Nightly News   |  April 21, 2011

Siege continues to bring misery in Misrata

Libyan rebels are paying a heavy price for resisting Gadhafi forces in Misrata. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> overseas now to libya where the u.s. got back into the air war today by deploying two unmanned predator drones. they're armed with hell-fire missiles. their job is to first spot and then launch air strikes against the libyan military targets in the city of misrata and other locations. tonight, our chief foreign correspondent richard engle has made his way back in libya . he's in benghazi with the latest on the ongoing siege in misrata where the violence has created a full-blown humanitarian crisis as well. this is one of the things we feared there.

>> reporter: another thing we feared was mission creep . every single day, nato is drawn deeper and deeper into this conflict in libya . three european nations have committed to sending advisers, military advisers to help train the rebels in logistics and tactics. both of which they badly need, and now the u.s. saying they'll send the two predator drones. they're exactly the kind of weapons that will help in the mission in misrata . the city of misrata is surrounding on three sides by gadhafi forces, and inside the city, gadhafi's troops have taken up sniper positions in some of the tallest buildings. that is not the kind of thing that nato aircraft can deal with. predators, however, can look into windows and take out individual snipers. still, many people are leaving misrata . today, a boat arrived here in benghazi carrying more wounded, carrying more refugees and the bodies of the western journalists.

>> richard back on post for us in benghazi . thank you for your reporting tonight.