Speaking on Italy’s Rai News, Jalloud said Qaddafi’s rule was “certainly” about to end and would be over “within a week, at the latest 10 days, maybe even less.”

Libyan rebels battled their way toward Tripoli on Sunday to help fighters inside the city who rose up overnight. Qaddafi has described the insurgents as “rats.”

Jalloud said in the televised interview he did not expect Qaddafi to flee to another country because all roads out of Tripoli were blocked.

He doubted that Qaddafi would surrender or commit suicide, but said “the way the situation is evolving, he won’t be able to survive.”

Jalloud was a member of the junta that staged the 1969 coup that brought Qaddafi to power, and was seen as second-in-command before falling out of Qaddafi’s favor.

In the 1990s he was reportedly stripped of his passport and put under surveillance following a disagreement with Qaddafi.

A rebel spokesman said on Friday Jalloud had defected to rebel-held territory, and Italy’s Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said on Sunday he was on Italian soil.