there are also reports of detentions and arrests and disappearances. >> all right, richard engel in tripoli for us tonight. richard, thanks. >>> meanwhile, moammar gadhafi continues his assault in the eastern part of the country, the territory he used to control. it's now in the hands of the rebels. he wants it back. again today gadhafi's forces turned their fire on the town of brega. it's in the oil region and home to libya's second largest oil facility. nbc's stephanie gosk traveled there today. tonight, she is back in nearby benghazi. stephanie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. you hit on it. the fight right now is all about the oil. the opposition says they control 80% of libya's oil resources and that they are going to use the money they earn from it to fund their cause. gadhafi is showing that he is determined not to let that happen. fighter jets bombed the rebels in the east again today. causing more fear than damage, but reminding people here how vulnerable they are. the opposition forces guarding brega's oil terminal have no doubt gadhafi's ground troops will also at

richard engel in benghazi in libya tonight. richard, thanks. >>> now to another front in syria, where we've seen days of protests there against the government. many thought this would be the day president assad of syria would come out and tell his nation that he had decided to offer some real reforms. there's a lot of that going around. perhaps significant changes to years of repressive rule. that was not the case today. nbc's ron allen has our report. >> reporter: god, syria, bashar, they chanted, as president al assad arrived at parliament. for days the syrian government had crushed protests with brute force. dozens are believed dead. today they expected him to bend but he took a very hard line and blamed the unrest on outside conspirators. the conspiracy is big and we are not looking for a fight, he said. but we will not hesitate to defend our causes, interests and principles. hopes for reform and an end to 48 years of repressive laws turned out to be wishful thinking. al assad got a well-orchestrated show of support. the onl

and as you're about to see, our own chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, was with them and got about as close as you'd ever want to. richard is back safely in benghazi tonight and is with us from there tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the rebels have the will, they have the numbers, but they don't have the equipment or the discipline to take on gadhafi's forces where they're dug in, as we saw for ourselves firsthand today. the road outside benghazi today is a graveyard of gadhafi's armored vehicles, destroyed by western air strikes. after an hour and a half driving south flanked by desert, we reached the rebels' front line. there are no trenches or sandbags, just men poorly armed, who want to fight. the front line is about five miles outside the town of ajdabiya. smoke can be seen rising from ajdabiya in the distance. gadhafi still has tanks and artillery in the town. the rebels watch with binoculars but can't advance. outgunned, the rebels say they are killed whenever they approach gadhafi's forces. we have light weapons, he has tanks, complain

that's where richard engel is tonight. >> reporter: the libyan government claims to have liberated the town of zawiyah from rebel control. but zawiya today looks more under siege than free. as we tried to drive the 30 miles from tripoli to zawiya, we found the road lined with armored vehicles and checkpoints. we've just been stopped at another checkpoint. and we're told that all the roads leading into zawiya have been blocked. security forces turn journalists away. they told us zawiya was so calm, there was no pint for reporters to go there. but video insize the town shows evidence of major battles under way for the past two days. armored vehicles destroyed,

that's where richard engel is tonight. >> reporter: the libyan government claims to have

we begin tonight again with nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel in tripoli. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. gadhafi is using both brute force, killing his own people and trying to control journalists, all in an effort to stop this rebellion. air power and gadhafi's trained army are driving back, motivated but undisciplined rebels as they struggle to advance. in ras lanouf, an oil town on the mediterranean, rebels fired anti-aircraft guns in the air. the rebels sound defiant. >> down, down. >> reporter: but the reality is, they're losing momentum, crushed by gadhafi's air strikes. in nearby bin jawad, the rebels, most of them inexperienced new recruits are exposed as they cross the desert. so far, gadhafi's forces have attacked in the open, avoiding population centers like benghazi. on the eastern battlefield, gadhafi's troops warn that could come next. >> today we kill you in ras lanouf, tomorrow we will kill you everywhere in libya. >> reporter: in tripoli, gadhafi's propaganda machine is in full force. state television showing pro-ga

