Second Gulf of Sidra offensive The Second Gulf of Sidra offensive was a military operation in the Libyan civil war conducted by rebel anti - Gaddafi forces in August and September 2011 to take control of towns along the Gulf of Sidra in an effort to surround Muammar Gaddafi ' s hometown of Sirte , which was held by pro - Gaddafi forces . It ended on 20 October , when Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim Gaddafi were killed along with former defense minister , Abu - Bakr Yunis Jabr . The Gaddafi loyalists in the area were finally defeated when NTC fighters captured Sirte . Background . Following the success of rebels hostile to the Gaddafi government in Tripoli , rebels in Brega made advances , taking over the entirety of the oil port town of Brega including its residential , industrial and port areas . They then planned to advance westwards . Rebel offensive . 22 August A spokesman for the National Liberation Army said on 22 August that Gaddafi ' s forces had finally retreated westward to Sirte and all of Brega was under the opposition ' s control . This was later denied by Ahmed Omar Bani , the rebels ' military spokesman , who said the eastern " front is still at Brega " . Loyalists near Sirte fired a scud missile at Misrata . 23 August However , a day later , it was confirmed that rebel forces managed to capture the village of El Agheila and were on their way to Ra ' s Lanuf . Ra ' s Lanuf fell to the opposition soon after and they were on the outskirts of the small town of Bin Jawad , 150 km east of Gaddafi ' s home town of Sirte . It was also reported by Reuters that rebels were negotiating with Sirte leaders to enter the city without bloodshed . Rebels managed to advance to the outskirts of the small coastal town of Bin Jawad , resulting in the Second Battle of Bin Jawad , but were unable to progress further due to heavy loyalist resistance in the area . More scud missile were fired at Misrata , all reportedly either falling into the sea or causing no damage upon landing 24 August On 24 August , a heavy loyalist artillery bombardment caused the rebels to retreat 20 km from Bin Jawad to Sidra . During the fighting , loyalists ambushed the advancing rebels once again at Bin Jawad , in an echo of an earlier defeat in March . Twenty rebel fighters died in the clashes . 25 August RAF Tornado aircraft attacked a military bunker in Sirte with precision guided missiles , in an attempt to destroy the government ' s remaining command and control capabilities , ahead of the rebels planned offensive on the city . NATO aircraft also destroyed 29 armoured vehicles which were moving to Misrata . The rebels , for their part , retreated further to Ra ' s Lanuf to put themselves out of range of rockets fired by pro - Gaddafi forces . 27 August Rebels claimed sending a brigade to negotiate the surrender of Sirte . Al Jazeera English reported that there were negotiations between rebels and loyalists in Ra ' s Lanuf . Later that day , rebel forces were able to recapture Bin Jawad and move closer to Sirte . 28 August NLA forces advanced on two fronts towards the town of Nofaliya , which was captured later that day . 30 August The National Transitional Council gave the loyalists in Sirte a four - day - ultimatum to surrender or to face military assault . 1 September The ultimatum was extended for another week by the NTC . A spokesman stated that Sirte had no economic importance and that the rebels would not risk casualties for it . Meanwhile negotiations between tribal leaders from Nofaliya and the Bin Jawad area ( on NTC behalf ) and from Sirte were still ongoing . The NLA forces claimed that Harawa , a village 50 km east of Sirte , had surrendered . NATO bombardment of the area continued unabated , independent of the NTC ultimatums . 4 September A NLA commander claimed that the village of Umm El Ghindel agreed to lay down their weapons . Reuters reported that the NLA raised their flag on the entry of the village . 6 September NLA forces advanced 8 km towards Sirte , meeting heavy resistance from loyalist forces . One NLA fighter died in the fighting and at least one loyalist was killed and another wounded . Both sides engaged in artillery duels during the day and three loyalist vehicles were bombed by NATO and two others captured by the NLA . According to frontline commanders , the clashes occurred when a recon patrol was attacked by loyalists and that the attack on Sirte had yet to begin . Also , to the west of Sirte , NTC forces overran a tribal encampment without resistance , taking over 100 assault rifles and some machineguns . 8 September An NLA commander claimed that the Red Valley , east of Sirte , was captured by NLA forces . Eight rebels and three loyalists were killed during the fighting in the valley and one pro - Gaddafi fighter was captured . 9 September Opposition forces engaged loyalist troops near Sirte , in the Red Valley , during the night but withdrew after suffering heavy casualties . 10 – 14 September During a period of heavy fighting , in which opposition forces attempted to advance toward Sirte but made only gains of a few kilometers , at least 80 rebel fighters were killed . According to the Misrata Military Council , the living conditions inside Sirte were worsening . The city suffered from a lack of water and food . 15 – 18 September On 15 September , NLA forces based out of Misrata moved into Sirte from the west . Opposition troops initially made some gains by capturing the airport south of the city and penetrating the city limits . But by 18 September , the rebels had retreated to the city ' s outskirts after encountering stiff resistance from well - armed loyalists and suffering heavy casualties . At the same time , eastern NLA forces captured the village of Harawa in an attempt to support forces from the west which were already engaged in a battle for Sirte itself . 20 September On 20 September , Al Jazeera reported that eastern NLA forces finally reached the eastern gates of Sirte and thus put Sirte under effective siege from all sides . However , later reports put opposition forces at the town of Khamseen , still another 50 kilometers east of Sirte , facing stiff resistance from loyalist troops . 24 September On 24 September , NTC forces made another attempt at storming Sirte and captured a few neighbourhoods in the western part of the city . But by the next morning , they again retreated from the western part of Sirte , after meeting strong resistance from loyalist forces . To the east , NLA troops advanced to within 20 kilometers of Sirte . 26 September Opposition forces continued their offensive against Sirte with NTC tanks shelling the city center from a distance of 2 kilometers from the western outskirts . Meanwhile , the main opposition eastern assault body fought their way to 10 kilometers of the town .