Closed captioning of: NATO relief ships arrive in Libya
>>
we turn to
libya
and the news from there tonight. after a two-day extension over the weekend,
u.s. military
officials now tell nbc news
american war
planes tonight are really going to end their
air strike
mission against
moammar gadhafi
's military targets but they will continue to fly what they call support missions for
nato
aircraft.
>>>
meanwhile, libyan
rebels
and
gadhafi
's forces are in a standoff tonight in the strategic oil town of brega today. our chief foreign correspondent
richard engel
traveled there and back. he's now back in
benghazi
where he joins us tonight. richard, good evening.
>> reporter:
good evening, brian. that support mission remains very significant here. it means u.s. aircraft will be refuelling other jets, collecting intelligence and if specifically requested by another
nato
partner flying
combat missions
as well. the
front line
on the desert highway outside brega can change in seconds. gunfire by
gadhafi
's troops forces the
rebels
into a rapid retreat. but later the
rebels
return, launching surface-to-surface rockets. here on the
front lines
the
rebels
and
gadhafi
's forces, separated by a few miles, have reached a stalemate. for the last several days, neither has advanced or retreateretreat ed more than a couple hundred yards. the stalemate is frustrating to the
rebels
. the
nato
air strikes
aren't as frequent as before.
>>
why slow, slow be no help for me any? why?
>> reporter:
so the
rebels
are getting creative about boosting their firepower, even attaching aircraft
rocket launchers
to pickups. if it doesn't fire we'll club
gadhafi
over the head with the rockets, a rebel said.
nato
is allowing aid to reach the people. two ships ferried hundreds of people to turkey and tunisia. nearly all are from misrata in
libya
which remains surrounded by
gadhafi
's troops who are allegedly brutalizing people.
>>
there is rape. there is beating.
>> reporter:
but in
benghazi
, the city saved by western intervention, today a rally to complain that
nato
isn't doing enough to help the
rebels
defeat
gadhafi
. demonstrators in
benghazi
said they are not interested in a political compromise being floated in tripoli in which
gadhafi
's sons would take over and then
transition to democracy
. people here think it's simply not credible, brian.
>>
richard engel
back in
benghazi
,
libya
, for us. richard, thanks.
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