so, yes, they are learning, lester. >> richard engel in benghazi for us tonight. richard, thank you. >>> late last night nato agreed to take charge. no-fly zone over libya but many of the details need to be worked out before it expands its authority. earlier i spoke to general carter ham who leads the american effort. i began i asking him if nato would also take up the mission of directly protecting libyan civilians. >> well, i think that's precisely what nato will discuss in the coming days. again, it is my understanding that they have agreed in principle to accept that mission. the discussion over this weekend as to precisely how to do that, what nations will offer forces, under what rules will they operate, those kinds of matters to be decided. our role currently under my authority as the current commander is to make sure of two things. first, that we continue exercising the mission that we have in surveillance, and secondly, that we are prepared to transition responsibility for this mission to nato quickly, effectively and without disruption to the ongoing miss

tonight we begin with libya and a report from tobruk with nbc news correspondent richard engel. >> if the mandate is just to create a corps dance around benghazi and tobruk and around civilian populations so they can't be massacred, well that can be done and that has almost already been done. but the rebels don't want. that they want air cover as they march to tripoli. >> rose: and we continue with barney frank talking about the economy and financial reform. >> rose: we have death panels for big banks, not old ladies. if a bank gets to the point where it can't meet its debt it is bank is put out of business. that bank is dissolved, the shareholders lose everything, the board of directors and officers are fired. the federal government may then step in and pay some of the debts not out of love for the bank but because it is possible that the debts will spiral in that way. >> rose: we conclude with nathan mir vold and a new book about modernist cuisine. >> at a certain point i realized this book would be my contribution to the world of cooking so it's my way of saying look, thanks for al

our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is there. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. that hotel where the rebels took the downed pilot was actually very close to here. and witnesses tell us the rebels actually put him up in a suite before he was collected by the americans. now, the rebels themselves are starting to realize that without significant outside help and more discipline and determination and organization, they are not going to make any advances against gadhafi's forces. they are now wanting outside military advisers. either from europe or the united states and say they are willing to hire them professionally from the open market. but the rebels do have what is, perhaps, the most important thing, men who are willing to fight and die. and a new video that emerged today shows just how willing they are to fight. it shows that one of gadhafi's tanks during the battle for benghazi over the weekend actually got right to the center of benghazi. the rebels attacked the tank, they were firing on it with pistols a

they need a lot more help, brian. >> richard engel who is to the east of tripoli tonight in rebel-held regions of libya. richard, thanks. >>> like it or not, this operation is fraught with global and domestic politics. while this air assault was planned days and weeks in advance, the president launched this military effort while on foreign soil in south america. our chief white house correspondent, chuck todd, is traveling with him in chile. our chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell, covering in washington. andrea, we'll start with you. i have to assume the big issues here where your bailiwick is concerned is end game. how does this end and who or what takes over at that point, if they have thought it through that far? >> reporter: exactly. those are the questions that senior senators in both parties are raising tonight, brian. what is the diplomatic mission behind this military action. the administration says it's not targeting gadhafi, but the president has said gadhafi should go. if he doesn't go, won't the u.s. appear weak? they also say that in a tribal culture like

we want to now go inside libya where our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, is again in the rebel headquarter city of benghazi tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. from the rebels' perspective, it doesn't matter at all who runs this mission as long as the air strikes continue. as we saw yesterday, the fighting is at times heavy on the front lines, but there are indications that the air strikes are making a difference and that some of gadhafi's forces, particularly the ones separated from tripoli, are now cut off from their supply lines and communications. but of course libya is not the only crisis in the middle east. tomorrow is friday. friday means day of prayers. and in yemen they are calling this the friday of departure, when they want the president to leave the country. there are also calls for nationwide demonstrations in syria. and hamas is trying to channel all of this passion and anger and enthusiasm across the middle east against israel. brian. >> all right, richard, stay safe. richard engel in libya tonight. >>> and now to syria. and thi

