ben wedeman is still on the line with us from cairo, and he joins me now on the phone. all remember these very scary images of you when you were in western tripoli with your colleagues there and came under fire by gadhafi forces. and this really was sort of incrementally, seeing back and forth, back and forth, these rebel fighters trying to make it to tripoli. tonight it has happened. has are your thoughts? >> reporter: certainly it was a long process, and some libyans told me that, in fact, it was a blessing in disguise, this long, sometimes it's very difficult back and forth battle between the regime and the rebels. they said that the six months have allowed them to become better organized. certainly they've gained a lot of battlefield experience that they simply did not have at the very beginning. i remember shortly after benghazi fell, traveling westward in the direction of tripoli, and discovering that people were so busy celebrating the youster of gadhafi's forces from benghazi, that they weren't even thinking in terms of a military fight in which they would have

our senior international correspondent ben wedeman who spend months covering arab uprisings and manyeeks in libya as well will join me live after a short break. stay with cnn. it's been a good year for chevy. and not because silverado's the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size truck on the road or because heavy duty made motor trend's 2011 truck of the year. no, it was good because you told us so. consider this a thank-you. the chevy model year wrap up. get in on our greatest model year yet. right now, combine the all-star edition discount with other offers for a total value of $6,000. our greatest model year yet is wrapping up. [♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. >>> welcome back to our continuing coverage of breaking news out of libya. five months into the nato air strike campaign to protect civilians but also to help rebels reach their big prize, tripoli. it appears as though they are making huge gains. ben wedeman has been inside libya in tripoli, when you see reports of reb

. >> ben wedeman spent a lot of time in benghazi, elsewhere. ben, i drove counsel that road you were shot at just the other day. when you look at this unfolding -- i know the pace of it has caught all of us a little bit off-guard, probably caught the rebels off-guard as well. when you look atom -- i'm speaking metaphorically tomorrow -- what do you see? you were dealing a lot in benghazi with those who would run the country. >> really, they've got a huge task ahead of them because as you've seen yourselves, michael, this is a country where the resistance has grown up locally. you have the fighters in western libya, you have the fighters in misratah, you have the fighters in the transitional national council in benghazi. all of them in some respects acting independently. we have seen over the last few weeks a certain amount of coordination between the various pockets of resistance which has culminated in these images we're seeing from tripoli tonight. but how they're going to translate that sort of battlefield coordination into the creation of so

ben wedeman, wolf blitzer is here, and nic robertson is here. wolf, let's start with you. in this transition? >> i'm sure the u.s. will be involved more robustly behind the scenes than in front of the scenes. remember, france, britain, some of the other nato allies have more at statement. having said that. nato played a critical role, they launched the air strikes, the no-fly zone in march, so the u.s. already involved. the u.s. has more than its own hands full in afghanistan and iraq right now. the last thing it needs is to get directly involved on the ground. and maybe some of the african cunning, maybe some of the -- maybe they'll play a significant role. all of these months they played a significant role in getting rid of gadhafi. what they bring is some military expertise, mitt tear power, there's 33 or 36 billion dollars in frozen assets that the united states controls. that money will eventually go back to the transitional authority in libya, so they'll do fine if they can stop the looting, stop the revenge killing. >>. >>> even the rebels, they'll have to reconcile

aaron ben wedeman was shot at in cal leash last month. no one was hurt. the committee to protect journalists say six journalists have been killed in libya since 1992, five journalists have been killed in cross fire since march of this year. one journalist was killed outside benghazi in june of 2005. sobering thought. we'll stay with cnn for continuing coverage of the rebel advance in libya. i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. >> i'm nina dos santos in london. you're watching cnn, the world's news leader. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

our own ben wedeman was shot at in libya just last month. thankfully no one was hurt.ng to the committee to protect journalists, six members of the media have been killed in libya since 1992. five journalists have been killed in crossfire since march of this year. one journalist was killed outside benghazi in june of 2005. well, elsewhere, hurricane irene is barrelling towards the southeastern u.s. right now. another important story we're following. >> the international weather center has been keeping an close eye on this. what's the latest, jennifer? >> reporter: right now it is a category one. located about 660 kilometers away if nassau. we really expected it to be a major hurricane by this time but it looks like it still could become one as we head late into wednesday as well as into thursday. as i show you on the satellite imagery, now we're actually seeing the center of circulation, the eye now becoming apparent on the satellite imagery. that is a change from yesterday that's showing some more improvement out of the storm structure of hurricane irene. the winds ri

ben wedeman, with mubarak now gone, what does this tell us about the security situation right there on the border and could we see more attacks like this going forward? >> certainly, kyra, the security situation in the sinai peninsula which abuts israel is shaky indeed. the egyptian army last three days conducting a security sweep in the northern part of the sinai because they are worried about the growth of al qaeda affiliated groups in that area. just to give you an idea of how dramatically the situation in egypt has changed since the revolution in february when 23,000 prisoners escaped from egyptian jails and according to senior egyptian security sources, only around 7,000 to 8,000 have actually been brought behind bars. among those escaped prisoners are, for instance, the former doctor to osama bin laden. there are members of palestinian militant groups and members of egyptian militant groups who have escaped and on the run and widely believe many of them are in the sinai peninsula. egyptian officials say they are investigating the claims coming out of israel that some of the milit