reticent about imposing tougher sanctions. the president also spoke on a conference call with the leaders of estonia, latvia and lithuania. nato countries that used to be under soviet control. the u.s. as part much nato, stepped up air patrols over the three countries. and in that, the white house says the president affirmed, quote, our enduring support for the security and democracy of our baltic ally. meanwhile, russian president putin s government is pushing president obama not to impose further restrictions or sanctions on russia. the russian foreign ministry put out a statement yesterday telling the u.s. to avoid, quote, hastily, poorly thought out steps that could harm u.s.-russian relations, especially concerning sanks which could boomerang on the u.s. itself. also house republican speaker john boehner is responding today to a letter sent to him by the ambassadors from hungary, poland, the czech republic and the slow vac republic, asking
is surfacing. the very latest from there in moments. good morning, everyone, i m alex witt. welcome to msnbc sunday. we begin with breaking news. new word from the top u.s. military chief just moments ago. admiral mike mullen tells nbc news a no-fly zone is in effect in libya this morning after american and european forces rained down missiles on libya s defenses. the u.s. and britain unleashed 114 tomahawk cruise missiles targeting libyan surface-to-air sites as well as radar and communications centers. three american b-2 stealth bombers also dropped more than 40 bombs on libyan defenses. now, the goal of these first strikes is to pave the way for air patrols which will enforce the no-fly zone and protect civilians from moammar gadhafi s forces. hours before the allied attacks, pro-gadhafi forces stormed the rebel stronghold of benghazi, killing 27 people, according to one doctor. president obama said the international community had to
and telling them to stay off the desert road and telling them to keep on moving and flash victory signs. they do believe this war will be won and that they will win the war against muammar qaddafi but right now benghazi as far as we know is under attack. rick, a question for you, because i know the rebels are concerned and we are hearing reports wondering where the international community is. we heard reports that french and british jets were headed to the region to start the air patrols and we hear that the united states sending warships. have you seen any sign of the international presence? reporter: the only ship that we saw we believe was a libyan navy vessel and the only jets we saw we believe belonged to the libyan military or to the rebels. if there are international flights coming this way, if there are nato jets coming this way, they will have a challenge ahead of them. obviously their primary targets
that s really indiscriminate and wholesale. any number of symbolic actions of the sort you just mentioned defind. the real question is whether we take the added step for example of enforcing some sort of no fly zone so libyan aircraft can attack the libyan people. i also think there s got to be limits. at the end of the day we don t want to have to send forces to libya. we don t want to own the country, much less occupy it. we simply can t do that there and in other countries. one of those options, the no fly zone you mentioned i m told by officials, the head of nato mentioned that earlier today, it s not really practical. that they don t see that happening. why is it so difficult to organize a no fly zone which could certainly send a signal to the libyan air force not to comply with any rogue orders that it might receive from gadhafi to bomb their own people? well, in order to maintain a no fly zone you have to basically maintain fairly constant air patrols.