that's where richard engel is tonight. >> reporter: the libyan government claims to have liberated the town of zawiyah from rebel control. but zawiya today looks more under siege than free. as we tried to drive the 30 miles from tripoli to zawiya, we found the road lined with armored vehicles and checkpoints. we've just been stopped at another checkpoint. and we're told that all the roads leading into zawiya have been blocked. security forces turn journalists away. they told us zawiya was so calm, there was no pint for reporters to go there. but video insize the town shows evidence of major battles under way for the past two days. armored vehicles destroyed, buildings burned and rebels in the streets. look at what gadhafi has done, said this man. he thinks he's the king of kings, but he is the butcher of his people. the rebels even showed prisoners from gadhafi's forces they claim to have captured. the death toll remains unclear in zawiya, but could be in the dozens. gadhafi's forces appear to have regained momentum in this conflict. they've consolidated control here in central tripoli

. >>> now we want to go to libya and our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. he remains in the rebel city of benghazi tonight. you just heard the president tell us gadhafi is back on his heels, the question is, does that match what you're seeing on the ground? >> reporter: good evening, brian. he may be on his back heels, but gadhafi is certainly still fighting. gadhafi's forces are crushing the rebellion in misrata, and today launched a powerful counteroffensive here in the east. at times today the rebel front line looked more like a desert rally than a military campaign. rebels in cars, speeding away, retreating. with tanks, artillery and flanking maneuvers, gadhafi's troops easily drove the rebels back, far away from gadhafi's hometown of sirte. from a safe distance, the rebels fired back, but they're well out of range. >> we need the air force to help us. that's what we need. without them we can't do anything. >> reporter: witnesses say gadhafi is also planting land mines in the desert, making any ground advance even more difficult. but the worst fighting

gosk starting off our coverage from libya, thanks to you both and now to our chief correspondent richard engel. he has also now gotten into tripoli and, richard, what are you seeing tonight and what do you say to people who want to know about the endgame? >> reporter: it is such a different feeling here. when i was in benghazi, you could feel that there is a revolution under way. people are excited, they're motivated and many people are out with weapons and they're wearing berets. here in tripoli there's a feeling that people want to ignore this and we're in the eye of the storm and even this city is now circled with checkpoints by gadhafi supporters. in the center of the town as we drove in from the airport today you don't see any military presence. instead we saw people out sweeping the streets. there are restaurants that are open. gadhafi and the city appeared to believe that if they ignored the war perhaps it just won't come on to the center of the city and if this continues and gadhafi remains in power and the people choose to accept this suspended state of reality then this could last a

for more on how the action is playing out we turn to richard engel in cairo right now. richard? does this back gadhafi in a corner or does he still have some options? >> reporter: he does have options. right now his heavy weapons, his tanks and artillery are feeling very exposed especially if they stay in the desert where they are attacked today by the french. they can retreat which would eliminate the cause for them to being attacked allowing gadhafi to play possum, appearing to abide by the rules in which case he could stay in power for a long time and become mostly the king of tripoli. the other option, much more troubling try to get into the urban center, and use the heavy weapons could try to burrow themselves with the soldiers getting out of the vehicles and engaging with street to street fighting in places like benghazi something that gadhafi wants to do and if you have that intense guerrilla war there's little that toma hawk strikes could do. >> attacks in the mid east are usually unwelcomed. could this be different? >> reporter: this one has the possibility of being a v

