NATO: Gaddafi not 'ultimate target'

A Libyan rebel fighter enter Bab al aziziya compound in Tripoli August 23, 2011. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo]

NATO spokesman Colonel Roland Lavoie on Tuesday said the military alliance's mission would continue in Libya and the embattled Libyan leader Gaddafi was not the ultimate target.

"It is difficult to predict when the operations in Libya will end. No one can tell when the forces of the regime will retire but I can say that it has gradually been weakened during these past months," he told a press briefing at the Naples-based operational headquarters of Operation Unified Protector.

Commenting on the fate of Gaddafi, Lavoie said it had no importance because the solution to the conflict would be "political."

"Gaddafi is not anymore the central figure of this conflict considering he will not be part of the future Libya," he said.

With Libyan rebels now occupying most of Tripoli, Gaddafi's 41-year rule is approaching its end. As a new era is taking shape, there comes a hard task of rebuilding.

The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that Washington is working to release 1 billion to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars of Libyan frozen assets to the country's opposition.

European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also said on Tuesday that EU will release previously frozen Libyan assets for the country's reconstruction, while rebel leaders are calling for help in preparing for elections.