Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is still capable of exercising control over his remaining forces even after he lost the capital Tripoli to the rebels, according to a NATO spokesperson.

"He is displaying a capability to exercise some level of command and control," Colonel Roland Lavoie, military spokesman of the NATO air mission in Libya, told reporters on Tuesday, at the Alliance base near Naples, as cited by Al Jazeera.

Col Lavoie added that NATO and the Libyan rebels still had no information about Gaddafi's whereabouts.

He did confirm, however, that Tripoli is "essentially free" from Muammar Gaddadi's rule."

Lavoie also said that opposition fighters are in "discussions" with the regime in Sirte, Gaddafi's birthplace and one of his last bastions of support.

His announcement comes amidst numerous statements by rebel commanders in the last few days that their forces were preparing to storm Sirte, all the while NATO's continuing strikes on regime targets.

Col Lavoie also said NATO's role in Libya - Operation United Protector - will continue as long as civilians in the country are under threat.

Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli, and Sabha, 600 km to the south, are Gaddafi's two last major strongholds.

On March 19, 2011, NATO-led international forces started air and rocket strikes against the Gaddafi regime under a UN Security Council mandate.

Operation Odyssey Dawn was the US code name for the US part of the international military operation in Libya to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 during the initial period of 19–31 March 2011, which continued afterwards under NATO command as Operation Unified Protector.

The initial operation implemented a no-fly zone that was proposed during the 2011 Libyan civil war to prevent government forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on anti-Gaddafi forces.

The US initially had strategic command of the military intervention but passed complete military command of the operation to NATO - under Operation United Protector - and took up a support role on 31 March 2011. 

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