Moammar Gadhafi is "not a target" for NATO, an alliance military spokesman said Tuesday as fighting between rebels and pro-regime forces raged around his main compound in the Libyan capital Tripoli .

"NATO does not target individuals," said Operation Unified Protector spokesman, Colonel Roland Lavoie. "Gadhafi does not constitute a target," he told reporters in Brussels via video-conference from the mission's Naples headquarters.

"Of course we do target command and control facilities," he then added. "If Gadhafi is located in a command and control facility, these are legitimate targets and we will strike" when acting to erode his regime's military capacity.

The Gadhafi family's influence is waning fast, chief NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said.

Asked about a heavily broadcast appearance in Tripoli of Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, who had been reported arrested, Lungescu said the family was "on the run".

"A brief appearance in the dead of night doesn't indicate to me someone who is in control of a capital," she said.

"It shows the remnants of the regime are on the run.

"As we've seen in the Balkans... they may be on the run for some time, but they can't hide," she said, in reference to captured war criminals from the conflicts in the former-Yugoslavia.

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