>> stephanie gosk from tripoli tonight. john harwood is cnbc's chief washington correspondent. he's at the white house tonight. john, the u.s. has a big interest in yemen and what's going on there. how is all this being read in washington? >> reporter: lester, the focus of american policy in yemen has been counterterrorism. white house officials are glad that president saleh is gone. don't expect him to come back. because he had become a liability in that fight. but one official i spoke with this evening was candid in saying, we don't know what comes next and when. institutions in the country are weak. and there is some urgency about helping a new governing coalition take shape before al qaeda is strengthened because, as one former ambassador to yemen put it recently, time is our adversary, not our ally, lester. >> john, thanks. there's one more item from the region. an update tonight on the libyan woman who gained worldwide attention after claiming she was raped by moammar gadhafi's troops. when the woman burst into a hotel in tripoli to tell reporters her story, government ha

nbc's stephanie gosk is in tripoli tonight with the very latest. >> reporter: this used to be the lavish compound of one of gadhafi's highest ranking generals, now reduced to rubble by multiple nato bombs. the libyan government says 15 people were killed including three children. the general narrowly escaped. >> another crime against humanity, committed by the criminal organization of nato. >> reporter: but nato calls these now leveled buildings a high level command and control center, a legitimate military target, unlike early sunday morning, when an air strike killed nine people, including two children in a densely populated neighborhood in tripoli. nato later acknowledged that there was a weapons system failure. the libyan government quickly took advantage of this incident and called nato a barbarian, murderous organization that's deliberately targeting civilians. nato says this was a mistake. it is the first time since the campaign began that nato has admitted accidentally killing civilians. >> i can assure you that we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties. and so far, we have b

nbc's stephanie gosk reports from tripoli. >> reporter: fighting has broken out in two key libyan citiest for weeks had been quiet. the city west of tripoli only 30 miles from this city rebels are reportedly fighting pro-gadhafi forces. this is really one of the cities where the uprising began. there were weeks of brutal fighting between rebels and gadhafi's forces, eventually after a brutal crackdown, gadhafi took control of that city. it's significant now that rebels have reportedly moved in there. the second city is the city of misrata where there was very heavy fighting but rebels took control. gadhafi has moved back in and started shelling that city. dozens killed according to hospital workers on the ground there. this after nato has intensified its air strikes here in tripoli. it seems as if gadhafi is responding in kind. stephanie gosk, nbc news, tripoli. >>> two deadly explosions ripped through a market in the pakistani city of peshawar today. hospital officials say at least 32 people are dead and several others are wounded. police say the first explosion happened at an area that

stephanie gosk live in tripoli.phanie, you've been experiencing all of this, some of the explosions going off right behind you in an earlier report. tell us what is going on in tripoli and do we think that gadhafi's audio speech is real? >> reporter: what we don't know if it's real. it seems to be a response to these bombings. there's no way to verify it for sure. it's a message we've been hearing from gadhafi over and over again. as you say, this is the biggest barrage from nato since this campaign began. there have been excchos of bombings throughout the day. right now we're hearing planes circling above and some explosions in the distance. among the targets, gadhafi's compound which has been hit on several occasions. amazing it isn't completely destroyed at this point. it was hit again today. leveling a guesthouse where south african president zuma actually stayed when he was here a week and a half ago to convince gadhafi to step down. and defiantly gadhafi is not doing that. nato has been intensifying its attack

we're joined by nbc's stephanie gosk live in tripoli. can you give us a sense of how severe these nato attacks have been around tripoli? >> reporter: well, martin, it was the biggest barrage so far of the campaign. literally all day long we were hearing day we were told that altogether 26 people were killed and 60 people injured. but we heard a defiant gadhafi again. that audio tape, we didn't see him, and there's actually no way to verify whether or not that was recorded today, but it was a familiar message. he said i will stay here, they will have to take me out dead before i will give up to nato and it's better to be a martyr than to be defeated. martin? >> the head of the african union panel for libya has urged gadhafi to go. president obama has said the same. yet, here he is, he issued a statement in effect defying the entire international community. for how much longer can this go on? >> reporter: well, if you listen to what he has to say, it goes on until he's dead. i mean, that's exactly the point he's been making. we hear that f

everyone sort of holding their breath waiting to see how long that's going to hold. >> stephanie goskhanie. >>> and republican presidential candidate tim pawlenty is am coulding out swinging today. he's bashing president obama's handling of the economy in the president's hometown. during an event at the university of chicago, pawlenty said obama's stimulus and bailouts did not work and now pawlenty says americans are worse off. >> gas is $4 a gallon, home prices are in the gutter, our health care system thanks to obama care is more expensive and less efficient, unemployment is back over 9%. now, if that was recovery, then our president needs to enter economic rehab. and the american people need to stop his policies cold turkey. >> joining me now nbc news deputy political detector mark murray. again, mark, when you listen to tim pawlenty, his words certainly might be the kind that would excite his base, but his delivery, that fire that attracts people to a sarah palin, it seems at least at this point to still be lacking. >> well, pawlenty's really trying to introduce himself to republi

