The Libyan embassy in Damascus on Monday declared that it was siding with the rebel body the National Transitional Council, whose fighters have swept into Tripoli and are poised to overrun the capital.

"We, the ambassadors and members of the Libyan embassy in Damascus, announce our total support for the revolution of February 17 and declare our formal adherence to the National Transitional Council," it said in a statement.

France welcomed the apparent defeat of Moammar Gadhafi's regime in Tripoli on Monday and said it would host a summit of the international "contact group" coordinating a response to the conflict.

"We have reached the tipping point. This is a subject of great satisfaction. France took risks, calculated risks, but the cause was just," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters at his ministry in Paris.

The U.N. rights body held an emergency meeting on Monday to press Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end a deadly crackdown on dissent, a day after he scoffed at Western calls to quit.

More than 2,200 people have died in the Syrian regime's crackdown, U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay told the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva that was expected to condemn the bloodshed.

World leaders said Monday the end is near for the regime of Moammar Gadhafi and called on the Libyan leader to relinquish power, as hundreds of Libyans living abroad celebrated in the streets after rebels took control of most of the Libyan capital.

With events unfolding quickly and clashes reported Monday near Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli, leaders across European capitals urged Gadhafi to avoid a bloodbath of his own people and turn himself in to the International Criminal Court.

Gaza's Popular Resistance Committees on Monday agreed to halt to rocket fire on Israel and abide by an Egyptian-brokered truce after four days of deadly clashes.

At a press conference in Gaza City, the PRC said its militants would respect a "temporary" ceasefire which was announced late on Sunday by Gaza's Hamas rulers.

The International Criminal Court is seeking the transfer of Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, the court's spokesman said Monday.

"The court as a whole is involved," Fadi El-Abdallah told Agence Francce Presse, answering 'yes' when asked if that meant discussions were underway with the Libyan rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) over Seif al-Islam's transfer.

Syrian security forces and pro-regime militiamen on Monday killed five people, including three shot dead by security forces who opened fire on protesters at a rally in Homs as a U.N. fact-finding team visited the central Syrian city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which reported the killings said several people were also wounded in Homs.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday signed a decree setting a commission tasked with legalizing political parties.

The commission is chaired by the prime minister and comprises a magistrate and two lawyers.

Seven rockets from Gaza hit Israel on Monday just hours after militant factions agreed an informal truce after four days of deadly cross-border violence in which 15 Palestinians and an Israeli died.

The truce was hammered out after talks with Egyptian officials, and several hours later, Israel's security cabinet held an emergency session during the night at which ministers decided to hold off from further attacks on the Palestinian territory, army radio said.

U.S. President Barack Obama said as momentous scenes unfolded in Tripoli Sunday that Moammar Gadhafi's regime had reached a "tipping point" and the Libyan "tyrant" must leave now to avoid further bloodshed.

In a written statement, Obama also looked to the post-Gadhafi era, calling on Libyan rebels who have surged into Tripoli to respect human rights.