerous situ
good morning to you. it is tuesday, august 23rd. this is am: wake up call. i m carol costello live in new york. let s get started with that big storm crashing through the atlantic ocean right now. irene is getting ever more powerful and may be heading toward the united states. people in south carolina already getting ready for irene. the hurricane is near the dominican republic right now. take a look at the storm from the international space station. irene is now a category 2 hurricane, but jacqui jeras says it could become an enormous category 4 later this week as it gets closer to the southeastern united states. it s already left about half of puerto rico without power. cnn will take a closer look at the storm s path in a few minutes. how is the battle for tripoli going anyway this morning? that depends on whom you ask. rebel leaders say they have control over most of the city. there s still some fierce fighting in some neighborhoods. moammar gadhafi s son saif, the o
moammar gadhafi has not been found but his son has reappeared. here s video from a short time ago. safe, unexpectedly materialize in front of cameras in tripoli. the opposition forces have claimed they had him in custody. apparently not. in any case, not any more. translator: gangs of people who are sabotagers and you could ski the people of libya are standing and have broken the spine of those rats and gangsters and today, we ll go in the old hot spots of tripoli, in tripoli, and we ll reassure the people that things are fine in libya. now on a walk about in tripoli and in the places where they say there has been they have actually seized from us. then he said, the hell with the oicc. a short time later as the dictator was about to leave, our own matthew chance caught up with him for a brief one-on-one. we broke the backbone of the rebels. so we are and now, let s go. let s go together, to the hottest places in tripoli, okay? very hot. you want to go? no. well,
tripoli. will leader moammar gadhafi flee or stay and fight? a man in new mexico rescues a little girl who is about to be kidnapped. being called a hero, but now he could be deported. take a look in the back of that pickup truck. yes, it s a stroller and there s a baby inside. find out what happened next. but first, let s get to libya and the situation their right now. libyan officials are denying that moammar gadhafi and his family are looking to leave tripoli. that as leaders are closing in on the strong hold. one spoke to our sarah seidner. reporter: how long do you think before you are able to push into tripoli? hopefully in a couple of days. reporter: a couple of days? you think it will be that soon? i think so. we are controlling 80%. now if gadhafi is not leaving, he could be planning a last stand in tripoli. our matthew chance is in the libyan city right now. matthew, gadhafi has been in power for 42 years. is it possible he could leave? reporter: i
towards the capital. this is the city of zawiya. on this day, even if you couldn t see the fire fight close up, you could hear its deafening sounds reverberating from the eastern part of the city. just getting too close. there are snipers on the tops of buildings. loud bangs. artillery fire. morta mortars. we ve got to get out of here. despite the major battle going on around him, a rebel fighter, who did not want to be identified to protect his family, was confident of victory. considering the fighting is to fierce here, how long before you think you re able to push into tripoli? hopefully a couple of days. or one week maybe. reporter: you think it s going to be that soon? i think so because we are, we are in control in 80% of zawiya. reporter: but to push forward, they need to secure the whole city where gadhafi s army is doing everything it can to keep hold of this town. why is zawiya so important? because of oil factory. reporter: zawiya has one of the last re