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 appears to be in the west, in misrata, deep inside gadhafi's territory. a rebel leader told us, saving misrata today is as urgent as saving benghazi was two weeks ago. >> it is the abuse in misrata. they have taken women out of their homes. they have assassinated people on sight. they have put snipers on top of the buildings.