our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has crossed from egypt into rebel-held territory in libya. he has that part of the story from tobruk tonight. >> reporter: as we crossed from egypt into eastern libya today it didn't look like the latest american military intervention in the middle east had just begun. the mood was calm. we easily passed through relaxed rebel checkpoints. a week ago, as gadhafi's forces were advancing, we watched people on this same road take down rebel flags, preparing to switch sides. now the flags are back up. but at a checkpoint on the outskirts of tobruk, it's obvious the rebels still need a great deal more help. many of the rebels were unarmed. those that were fired in the air, apparently without reason. there was a tank by the side of the road, but no one in it. i asked one of the rebels what he thought about the foreign military strikes. "they're wonderful," he said. "all of libya is happy. god willing, there will be more of them so we can go to gadhafi's palace in tripoli." there were more signs of that renewed confidence in central tobruk, a sleepy

our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, is live tonight in the rebel base city of benghazi. richard, first off, how do you think this speech will play there? >> reporter: it was a very emotional speech when heard here in ben gauzy. it's obviously the middle of the night but the people will be extremely welcoming. when the president said he didn't want to wait for images of mass graves, well, those mass graves would have been filled with the people of benghazi. now the rebels want these air strikes to continue so that they can push forward and continue their advance. after advancing almost unchecked for two days, rebels are now having to fight for territory. in the desert outside sirte, rebels fired rockets today to attack gadhafi's troops, dug in miles away. gadhafi is making a stand here. sirte is his hometown and the gateway to tripoli. until now the rebels have mostly relied on western air strikes. the rebels' lightning advance this weekend was more like a drive-through than a conquest. after nato air power obliterated gadhafi's tanks and armored vehicles, government troop

richard engel back on his post in cairo. richard, thank you. >>> and now, again, we shift back to japan and the nuclear disaster we've been covering for days. two days ago, japanese officials shot down the american assessment that the situation at that plant was bleaker than they were letting on officially. tonight, though, those same japanese officials have now raised the seriousness of the accident from a level 4 to a level 5 on a scale of 7, as they measure nuclear danger around the world. that puts this on par with three mile island here in the u.s. and there are new efforts again tonight to cool down those troubled reactors. our own robert bazell in tokyo again tonight. bob, good evening. >> reporter: brian, with a new day beginning here in japan, simultaneous efforts will resume to try to contain nuclear fuel at those crippled reactors, but the situation remains dangerous and out of control. as part of the desperate struggle to cool down the dangerous nuclear fuel, firefighters from the tokyo fire department hosed down

richard engel will have theest from libya. >>> the suspect in the arizona shooting massacre now faces 50 additional charges in connection with the shootings. jared lee loughner was charged with murdering a federal judge, a congressional aide. he has pled not guilty to trying to assassinate gabrielle giffords and two of her aides. six people including a 9-year-old girl died in the attack. 13 others injured. he is to appear in court on tuesday to face the charges. >>> nfl owners and player rs putting more time on the clock. both side wills meet with a federal mediator again on monday. if there is not an extension or if the two side ks not come to an agreement by march 11th, the owners will probably seek to lock out the players. >>> we learned this morning that sometimes, the most difficult journey for a satellite is not actually the race in space. rather, the drive down the highway on the back of a flat bed. the chp had to shut down northbound 101 in san jose to allow this semi to turn around and find another route. the overpass was too low because of new construction. the off ramp, too

nbc's richard engel is live in tripoli with more on that. good morning, richard. >> good morning, richard. witnesses tell us that the rebels have been controlling and are continuing to hold the town that's aboutç 400 miles to the east of tripoli. they have been making some resistance as they try to drive towards the libyan capital itself. here in tripoli the government remains in control, and it's engaged in a very bold propaganda campaign. the government is telling people to go out on the streets of tripoli, to fire guns in the air, and celebrate because the government says it has taken back a series of rebel-held towns and even encircled the city of benghazi. people in tripoli are being told to celebrate victories that aren't taking place. >> nbc's richard engel live in libya. thank you so much. >>> now to the u.s. contractor in cuba that has ended. 61-year-old alan gross faces 20 years in jail on charges that he tried to undermine cuba's communications. the maryland man was found guilty, but the state department says it's waiting for a ve

