Libya: Gaddafi would agree to elections in 3 months, son says (VIDEO)

Muammar Gaddafi would agree to hold elections in three months and would leave office if he lost, according to his son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, cited by Reuters, Saif Gaddafi reportedly said of elections: 

"They could be held within three months. At the maximum by the end of the year, and the guarantee of transparency could be the presence of international observers."

(From GlobalPost in Libya: Reporters in Libya freed)

The AP reports the concessions came after another day of NATO bombing in Tripoli. The United States, Britain and France, leading Western air strikes on Gaddafi's forces, have said they will not stop bombing until Gaddafi leaves power.

And rebel forces said they had made progress in recent days in the fight against Gaddafi's forces, taking control of the mountainous Jebel Nafusa region southwest of Tripoli, CNN reports.

The rebel leadership in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi, meanwhile, dismissed Gaddafi's son's election offer as "wasting our time."

"Saif al-Islam is not in a position to offer elections. Libya will have free elections and democracy but the Gaddafi family has no role to play in this process," Jalal el-Gallal, a rebel spokesman, told Reuters.

"These people are criminals, they have utter disregard for human life. They have to withdraw troops from our cities, allow humanitarian aid to reach people, they will face justice for their crimes. Only then we can talk about holding elections."

A U.S. State Department spokesperson also dismissed the election proposal, saying it was "a little late for that."

Saif Gaddafi, 38, who has stood by his father in the regime's violent crackdown on a rebellion that spiraled into a civil war, said the vote would be carried out "at the most at the end of the year."