nbc's stephanie gosk is in tripoli now and joins us with the latest from there. stephanie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. well, the minister of information said that this has been one of the most horrific days of attack against his nation. 31 people killed in 60 airstrikes. now, those numbers may be a bit exaggerated, but without a doubt this nato assault on this city today has been the largest so far. in broad daylight nato unleashed its biggest barrage yet. dozens of air strikes in central tripoli rocked the uneasy calm here. among the targets, colonel moammar gadhafi's compound, nearly leveled in previous attacks. today nato planes returned to finish the job. state television was another target, hit in the early hours this morning. libyan officials say two people were killed and more than a dozen wounded. with air strikes still echoing around the city, state tv broadcast video of gadhafi meeting with tribal leaders. earlier in the day he phoned in, angry, calling the libyan rebels bastards, vowing to stay in tripoli dead or alive. "we will not

nbc's stephanie gosk has more. >> reporter: the libyan government says this confirms what they've beeng, that nato has been target is civilians. officials say at least seven people were killed and many more could be left under the rubble including a small child. >> basically, this is another night of murder and terror and horror in tripoli caused by nato. you have seen with your own eyes the terrible disaster that has taken place every day in tripoli. >> reporter: nato admits that they were conducting air strikes last night in tripoli. >> we take all reports of civilian casualties very seriously. and we continue to look into the facts relating to this event. nato would be sorry if the review of this incident indicated that it was caused by a nato web. the gadhafi regime could put a stop to this fighting if it were to comply with swt national community ace demands. >> reporter: they would not comment on this specific location. they say investigation is under way. >>> still ahead, a dramatic rescue at big sur. and why the head of muni ntceived a $400,000 pmeay$400,0t leayave his job. av

nbc's stephanie gosk has our report from there. >> reporter: thousands of yemenis celebrated president ali abdullah saleh's sudden and unexpected departure. despite the obvious joy many of the protesters are aware victory is still not entirely theirs. this is not the end of the revolution. we will continue our struggle until we achieve all our goals, says a spokesman for the demonstrators. officials say saleh was flown to saudi arabia to receive specialized medical care after being injured by a rocket attack on friday. the president and some of his top advisers were praying in this mosque when it was hit. this is the aftermath of what the government calls a brazen attempt at a due data. there were reports the leader underwent surgery today to remove shrapnel from his chest. but there's still no official word on his condition. many hope the president who's ruled yemen as a dictator for 33 years will not come back, stepping aside for a peaceful transition. but they also fear what might happen if he does return. >> i think if saleh returns, there's a strong chance that civil war will take

stephanie gosk has more. >> reporter: for a second time in less than a month, unarmed palestinians and supporters challenged the israeli military. when they tried to cross. the military fired warning shots. when they continued they fired directly at the protesters. the syrian government says 22 were killed k the israeli say it was only 12. they say it was sponsored in part. now, as that new front opened up on the israel/syrian border, a familiar uprising in yemen has gone into a new phase. there were celebrations in the capital of yemen in sanaa over the weekend because of the sudden departure of the president, but it's not an end to the -- even in sala decides not to return, there is an active branch of al qaeda that is looking to take advantage of the chaos. >> we'll have more on all of this uprising in a few machines. >>>. >>> all of them were taking aim. >> this presidency has been a failure. what does he have to say? i'm just getting started. it's now our turn. we're the ones just getting started. >> unfortunately we have a president whose policies have failed and he won't tell th

nbc's stephanie gosk is following the story from tripoli, libya. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. well, taking their inspiration from the peaceful demonstrations of the arab spring, unarmed palestinians and their supporters challenged the israeli military on the syria-israel border for the second time in a month. and for the second time in a month it lead to bloodshed. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: gunfire again in the golan heights. unarmed palestinians and their supporters attempted to push across the border from syria into israel. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: when warning shots didn't stop them, direct fire did. israeli officials are calling it a deliberate provocation, supported, they say, by the syrian government to deflect attention from its own internal uprising. it was the worst violence between the two countries in more than 30 years. syria says 22 were killed, israel says only 12 were injured. and with the new front in the arab spring taking hold in israel, a familiar uprising entered a new phase. in yemen, thousands celebrated th

nbc's stephanie gosk is there. hey, stephanie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. well, we hear two to three air strikes a day here in tripoli, several this morning that actually shook our hotel. we only get to see the aftermath that the government minders take us to. in the last couple of days they told us some suspect stories. there was a little girl injured in a hospital. we were told she was injured in an attack. instead a doctor slipped one of the reporters with us a note in english saying that actually she had been hurt in a car crash. there was aftermath of another attack where they said there was a russian rocket on the ground. you know, the libyan military uses russian weapons. they later changed their story and said that that rocket must have been propelled out of a munitions depot that had been hit by nato. now, nato is intensifying its air raids and operation here. you can expect secretary rasmussen to ask for more member nation help. and the urgency to get gadhafi to step down continues to grow. ann? >> all right, stephanie gosk with some important rep