Russia on Thursday officially recognized Libya's rebels as the governing authority in the country, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The Russian Federation recognizes Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) as the ruling authority and notes its reform program that includes the development of a new constitution, holding general elections and forming the government," it said.

Libyan rebels on Wednesday arrested foreign minister Abdelati al-Obeidi, a key figure of Moammar Gadhafi's regime, a senior rebel commander said.

"Yes, Abdelati al-Obeidi was arrested," Mahdi al-Harati, vice chairman of the rebel military council, told journalists in the capital without giving further details.

Seif al-Islam, fugitive son of fallen Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi, said Wednesday in an audio tape on an Arabic-language channel that he was still in the country and the fight against rebels goes on.

"I am talking to you from a suburb of Tripoli," he told the Damascus-based Al-Rai television station. "We want to reassure the Libyan people that we are still here. The resistance continues and victory is near."

President Nicolas Sarkozy's office defended on Wednesday a Libyan rebel commander who once reportedly led a jihadi group with ties to al-Qaida, insisting Libya's revolution is not led by Islamists.

A senior official in the Elysee told Agence France Presse that Sarkozy's senior own military aide had met Adbul Hakim Belhadj, the rebel commander who led the assault on Moammar Gadhafi's bunker complex, and had no concerns about his affiliations.

The European Union is expected to lift sanctions against Libya's ports and 22 economic entities including a clutch of oil companies by Friday, diplomats told Agence France Presse.

The EU reached an agreement in principle on Wednesday to remove the six port authorities from its sanctions list as well as 22 other entities, the diplomats said. Three or four oil companies will be de-listed, they said.

The envoy of President Dmitry Medvedev for Africa will attend this week's conference for "Friends of Libya" in Paris, reports said Wednesday, in the first indication Russia will be represented.

"Mikhail Margelov is going to Paris for the meeting after receiving an invitation," a source in the Russian foreign ministry told Interfax.

Libya's rebels said Wednesday Moammar Gadhafi is almost certainly in Libya and that they have a "right to kill" him, while giving the fugitive strongman's remaining troops until Saturday to surrender.

"The information I have is this: it is 80 percent certain that Gadhafi is still in Libya," Omar Hariri, head of military affairs, told Agence France Presse in Tripoli.

Libya's rebels issued a Saturday ultimatum for Moammar Gadhafi's forces to surrender or face a military onslaught, as NATO said the strongman is still able to command his troops despite being on the run.

National Transitional Council (NTC) chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil told reporters in the rebel stronghold Benghazi Tuesday that the respite was offered to mark the three-day Eid al-Fitr Muslim feast which follows the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Moammar Gadhafi's daughter Aisha, who fled to Algeria with other family members on Monday, has given birth to a baby daughter, an Algerian government official announced Tuesday.

"Aisha gave birth very early this morning. She had a little girl. Mother and daughter are doing fine," said the official.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has invited the head of the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC) to visit Tehran, a foreign ministry statement said on Tuesday.

"In a phone conversation (Monday night) with the NTC head, Salehi congratulated the victory of the Muslim people of Libya and stressed (the desire) to deepen bilateral ties," said the statement, a copy of which was received by Agence France Presse.