rebel fighters there are getting pounded by moammar qaddafi s army. using tanks and art tillerry and airstrikes to weaken rebel forces to push them further back. in fact many rebel fighters have been wounded and treated in local hospitals. qaddafi claimed he captured brega yesterday. rebel forces claim they took it back overnight. we can t confirm at this hour who is in control. we can confirm new airstrikes in a key strategic point in the east that divides qaddafi forces from tripoli and the second largest city, benghazi and the height way that leads to tobruk where we spoke to an opposition leader that says, they re victorious here. that they are winning. as he put it, they re tasting food for the first tile but they also admit, jenna, they need a no-fly zone. they are being hurt by those airstrikes. they don t have an answer for qaddafi s air force. france and britain came out in support of a no-fly zone. so has the arab league.
with the superpowers that hillary clinton is participating in. you have the u.n. security council. we have all these meetings? i see a lot of talk, jenna. unfortunately i see a lot of talk and i don t see any kind of action that could signal to the rebels that the world is on their side in a meaningful way as opposed to just rhetorically. words at this point are cheap. the rebels need a fighting chance. i think that give the fact that the president of the united states called upon qaddafi to step aside, it is incumbent upon him to do more to make the outcome happen. jenna: we will see what talk turns into as we look over last couple weeks. judy, always great to have your perspective. judy miller. jon? jon: engineers, are trying, jenna, at a quake-damaged nuclear plant to prevent a nuclear meltdown but they seem to be running out of options. just exactly what is a meltdown? what happens if it occurs? that is ahead. also some states dealing with a state of emergency in the northeast. f
this conflict when qaddafi and his son vowed rivers of blood would flow if the rebellion continued, if at that point it would have sent a very strong, very, very powerful psychological signal to the rebels. right now we re in kind of the worst situation because on one hand our president has said qaddafi must go. his conduct is outrageous. he has no legitimacy. and on the other hand this country has done virtually nothing accept pass some sanctions which are long-term to make that outcome happen. jenna: what is the cost and benefits if we break it down between being the lead country and saying we are going to impose this no-fly zone? we ve seen other countries like france comes to mind, very powerful in their statements in support of the rebels. can we be, can we be the second ones in on this? should we let others take the lead? cost and benefits in the arab world? we kept hearing about others taking the lead. first, let s wait for the arabs to take the lead.
neck. reporter: from the way things look on the ground, unless the rebels get some serious help and very quickly, it is very possible that qaddafi s forces will beat the rebles. they already have in the village of ras lanouf. this is new video of qaddafi forces celebrating in the town of ras lanouf. they pound the rebels with artillery and they ran away without giving much of a fight. in all fairness the rebels don t have the command and control structure. they don t have the heavy weapons other artillery or the air force. this is not a fair fight. but the rebels seem to run away as quickly as the media did as the rounds started landing in and around their position and our position. they pulled back to the ras lanouf oil refinery where they set up a new defensive line. the oil refinery controls 2/3 of
back their city. leland vittert joins us on the phone now. what is the latest, lee lan. reporter: it is fair to say we are now in the middle of a civil war. there is no question about that. you are looking at video of one of the main oil terminals going up today during a heavy barrage of artillery by qaddafi forces. we were on the air as it all went down. it appears right now as though they have been beaten back badly by qaddafi forces. we are hearing more power as it goes off. it seems we had hen rpg or stinger missile going off. planes right above us at about 2:00 coming in. you can see fast-moving russian fighter jets coming across right there at 2:00. that s been what has been pounding of course the rebel positions. that s why the rebels have been asking for a no-fly zone. the real problem for the rebel