Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must step down because he is as "irrelevant" to the future of his country as Moammar Gadhafi is in Libya, Britain's deputy prime minister said Monday.

With Gadhafi's regime apparently in its final throes as rebel fighters move into Tripoli, Nick Clegg said the situation in Syria was "less encouraging".

Libyan insurgents on Monday seized control of the state broadcaster in the capital Tripoli, rebel military spokesman Mohammed Zawiwa told Agence France Presse.

"All the television stations controlled by the state have stopped transmitting (in Tripoli). Our fighters have gone in and taken control of the facilities," Zawiwa said.

Libya's rebel government gained more Arab recognition on Monday, a day after its fighters overran the heart of the capital in their push to take full control from regime loyalists and end a six-month uprising against Moammar Kadhafi's 42-year rule.

Egypt, Libya's eastern neighbor, recognized the council as the legitimate government after holding back so far on supporting the rebels, who started their uprising days after an Egyptian revolt ended president Hosni Mubarak's three decade rule.

Syrian authorities released leading human rights activist Abdul Karim Rihawi on Monday after detaining him 11 days ago, his lawyer said.

"The authorities released Abdul Karim Rihawi without bringing any charges against him," lawyer Khalil Maatouq said.

Libyan rebel chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil on Monday hailed the end of the four-decade "Gadhafi era," after his fighters took control of most of Tripoli.

But Abdul Jalil also warned that he could quit as head of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) if he loses control of the revolution, amid possible revenge acts by insurgents.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi declared on Monday his "full solidarity" with the Libyan rebel government as its fighters closed in on Moammar Ghadafi's Tripoli compound.

Arabi, in a statement expressed "his full solidarity with the ongoing efforts by the National Transitional Council" and "wished success for the council in leading a new era and preserving Libya's regional integrity and its sovereignty and independence."

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.