Second Battle of Bin Jawad

Second Battle of Bin Jawad
Part of Second Gulf of Sidra offensive
Date 23–27 August 2011 Location Bin Jawad, Libya Result Anti-Gaddafi Victory
Belligerents
National Transitional Council National Liberation Army NATO command[1]	Gaddafi Loyalists Libyan army Paramilitary forces
Commanders and leaders
Col. Hamid Hassy	unknown
Casualties and losses
20 dead[2]	unknown

The Second Battle of Bin Jawad was a battle in the Libyan Civil War between forces loyal to former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the forces loyal to the National Transitional Council for control of the small town of Bin Jawad.

The Battle

NTC forces managed to advance to the outskirts of Bin Jawad on 23 August after retaking Brega and Ra's Lanuf the previous day, but were unable to progress further due to heavy loyalist resistance in the area.^[3]

On 24 August, a heavy loyalist artillery bombardment caused the rebels to retreat 20 km from Bin Jawad to Sidra.^[4] NTC troops regrouped and counter-attacked, but the loyalists ambushed the advancing NTC forces once again at Bin Jawad, in an echo of an earlier defeat in March. Twenty rebel fighters died in the clashes, with an undetermined number of loyalist casualties.^[5]

The next day, forces loyal to the NTC pulled back to Ra's Lanuf out of loyalist artillery range, and prepared for another advance along the coast towards Bin Jawad and their ultimate objective, Sirte.^[6]

On 27 August, another advance began towards Bin Jawad, this time successfully dislodging the loyalist troops who retreated to Sirte, and Bin Jawad fell entirely to the NTC Army.^[7]

Rebel forces began advancing towards Sirte the next day.^[8]

References

1. "Nato takes control of enforcing Libya no-fly zone". Dawn. Tripoli. Agence France-Presse. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
2. Crilly, Rob (25 August 2011). "Libya: the battle for control of Sirte". The Telegraph. Ra's Lanuf. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
3. "Rebels stuck at Bin Jawad on way to Gaddafi hometown". Ahram Online. Agence France-Presse. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
4. "Libya - Aug 25, 2011 - 03:52". Al Jazeera Blogs. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
5. NATO Helps in Hunt for Qaddafi as Rebels Gain Momentum
6. "Hundreds of dead bodies found at Tripoli hospital". citifmonline. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
7. Ben Quinn. "Guardian Live Blog". the Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
8. "Libya - Aug 28, 2011 - 21:41". Al Jazeera Blogs. Retrieved 21 November 2014.