The rebel soldiers also gave their account of the refinery battle, saying that after performing a five-hour rear guard action, 100-150 loyalist soldiers had retreated via the sea using boats, at least one of which was targeted by a NATO warplane and subsequently sunk.[41] NATO described the boat's actions as "repositioning" and "progressing towards another location [where] we believe they were going [sic] to make attacks on "civilians"."[42]