First Battle of Zawiya

First Battle of Zawiya
Part of Libyan Civil War
Date 24 February – 9/10 March 2011 Location Zawia Result Decisive pro-Gaddafi victory[1] City retaken by loyalist forces
Belligerents
Anti-Gaddafi forces National Liberation Army	Armed forces of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Commanders and leaders
Hussein Darbouk †[2]	Khamis Gaddafi Khouildi Hamidi[3] Mahdi al-Arabi[4] Muftah Anaqrat †[5] Mohamed Gayth †[5]
Strength
300–400[6]	Khamis Brigade[7] Hosban Brigade[8]
Casualties and losses
235[9]–600[10] killed** 300+ wounded[11] 37 captured[12] up to 50 tanks, APCs and 2S1 Gvozdika howitzers destroyed or captured	65 killed 50 wounded[13] 29–31 captured[14] 4+ T-72 tanks or BMPs destroyed 1 Shilka destroyed[15]
*Unconfirmed rebel claims **At least 151 of those killed were rebels, possibly more, while the rest were civilians.[16]

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 city quickly fell into rebels hands with soldiers from Libyan Army units defecting. Zawiya was the rebel city which was closest to Tripoli, and it became the main focus of Gaddafi troops. The city was besieged and regularly attacked by loyalists with rebels defending the center of the town. The final assault lasted one week and was led by the Khamis Brigade, the best trained unit of the Libyan army. The rebellion was ultimately crushed in the city and Gaddafi troops took complete control of the town, searching for suspected rebels and erasing any sign of the rebellion.

Along with the Battle of Misrata, the First Battle of Zawiya was one of the bloodiest clashes of the Libyan Civil War.