Battle of Bin Jawad The Battle of Bin Jawad was a battle in the Libyan Civil War between forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and anti - Gaddafi forces for control of the town of Bin Jawad . Battle . On 5 March 2011 , following the Battle of Ra ' s Lanuf , rebel forces advanced along the Mediterranean coast and captured the town of Bin Jawad . They stopped during the night in the hamlet and planned to continue on to Sirte in the morning . During the evening , the opposition forces pulled back to Ra ' s Lanuf so they could prepare to continue their push to the west . On the morning of 6 March , the rebels were on the move again and were passing through Bin Jawad , when they realized that loyalist forces had entered the town the previous night and took up positions in houses and on rooftops in preparation for an ambush . Government troops opened fire on the rebels with machine guns and RPG ' s and the opposition forces were soon in full retreat toward Ra ' s Lanuf . During the chaos , about 50 rebel fighters were left behind and trapped inside a Bin Jawad mosque . An opposition force in 20 pickup trucks tried to surge back into the city and rescue them , but was hit by artillery fire and one truck was destroyed . The rest of the convoy quickly retreated back to the edges of the town . Gaddafi ' s forces had retaken Bin Jawad . As the rebels were retreating east of Bin Jawad , they were hit by helicopter and air strikes . After getting a chance to regroup , rebels moved up several multiple - rocket launchers from Ra ' s Lanuf and fired toward Bin Jawad . However , loyalist troops had also pulled up their heavy weapons and an artillery duel followed . The new rebel frontline was established three kilometers east of the town . During the fighting , one military helicopter was reported to have been shot down by the rebels and crashed in the sea . Meanwhile in Ra ' s Lanuf , loyalist air strikes hit the air base , held by the rebels . At least two people were killed and 40 wounded . By the morning of 7 March , the BBC reported that the town was under the control of government forces and they were advancing on Ra ' s Lanuf . On 9 March , the rebels attempted to move against Bin Jawad once more . However , after firing off around 50 rockets and making some advances , they were hit by artillery and air strikes and retreated to Ra ' s Lanuf . According to the rebels , at least 50 - 60 fighters were killed in the initial fighting on 6 March , and , according to one rebel fighter , 700 were missing . In December 2011 , a mass grave containing the bodies of 170 of the 700 missing rebel fighters was discovered near the town . Aftermath . The Battle of Bin Jawad marked the end of the initial rebel offensive . Proving to be the high - water mark of the rebel offensive , it marked the end of the rebel advance westward at the time , and opened the way for a government counter - offensive that took pro - Gaddafi forces as far as the gates of Benghazi , before being pushed back by UN intervention . On 27 March , rebels entered Bin Jawad after coalition air - strikes on tanks positioned there , and managed to recapture the town . However , on 29 March , they retreated once again under heavy artillery fire from loyalist forces . Rebel forces eventually returned to Bin Jawad again some months later , in a separate engagement after the fall of Tripoli in August 2011 .