At Dehiba, a small border post, people cross both ways. More than 10,000 people have crossed from both sides since the beginning of a rebel push into Tripoli on Saturday.[break]
Some who arrived in Tunisia in anguish months ago, hastily fleeing fighting between forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi and rebels seeking his ouster, are now going back, happy to be heading home.
The Shembi family is returning to Zawiyah, 40 kilometres west of Tripoli, with a baby who entered the world three months ago while they were in exile.
"This is the baby of the revolution!" said his mother Fatma, 28, in a car packed to the roof.
They fled four months ago, first to the town of Zintan, and then across the border to Tunis. Luckily for them, their home in Zawiyah has not been damaged in the fighting.
"We called our cousins in Zawiyah, and everyone there says it´s going well. We will have a new life in a new Libya," said Saad, the newborn´s a 34-year-old merchant father.
But others are on their way back to that coastal town with apprehension. Lofthi Shawi has no home -- it was destroyed by a Grad rocket last week. He will live with relatives.
"It seems that there is still fighting between pro- and anti-Kadhafi" forces, said the 26-year-old soldier who deserted five months ago. "I want to see my town. And if there is still fighting there, I will fight."
Other people, such as Mohammed Shebli, who lives in Tripoli near Kadhafi´s Bab al-Aziziya compound, which was captured by rebel forces on Tuesday, are returning to assess the situation.
"My family has taken refuge in Benghazi (in eastern Libya), and I am the first to return. I will see the situation and, if it is good, they will return," the 18-year-old student said.
Between the long lines of cars, agitated Tunisian customs officials and police, an ambulance evacuated a French photographer who was wounded on Wednesday at Bab al-Aziziya, and officials from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) recorded those leaving and arriving.
There are also a number of people who are leaving Libya -- more than 6,000 have left since Saturday. Some are going to bring back relatives from Tunisia, but others are fleeing the fighting in the capital.
"Tripoli is very dangerous; I am taking my family to safety," said Ali Salem, a 50-year-old Libyan official driving a station wagon full of bags and suitcases, a refrigerator, toys and blankets -- and his six children.
They live in the north of the capital, and had been afraid to leave their house, fearing thieves, snipers and NATO bombings.
"Everyone is afraid to go out. There is fear that the loyalists will return and mount an assault on Tripoli to take revenge on the rebels," Salem said.
Many of those who fled the capital refused to speak.
One Tunisian driver, some of whom are going back and forth between the two countries, grumbled that "I am sure that there are many Kadhafi loyalists among those who are fleeing."
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