i want to go right to nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent richard engel in tobr tobruk, libya. tell me what you've been seeing and experiencing. >> reporter: the roads are remarkably calm. people are out on the streets. i spoke with rebels just a short while ago. they say that finally this action has taken place and they hope that they can get some more momentum again. i was here in this area about a week ago when the tide of events seemed to be turning against the rebels and you didn't see them out much. they were abandoning their checkpoints. now, once again, their checkpoints are out and they were painting anti-gadhafi graffiti once again openly on some of the buildings. so they feel that they have a renewed sense of optimism and they hope to regain the momentum in this fight. >> too little too late is a question you keep hearing, richard. i've heard your reporting on this. they had momentum a couple of weeks ago. >> reporter: they certainly did. and the rebels are asking, why didn't this come even a few days ago? before the major push into benghazi, which appears to have be

after brian finishes the interview, he goes to their fornte correspond richard engel. engle is on the ground in libya and these guys are running faster than jackie joyner-kersee to get away from qaddafi. the president said he's on his heels. but the story on the ground is the rebels are on the run whofment do you believe about these stories? >> i don't generally believe the government. that's a lot of wishful thinking. i don't know if it's outright lying but it's wishful thinking and deception. it is true, our government, the previous administrations did it as well and it's been going on for many, many years. you go all the way back to vietnam. lies were told to get us involved in these wars. so it is -- american people should be much more reluctant. congress members ought to be more reluctant to accept this at face value, that, you know, it's the end of the world if we don't go in. saddam hussein had nuclear weapons and al qaeda was in there and all of this fearmongering. he was about to attack us. and they were all -- it was not true. so we should be much more cautio

but yeah, richard engel and i were like on a hotel balcony doing play-by-play of a gun battle all nightl --it was off the hook for a while. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: i don't understand. you have a beautiful family. do you worry about this? does it concern you? you have the emergency suitcase packed and ready to go right in your office? >> but this is the life we've chosen, as a great man once said. my family -- my wife and i have been married 25 years. she was a tv producer before we got married. look, my kids hate it when they see the bag. i can't lie to you. but they have grown up that way, whether it was packing for summer vacation and instead i go to katrina or whether it's iraq or afghanistan and dangerous places. that's part of the deal. and part of me sitting here, i'm thinking of our people in tripoli and benghazi and part of me would like to be in libya right now. there's a -- once you've done it and you know all our correspondents in the field, you want to be there with them. and you want to be on this story. >> jimmy: it's crazy at this time, right now. i think -- am i counting

. >>> richard engel had a close call in libya. >> it is actually a plastic, it is a toy. >> several roundf artillery hit close to a group of rebels during an interview he was doing yesterday. engel and his crew took shelter and none of them were hurt. >>> the accused underwear bomber targeted detroit back in 2009. apparently it was because that was the cheapest ticket. the associated press says al qaeda wanted to blow up a plane over a city like chicago or houston, but they found flights to detroit more affordable. other passengers stopped the suspect from igniting explosives that were hidden in his underwear. this was back on christmas day of 2009. the associated press report goes on to say that the yemen branch of al qaeda does not share obama bin ladin's wish to target symbolic targets making them the number one threat to the united states. >>> this morning oakland police are working a tough case this morning. raw sewage is floating through some of the city's most notable neighborhoods. more than 350,000 gallons of the stuff spilled into the socill creek after someone broke into a manh

it's difficult to take it away. >> richard engel in libya this morning. richard, as always, thank you very much. >>> arizona republican senator john mccain is the ranking member on the armed services committee. senator mccain, always nice to see you. thanks for joining us. >> thank you, matt. >> the crash of the f-15 reminds us that this is a risky operation. in case anyone had any doubt. over the weekend you were critical of the president saying he waited too long to intervene in libya. you said, if we had taken this step a couple of weeks ago, a no-fly zone would have been enough. now a no-fly zone is not enough. there needs to be other efforts made. what are those efforts right now? >> well, i think to continue the no-fly zone effort and make it very clear to libyan pro-gadhafi troops that if they leave their barracks they are putting their lives at risk, just as the libyan pilots seem to have gotten the message since they are not flying. and also, we are going to have to have -- facilitate arms equipment training of the rebels over time. a stalemate i

