hoda abdel-hamid has this report from a coast guard ship bordering it from misrata. 500km from the coast. >> reporter: it's usually around sunset that the coach guard sail off in search of migrants at sea. >> translation: the same way the european union assists italy, they should assist us. we don't have the means to deal with this. >> their fleet consists of a tug boat they took over and modified for their own purposes. there's two navy vessels for short patrols. one has a broken engine and no spare parts. the misrata coast guard patrols the coastline. a good number of boats sails. this one turns out to be a registered fishing boat. the patrol continues into the night. >> the area that the smugglers boats leave from are open beaches with no sedcurity. they sail off at night and no one spots them. the tug boat is slow. >> the tug boat is slow. some boats are too far away to reach before they cross into international waters. >> we cover less than 20% of the coast guard responsibility, and it took 24 hours. we didn't find migrants at sea. even though there was information that some had sai

hoda abdel hamid, al jazeera, misrata. >> reporter: the saudi-lead coalition has launched at least 20ir strikes within the last few hours against houthi targets in yemen. the saudis say that air defense in the hands of the houthis have been almost completely destroyed, but civilian infrastructure has been damaged as well. the death toll over the past month has now topped 1,000 with nearly 4, 500 injured. mohamed vall reports on fierce fighting in many parts of the country. ♪ >> reporter: street battles in the yemeni city of ta'izz a day after the saudi-lead coalition announced the end of the first phase of its attack. they are supported by soldiers from the 35th brigade, but they are still unable to push the houthi rebels and the soldiers loyal to former president saleh from the city. a similar seen is here further south in the city of aden. these are members of hadi's popular resistance committees. they say fighting continued here on tuesday night, and since the early hours of wednesday. in washington the saudi ambassador to the united states said the situation in aden required conti

hoda abdel hamid al jazeera, misrata. ♪ >>> u.s.dent barack obama has offered his condolences for the deathsover an american and italian hostage who were killed during u.s. drone strikes in january. in a statement earlier president obama said he took full responsibility for the operation. >> based on the intelligence that we had obtained at the time including hundreds of hours of surveillance we believed that this was an al-qaeda compound that no civilians were present, and that capturing these terrorists was not possible. and we do believe that the operation did take out dangerous members of al-qaeda. what we did not know tragically, is that al-qaeda was hiding the presence of warren and giovanni in this same compound. >> kamal hider has more. >> reporter: for the past several years u.s. drones have been actively targeting compounded on the pakistani side of the border as well as the afghanistan side of the border along the mountainous region. even though there have been hundreds of civilian casualties and condemnation the american

. >> hoda abdel hamid. >> we are about 25 to 30 nautical miles off the coast of libya, a good number of these boats packed with migrants depart from. now, this is a tugboat that was meant for civilian use that was taken over by the libyan coast guard and you can see here they have just adapted it, put an antiaircraft, they say this is for their own security. apart from that they don't have much. now, this is one of two vessels that the coast guard of the responsibility over 600 kilometers of coastline. this is only thing they have at the moment. they say that the means are limited and unless they get support, there is little they can do on this side. they also raised the other issue that at the moment they say there is no consolidation with the italian navy. which is absolutely necessary. i did ask them what they thought of the eu plan to targeting the smugglers. they say it would be extremely difficult because the network of smugglers is very extended. >> yemen's form he president ali abdullah saleh houthis are being attacked by fighters loyal to exiled president abd rabbu mansour h

. >> hoda abdel-hamid is in misrata, and has been talking to some willing to make the journey. >> reporter: they escaped war and poverty, travelling for weeks, sometimes months to reach libya, on the way to europe. baba almost made it when his boat was intercepted. it was on the same day another carrying 400 migrants capsized. >> they got me and put me in container. and i come here. i don't know this place. somewhere in here. we don't understand where. they leaf us free. >> reporter: mohammed was on the journey, escaping sierra leone, after his parents died of ebola last year. >> we are orphans without anybody. anybody care for us. that's why we go. we don't have any help of anybody. >> now they are in a detention center on the outskirts of misrata. 1,000 people are held here. the building used to be a school the classrooms are cramped. they come from sub-saharan countries, some from as far as bangladesh. there's only one toilet available for men and women. living conditions are difficult. authorities do acknowledge that, but they say they are doing as best as they can to cope with the sit

hoda abdel-hamid reports. >> reporter: it is called a new beginning, the people voting for change, unity and peace. independent mustafa akinci defeated the incumbent is the new president of cypress. >> translation: when the time for change has come, no force can change it, this is not my success, but the success of all our people. >> reporter: when voters cast their ballots, they had two choices, one representing change, mustafa akinci. a man that wants a reunified cypress. his criticism of what some call turkey's domination was seen as a break from the past. >> translation: i voted for a united federal cypress. i believe it is only possible where mustafa akinci and not the other candidate. >> the majority came to vote for change. i want change. and for negotiations to move. >> reporter: mustafa akinci's rival is not against talks. he, too, said he was committed to a solution. his campaign has a less than compromising attitude. and in favour of a 2-state solution. turkish migrants are sizeable, throwing their weight behind him because a lot are afraid of change. >> translation: we are sc

hoda abdel hamid has been talking to some of those willing to make the journey across the sea. >> reporteraped war and poverty, traveling for weeks sometimes months to reach libya. baba had nearly made it when the boat he was sailing on was intercepted by the libyan coast guards. it was on the same day another one carrying 400 migrants capsized. >> they put me in contain, and i come here. i don't know this place. people are suffering here. we don't understand [ inaudible ] they will help us or let us free. >> reporter: mohammed was on that same journey. he escaped sierra leone after both of his parents died of ebola last year. >> we don't have anybody. anybody to care for us. that's why we come here. see, we don't have any help from anybody. >> reporter: now they are in a detention center. about a thousand people are held here. the building used to be a school the classrooms are now cramped, they come mainly from sub saharan countries but some from as far as bangladesh. living conditions are extremely difficult, authorities acknowledge that but they say they are doing as best as they can t

. >> hoda abdel abdel hamid reports. >> a good number of these boats packed with migrants depart from here, now this is a tugboat that was meant for civilian use that was taken over by the libyan coast guard. and you can see here they have adapted it, put an antiaircraft, they say this is for their own security. apart from that they don't have much. now this is one of two vessels that the coast guard who have the responsibility over 600 kilometers of coastline. this is the only thing they have at the moment. they say their means are limited and unless they get support there is little they can do on this side. they also raise the other issue is that at the moment there is no coordination with the italian navy. that would be absolutely necessary if the onus is put on them to cross into international waters. i did asked them what they thought of the eu initiative of targeting the smugglers they said that would be extremely difficult. the network of smugglers is extremely extended. >> yemen's former president saleh saleh is urging rebels to withdraw houthis are also being attacked by figh