World | Brega, Libya Libya Rebels Advance to Brega Leader says key oil town within reach By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Apr 16, 2011 5:29 AM CDT Copied Fire and smoke rises from storage warehouse at a construction site that is run by a foreign company, with no clear causes of the incident, in Benghazi, Libya Friday, April 15, 2011. (Nasser Nasser) An officer with Libya's rebels says after four days of holding back, his forces have advanced to the strategic oil town of Brega. Col. Hamid Hassy said today that following scattered clashes with government forces, the rebels were now near the massive oil facilities—and have with them engineers to repair any damage to the refineries and terminal. The town has already changed hands half a dozen times since fighting erupted a month and a half ago. Hassy attributed the advance to several days of NATO airstrikes softening up Moammar Gadhafi's forces. The airstrikes have kept rebels from being outright defeated by the better trained and equipped government forces on the battlefield. Read These Next 11 people hurt in a "brutal act of violence" in Michigan. We knew Letterman would pipe up about Colbert eventually. A parent's nightmare, in a white cardboard box. Now we know why Ghislaine Maxwell may have opened up to the DOJ. Report an error