Battle of Tripoli (2011)
The Battle of Tripoli (Arabic: ﻣﻌﺮﻛﺔ ﻃﺮﺍﺑﻠﺲ maʻarakat Ṭarābulis), sometimes referred to as the Fall of Tripoli (Arabic: سقوط طرابلس suqūt Ṭarābulis), 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,[19] 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.
This article is about the battle in August 2011. For the skirmishes in February 2011, see Tripoli protests and clashes (February 2011).$_$_$DEEZ_NUTS#0__titleDEEZ_NUTS$_$_$
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Background[edit]
Opposition in Tripoli[edit]
Tripoli was the scene of major clashes and a failed uprising in February 2011. Protesters filled Green Square (since renamed Martyrs' Square by the former rebels[21][22][23]), and set fire to the People's Hall of the General People's Congress. Fighting was especially fierce in the city's eastern Tajura district, but loyalist forces were able to crush the uprising, with many casualties on both sides. Loyalists shut down the internet thus cutting access to social networks structuring the opposition, while the extensive design of Tripoli did not allow protests to reach critical mass.[24] The opposition was largely weakened, with supporters being unable to connect anonymously and fearing repression, so active members set up meetings to restructure the local opposition.[24] Several loyalists organizing the crackdown were actually double agents, informing rebels of governmental moves and future arrest attempts.[24] Further attempts at protests took place over the next few months with little success. Residents stated that a nighttime guerrilla war was taking place in the streets of Tripoli, as armed rebels reportedly started to control many of the smaller streets in rebel-sympathizing districts.[25]
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Timeline of the battle[edit]
Operation Mermaid Dawn plans and aims[edit]
In the weeks following the battle, the rebels' plans to take Tripoli were revealed. The National Transitional Council had been in contact with rebel cells inside Tripoli, including employees of the Gaddafi government sympathetic to the opposition's cause. Officers within Gaddafi's military and intelligence services gathered data on memory cards and sent them back to the NTC in Benghazi. The data contained invaluable information on the state of the regime, as well as the numbers of people working in various facilities and the military capabilities of loyalist forces based in Tripoli. The plan was reportedly two months in the making.
When rebel forces advanced into Tripoli on the night of 21 August, General al-Barani Ashkal, commander of loyalist forces at Gaddafi's compound, as well as other senior military officers, at least 72, who were secretly sympathetic to the rebels, but had been asked to remain undercover by the NTC, ordered soldiers under their command to disperse, abandoned their posts and allowed the rebels to enter the city almost entirely unopposed, in line with agreements made secretly between them and the NTC.[126]
The plan was discussed between the NTC and the French government, and rebels drew up a list of over 120 targets for NATO to strike, although the actual number of targets struck was much lower. Memory cards containing information on loyalist command and control centres and other regime military and intelligence facilities were supplied to NATO by rebel cells in Tripoli. The NTC assigned 2,000 armed men to go into Tripoli and 6,000 unarmed to go out onto the streets in the uprising that was to occur the day before the assault on the city from the western outskirts. Communications equipment was supplied to rebel cells within Tripoli by British and Qatari authorities to allow them to communicate with the NTC as well as rebel forces in other areas.
The trigger for the uprising, the so-called "Zero Hour", was the speech by NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil in which he said that the noose is tightening around Gaddafi. Attacks on command and control centres by rebel cells in the city followed, and citizens sympathetic to the rebels barricaded streets and sealed off their neighbourhoods from loyalist forces.
Arms that had been smuggled into the city were distributed by anti-Gaddafi activists in refuse collection trucks the morning before the uprising.[127]
Rebel forces advanced eastwards from Zawiya and entered Tripoli through the Janzur suburb, defeating the Khamis Brigade at its HQ in Al Maya before entering Tripoli proper. Rebels from Misrata landed by sea in the north to support the rebellion already taking place in the city. Rebels hacked into Gaddafi loyalists communications, hearing them panicking due to the swift rebel advance into the city.[12]
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