Zawiya, officially Zawia, is a city in northwestern Libya, situated on the Libyan coastline of the Mediterranean Sea about 47 km (29 mi) west of Tripoli, in the historic region of Tripolitania. Zawiya is the capital of the Zawiya District.
The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Zawiya on 8 August 2009 and finally ignited by protests in Benghazi beginning on Tuesday 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security forces who fired on the crowd. The protests escalated into a rebellion that spread across the country, with the forces opposing Gaddafi establishing an interim governing body, the National Transitional Council.
During the early stages of the Libyan Civil War of 2011, the Gaddafi regime was still in power: but there was widespread withdrawal of support for that regime by influential persons and organisations within the country. Among those who no longer supported the regime, the main concern they expressed was about what they regarded as its use of excessive force against peaceful protestors. There were resignations by many ministers of the governing council and other senior officials, diplomats posted abroad, and senior military officers. Islamic clerics, tribal leaders, and members of the former royal family expressed their opposition, while the two leading Libyan oil companies also withdrew support for the regime.
The Tripoli protests and clashes were a series of confrontations between Libyan anti-government demonstrators and forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the capital city of Tripoli that took place in February 2011, at the beginning of the Libyan civil war. During the early days of the uprising, there was significant unrest in the city, but the city remained under the control of the government.
The Libyan Civil War began on 17 February 2011 as a civil protest and later evolved into a widespread uprising. By mid-August, anti-Gaddafi forces effectively supported by a NATO-led international coalition were ascendant in Tripolitania, breaking out of the restive Nafusa Mountains in the south to mount an offensive toward the coast and advancing from Misrata on loyalist-held cities and villages from the north and east.
The Battle of Gharyan took place during the Libyan Civil War between rebel anti-Gaddafi forces and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi for control of the Tripolitanian city of Gharyan located at the eastern edge of the Nafusa Mountains.
The Zawiya skirmish began on 11 June 2011, when the National Liberation Army launched an attack into the coastal city of Zawiya, Libya in an attempt to recapture it from army units and militiamen loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. The attack was quickly crushed by the numerically superior and better-equipped loyalist forces, who had taken the city earlier in the Libyan Civil War after defeating rebel forces in a major battle that lasted from February to March 2011.
The Second Battle of Zawiya or Zawia took place during the Libyan Civil War between rebel anti-Gaddafi forces and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi for control of the Tripolitania city of Zawia.
Mahdi al-Arabi, is a Libyan brigadier-general who served under the Libyan Armed Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. He was the deputy chief of staff of the Libyan army. During the 2011 Libyan civil war, he was put in charge of helping to suppress protests, most notably in the Libyan city of Zawiya.
The Libyan Civil War began on 15 February 2011 as a chain of civil protests and later evolved into a widespread uprising against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. On 25 February, most of eastern Libya was reported to be under the control of protesters and rebel forces. Gaddafi remained in control of the cities of Tripoli, Sirte and Sabha. By 15 March, however, Gaddafi's forces had retaken more than half a dozen lost cities. Except for most of Cyrenaica and a few Tripolitania cities the majority of cities had returned to Gaddafi government control.
The timeline of the Libyan civil war begins on 15 February 2011 and ends on 20 October 2011. The conflict began with a series of peaceful protests, similar to others of the Arab Spring, later becoming a full-scale civil war between the forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi's government and the anti-Gaddafi forces. The conflict can roughly be divided into two periods before and after external military intervention authorized by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.
The First Battle of Zawiya or Zawia was a battle during the Libyan Civil War between army units and militiamen loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and anti-Gaddafi forces for control of the city of Zawia.
The 2011 Libyan rebel coastal offensive was a major rebel offensive of the Libyan Civil War. It was mounted by anti-Gaddafi forces with the intention of cutting off the supply route from Tunisia for pro-Gaddafi loyalist forces in Tripoli.
The Battle of Tripoli, sometimes referred to as the Fall of Tripoli, was a military confrontation in Tripoli, Libya, between loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi, the longtime leader of Libya, and the National Transitional Council, which was attempting to overthrow Gaddafi and take control of the capital. The battle began on 20 August 2011, six months after the First Libyan Civil War started, with an uprising within the city; rebel forces outside the city planned an offensive to link up with elements within Tripoli, and eventually take control of the nation's capital.
The 2011 Libyan Civil War began on 17 February 2011 as a civil protest and later evolved into a widespread uprising. After a military intervention led by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States on 19 March turned the tide of the conflict at the Second Battle of Benghazi, anti-Gaddafi forces regrouped and established control over Misrata and most of the Nafusa Mountains in Tripolitania and much of the eastern region of Cyrenaica. In mid-May, they finally broke an extended siege of Misrata.
Muftah Anaqrat was a general of the Libyan Armed Forces under former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, during the 2011 Libyan civil war, before their defeat and Gaddafi's death in Sirte. Anaqrat was killed in the First Battle of Zawiya in March 2011 as Gaddafi loyalists retook the city. It was claimed that a colonel, Mohamed Gayth, was killed alongside him.
Hussein Darbouk was a colonel in the Libyan Armed Forces under former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi until the 2011 Libyan civil war, when he defected to the National Transitional Council. Subsequently, Darbouk commanded rebel forces in the city of Zawiya against Gaddafi's forces.
Following the end of the First Libyan Civil War, which overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, there was violence involving various militias and the new state security forces. This violence has escalated into the Second Libyan Civil War (2014–2020).
The following lists events that happened during 2011 in Libya.
The Battle of Bayda was the first conflict that broke out during the First Libyan Civil War between the brigades of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan rebels in the 4th-largest city in the country, the city of Bayda and its suburbs. The battle took place as a result of the demonstrations calling for the fall of the regime in Bayda, and after that the demonstrators clashed with the internal security in the city and the Talaa Khamis Brigade and the mercenaries and the Hussein Al-Jouifi Brigade stationed in Shahhat and Al Abraq International Airport in Bayda. The fighting continued one day in Bayda and the city was liberated, and then the Libyan revolutionaries headed to the outskirts of the city in Shahhat and Al-Abraq Airport. The revolutionaries were able to control the city and its suburbs, and thus Bayda was the first city to break out of Gaddafi's control and remained under their control throughout the revolution.
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 