a new round of air strikes in libya overnight, and one very close call for nbc's richard engel while he came under fire by rebels. he joins us on the phone from just outside of ajdabiya. richard, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. we are back on the rebels' front line now. we have been hearing artillery fire this morning from gadhafi's troops a few miles away. the rebels here have the numbers, they have the will to fight. but they don't have the discipline or the equipment to take on gadhafi's troops while they're still dug in. american and european air strikes stopped a massacre in benghazi, and destroyed many of gadhafi's heavy weapons. but on the front lines, the rebels are mostly on their own. here, there are no trenches or sandbags, just men, poorly armed, who want to fight. the rebel front line is about five miles outside the town of ajdabiya. smoke can be seen rising from ajdabiya in the distance. gadhafi still has tanks and artillery in the town. the rebels watch with binoculars, but can't advance. outgunned, rebels say they're killed whenever they approach gadhafi'

nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in benghazi. when we spoke 24 hours ago you talked about how thanks to nato air strikes the rebels advanced hundreds of miles with relative ease. that's now come to an abrupt halt. >> reporter: it certainly has. and what's been clear is that without that air support, the rebels can't take territory and they can't hold territory either. gadhafi's forces launched a very effective counter assault, driving back rebels from the east and we're also learning that gadhafi's troops are changing their tactics, not using as many tanks as in the past because those tanks were so easy to identify and destroy from the air, instead gadhafi's forces are using smaller units and driving in jeeps and civilian vehicles. vehicles that are very similar to the ones used by the rebels themselves. so, seen from the air it's hard to distinguish who's who. >> you have seen these forces, the rebel force in particular up close and i know, i don't want to put words in your mouth but you're not particularly impressed by their ca

. >>> nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in benghazi, libya for us this morning. good morning, richard. what is the reaction there to the president's speech? >> reporter: here in benghazi the reaction has been incredibly positive. the president said he wanted to act militarily before there were images of mass graves. those mass graves would have been filled with the people of benghazi, so here still a feeling of gratitude. there is a sense that this military intervention really came at the last moment. gadhafi's forces were already inside benghazi, already attacking the city, and if the military air strikes had been delayed ten, 12, 14 hours, benghazi probably would have been lost. >> and thanks to those air strikes the rebels are making their way west toward gadhafi's hometown of sirte. what kind of progress have they made overnight? and also, what is the stra tete importance of sirte to the rebels? >> reporter: sirte is incredly important. if it falls, gadhafi's hometown, a military garrison town, then the rebels will be right on the door step of tripoli. the pro

richard engel has more this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. those air strikes are having a dramatic impact on the rebels in the east and there is now a danger that the rebels could lose more of their strong holds. gadhafi's forces continue to attack from the air in eastern libya to block the advance to tripoli. a no-fly zone would help but according to libyan officials it would be an act of war, providing air cover for an armed revolt against moammar gadhafi. international involvement in this war has already proven complicated. three dutch marines who tried to evacuate nationals remain held by the libyan government. and the british government had to intervene after a humiliating mishap when british special forces were captured by rebels who mistook them for pro-gadhafi mercenaries. adding to the embarrassment, a phone call between a british official and the rebelings to secure the release of the elite forces was recorded by the libyan government and aired on state television. >> we sent a small group to find if there was a hotel, if everything

