Battle of Bayda

Battle of Bayda
Part of First Libyan Civil War
Date 16–17 February 2011 Location Bayda, Libya Result Anti-Gaddafi victory
Belligerents
Anti-Gaddafi forces	Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Strength
Unknown	400 mercenaries
Casualties and losses
150 killed	50 killed

The Battle of Bayda was the first conflict^[1][2] 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.^[3] 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.