In the Libyan city of Misrata, families claim they were expelled by Gaddafí troops and abandoned in the desert.

Regime soldiers told them they could go anywhere they wished as long as they remained in government-controlled areas.

But opposition fighters stationed nearby hatched a secret plan and carried out a mission to rescue the families and help them return home.

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Misrata.