AJDABIYA, Libya — A poorly armed crowd of fighters, onlookers and volunteers on the outskirts of this embattled town, the current center of fighting between rebel forces and forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has grown larger with each passing day.

Aided by allied air strikes, the last opposition checkpoint appears to have advanced several miles into territory once controlled by Gaddafi’s troops. The makeshift infrastructure helping the rebels along has also improved with Red Crescent ambulances now on hand not just water, but juice boxes, crackers and bread now being passed around.

Other than that, however, not much has changed. The battle for this key oil town continues slowly — one small advance and one small retreat at a time, day in and day out.

On Wednesday, a mounted force of about 30 rebels crashed their way into the southern gate of Ajdabiya. Salem Bazama, 28, a resident of Ajdabiya, said the flanking move managed to scatter loyalist forces — temporarily. The rebels then came under counter-attack and retreated again.

On Thursday afternoon, rebels on the frontlines waited to make their next move. With grenade launchers slung over their shoulders, they passed the time playing a rather dangerous game of soccer.

When asked when they will make their next move on Ajdabiya, the reply is almost always, “In one hour, Inshallah.”

British and French jets continued to target Gaddafi’s ground forces on Thursday night, with reports of air strikes on government forces around Ajdabiya.

The crowd is emboldened these days by the sounds of allied planes flying overhead.

The allies, who have been conducting air strikes since the United Nations approved a no-fly zone on March 17, agreed Thursday to tap NATO as the leader of the intervention, a move that will likely allow for a more sustained effort against Gaddafi’s forces and allow for what is still largely a ragtag rebel army to make more significant advances toward Tripoli, Libya’s capital.

For now, however, the fight is focused on this small city.

No rebel vehicles will drive straight down the highway into tank fire, so the only way to get beyond the last rebel checkpoint is to walk, using the dunes as cover. Libyan teens recorded, on their cell phones, rebels and journalists who make the dangerous march toward Ajdabiya’s gate.

More than a mile past the checkpoint was the latest burned out wreckage — a few blackened and twisted Toyotas. A group of rebels advanced toward a cluster of houses on the outskirts of the city, before a loyalist tank between them and the city sent a shell whistling overhead.

It appeared the group was being bracketed, with one shell falling in front and the other behind, as they ran back to the last checkpoint.

A rebel rocket battery fired at least five rockets toward Gaddafi’s forces, but it brought even more accurate tank fire in return.

Later in the afternoon, four rebel fighters with one AK-47 and a pair of binoculars between them settled into the dunes along the main road. They said they were going to take out a sniper position.

Staying low, the men finally reached a cinderblock shelter they said had once been used by Gaddafi snipers. There was four wooden barrels set up inside that were likely used as shooting positions.

The four rebels were all volunteers from Benghazi, the opposition’s base of operations. They come to the frontlines when they can. One wears pointy street shoes and fashionable jeans. Another is in fatigues, his head wrapped in a scarf. One wore a crown of bullets. Another uncapped three grenades and seemed to debate which one to hold as he advanced. A teenager came wearing a tracksuit, his AK-47 clip stickered with revolutionary slogans.

There was a modicum of tactical awareness. They spread out and began to advance on another suspected sniper position. But the group began to lose discipline as they approached a smashed Toyota that was left in front of a bombed-out military vehicle, its anti-aircraft gun still facing the sky.

From the looks of it, the military vehicle could easily have been hit by an allied air strike, but the three bodies strewn about were probably killed later.

The rebels said the bodies were likely African mercenaries hired by Gaddafi to fight his fight. Most mercenaries these days are judged by the color of their skin. These bodies looked Sub-Saharan African and probably had been dead for several days.

As the men searched another vehicle with a bullet-riddled windshield, they began to get uneasy, wondering why they hadn’t yet been shot at despite the fact they were standing on the main road.

One of the rebels tried to start the smashed Toyota as gas poured from the chassis. Then, suddenly, a shell screamed down the main road, exploding between a Spanish photographer and myself, our ears popping as it passed.

Clearly this would be the last warning shot. The group ducked under barbed wire and back through the dunes, knowing their luck had run out for the day. The shelling was coming in earnest again, as we joined the crowd back at the last checkpoint.

Allied air strikes resumed, but it appeared that Gaddafi’s tanks in Ajdabiya are too well dug in to be spotted, or too close to civilians to be targeted.

And so the fight for Ajdabiya presses on for another day.