and loyalist soldiers had fled from the port city. Late in the day, rebel forces claimed to have "liberated" Brega. Al Jazeera reported that while the eastern, residential parts of Brega seemed to be under rebel control, fighting was still taking place in the south of the city, and the western part remained in pro-Gaddafi hands. At least eight rebel soldiers were killed and about twenty-five more were injured during the fighting. An injured soldier told Al Jazeera, "Brega has been liberated on 11 August 2011." Tunisian troops were conducting regular checks at gas stations in southern Tunisia and policing the amount of gasoline or diesel fuel allotted per customer, according to a Tunisian Ministry of Defense spokesman, who said the new measures were intended to prevent fuel smuggling into Libya. 12 August A prisoner of war claiming to be an intelligence officer said Gaddafi was still "very strong" and enjoyed the backing of about seventy percent of Tripoli residents. France's aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91), returned to the port of Toulon for maintenance after more than four months of continuous operations off the Libyan coast. French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave a speech to forces aboard the Charles de Gaulle, reaffirming France's commitment to continue the aerial bombardment of Libya "until the end of the mission". The Russian government moved to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1973 by strengthening economic sanctions against the Gaddafi government, freezing the assets of Gaddafi and his inner circle inside Russia and banning the use of Russian airspace by Libyan aircraft or any aircraft on a non-humanitarian mission to Libya. NTC forces pushing southeast out of Misrata took control of Tawergha, though they continued to face lingering resistance in the old quarter of the city. An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that soldiers were conducting house-to-house sweeps in an effort to locate and arrest loyalist snipers in the city. 13 August Opposition fighters briefly claimed they had taken control of Gharyan, but then later told the Associated Press that fighting there was renewed when loyalist forces pushed from the garrison city at the foot of the Nafusa Mountains returned with reinforcements. One anti-Gaddafi volunteer said many residents of Gharyan had risen up to join the fight against Gaddafi's soldiers. However, no journalists were allowed to the front, and these claims could not be confirmed. Late in the day, a rebel official said anti-Gaddafi forces