richard engel is in tripoli with more on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. witnesses tell us there are clashes under way on the outskirts of tripoli but the government remains in control of tripoli itself. it also restricts the movements of foreign journalists here and clearly doesn't want the world to see the violence. as journalists in tripoli gathered to leave our hotel this morning the order came. no coverage of anti-government demonstrations, not today. >> our image abroad is already bad because of unprofessional media reporting. one extra day will not harm us. >> reporter: the officials told reporters said protesters he called terrorists want to kill police and use car bombs and turn tripoli into baghdad. our presence, he said, would only encourage them. libya doesn't want a repeat of last friday when protesters dared to gather in tripoli and were gunned down, causing a still unknown number of deaths and injuries. since then tripoli has been showing a very different image, a city that's open with markets thriving and the only people out are gadhafi sup

nbc's richard engel is one of the first journalists to reach ajdabiya where there are battles raging now. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. rebels have taken about half of this city. gadhafi's forces still contain pockets and have tanked positioned around the edges. we have seen street-to-street fighting. we can hear gunfire now. rebels have been taking cover, firing machine guns, trying to find gadhafi's forces and drive them out. this is what the war in libya has become. the western air strikes will take out gadhafi's heavy weapons, tanks, aircraft and allow the rebels to push into cities themselves and fight it out almost hand to hand with gadhafi's forces in several cities in libya. >> you talk hand to hand. i was struck on thursday by your reporting and how poorly equipped the rebels seemed to be in terms of weapons. are you sai seeing indications that they are being supplied with anything more substantial? >> reporter: no new supplies of weapons. this kind of fighting helps the rebels. they don't have a lot of tactical skill, mortars, anything that can fire long range. o

easy targets. >> richard engel reporting in tripoli for us this morning. thank you very much. >> robert gates has arrived in afghanistan this morning on a surprise two-day visit to assess the progress of the decade-long war in afghanistan. gates' evaluation will inform the plan to begin troop withdrawal this july. now to wall street. mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange. what's the latest? >> good morning. oil prices will be helping to guide the stock market which posted modest gains despite we are watching crude oil up toward $106 a barrel. that, in turn, is feeding into higher gas prices. naturally the unrest we are seeing in libya and other oil producing nations is worrying investors that's pushing up gold. while oil and gold soar, watching the u.s. dollar on the back. back to you. >> mandy, thank you. chilling new video of the 9/11 attacks has been released taken from an nypd helicopter. this was retrieved through a freedom of information request. it is never before seen tape. h. this was retrieved through a freedom of information request. a n

richard engel joining us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. gadhafi says his forces and all libyans would fight against any western imposed no-fly zone. the rebels, however, say they desperately need a no-fly zone for protection as gadhafi's troops continue to attack rebel strongholds. tanks are closing in on the town outside of tripoli. rebels have been cut off, isolated. according to witnesses, relentlessly attacked for more than a week. witnesses say gadhafi forces are, quote, leveling the town and killed dozens. in the east, gadhafi's forces are also driving back motivated but undisciplined rebels. and warns the advance will intensify >> today we killed -- tomorrow we will kill you. >> reporter: in tripoli moammar gadhafi is in control. foreign journalists are confined to two luxury hotels. our movements are restricted. and her monitored. tuesday gadhafi visited one of the hotels for an interview with turkish and french television. despite isolation he appears to have renewed confidence. overnight on state television he continued to blame

richard engel is in tobruk, libya. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, natalie.ave been clearer with a missile strike overnight in the heart of tripoli inside gadhafi's compound destroying a building that was described as an administrative building. no word if gadhafi was in the structure at the time. he hasn't been seen in days but his compound has been full of volunteer human shields, people willing to put their own lives at risk because of their love for the libyan leader. here in the east in the rebel-held territory, rebels say they are incredibly encouraged now that they have western military support. but the rebels are leaderless, poorly armed, disorganized and it remains to be seen if even with military help from the united states the rebels will be able to launch an effective counter offensive and achieve the goal of reaching tripoli. >> thank you so much, richard. >>> meanwhile, defense secretary robert gates arrived in russia today for talks on missile defense. while flying to st. petersburg he said the u.s. expects to hand over the mission to a coaliti