LIVE Libyan Unrest: July 15, 2011

We are tracking the latest developments to keep you updated on the situation on the ground. There are interactive maps located in the Protest map page to keep up with the latest movements. Also check out the featured twitters on the sidebar. On the Go? Follow us on Twitter @Feb17Libya for the Live updates and discussion. All updates are in Libyan local time (GMT+2)
8:12am: Delegates from nearly 40 countries seeking an end to the Libyan conflict met in Istanbul on Friday to discuss more financial aid and diplomatic support to Libya’s main opposition group as the rebels struggled to defeat Gadhafi-loyal forces.
Senior U.S. officials have said the Obama administration is preparing to strengthen ties with the Transitional National Council once it presents detailed plans for a democratic, transparent and inclusive government as it becomes increasingly clear that the Council will govern a post-Gadhafi Libya.
The council is expected to lay out plans for moving forward during the meeting of the Contact Group on Libya and seek more financial aid as well as diplomatic recognition. However, there was uncertainty whether the presentation would satisfy concerns that the initial post-Gadhafi regime represent the full spectrum of Libyan society: all regions, all tribes and all political parties.
8:02am: The Libyan government is denying a Russian newspaper report that allegedly quoted the Kremlin’s special envoy to Libya as saying Moammar Gadhafi has threatened to blow up Tripoli if it falls into rebel hands.
Kremlin envoy Mikhail Margelov was quoted in Thursday’s edition of the Izvestia newspaper as saying Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmudi recently told him “if the rebels seize the city, we will deluge it with missiles and blow it up.”
But Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim later denied the report, saying Gadhafi’s government would never destroy Tripoli or any other Libyan city. He said Margelov’s office also told him they never issued any such statement.
“This is absolutely unfounded, untrue. We would never bombard our cities,” Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli.
5:02am: Some 15 top diplomats including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meet Friday in Istanbul to discuss a political solution to the conflict in Libya while coordinating aid for the rebels.
The fourth meeting of the Libya contact group will also include British Foreign Secretary William Hague, his French counterpart Alain Juppe and Franco Frattini of Italy.
France, which has played a key role in rallying international support for the rebels fighting to topple Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, on Tuesday said a political solution to the fourth-month-old conflict could be within reach.
Juppe said there had been contacts with Kadhafi’s regime and that the veteran Libyan was ready to step down after 42 years in power, but the US cautioned many of the diplomatic signals coming from Tripoli have been contradictory.
The prospect of Kadhafi’s peaceful departure will head the list of topics at the Instanbul talks, a Turkish diplomat said. Read full story here.
4:15am: The Obama administration is preparing to strengthen ties with Libya’s main opposition movement as it becomes increasingly clear that the group will govern a post-Gaddafi Libya, senior US officials said on Thursday.
Traveling with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to an international meeting on Libya in Turkey, the officials told reporters on the plane that Washington would bump up its relations with the Transitional National Council once it presents detailed plans for a democratic, transparent and inclusive government.
4:12am: Libyan forces repelled a coordinated attack by NATO forces and rebels against a strategic oil town in the east of the country, the government spokesman said on Thursday.
The announcement came as Libya also barred Italy, one of the country’s largest investors, from its oil sector because of Rome’s role in the NATO airstrikes.
Moussa Ibrahim told journalists that rebel forces attacked the town of Brega backed by NATO forces in the sea and air in a coordinated attack that he said violated the alliance’s UN mandate to protect civilians.
3:05am: Libya’s government spokesman says that a coordinated land, sea and air attack by rebels and NATO forces against the eastern oil city of Brega was repulsed.
Moussa Ibrahim told journalists late Thursday that NATO forces attacked government positions at Brega by both sea and land, while rebels attacked from the ground.
He said the attack was repulsed but described the close combat coordination of NATO and the rebels as a “dangerous development.”
NATO is carrying out a U.N.-sanctioned campaign against Libyan government forces to protect civilians.
Rebel forces in the country’s eastern half have been stuck outside Brega for months, unable to take the strategic oil terminal.