Battle of Ra ' s Lanuf The Battle of Ra ' s Lanuf was a two - phase battle in 2011 during the Libyan Civil War between forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and those loyal to the National Transitional Council . Both forces sought control of the town of Ra ' s Lanuf . The first phase followed two days after the First Battle of Brega which occurred in the town Brega , roughly to the east of Ra ' s Lanuf . After conquering the town on 4 March , the rebels pushed further west to attack Sirte but they were driven back by government forces and on 11 March , government troops reconquered most of Ra ' s Lanuf . The battle . First phase . According to the rebels , the loyalist forces used heavy weapons and helicopters to attack them one kilometre from the airport . One rebel reported seeing four men in front of him killed by an explosion . Rebels reported that there were defections from the local pro - Gaddafi military base in Ra ' s Lanuf . Sometime during the night , rebel forces managed to capture the entire town of Ra ' s Lanuf , including the airport and military base . Following the capture of the base , the rebels claimed to have found the bodies of 20 soldiers who were executed after they refused to open fire on rebel forces . In addition to the 20 mutinous soldiers who were reportedly executed , according to the rebels , various numbers of dead had been reported . 16 dead were reported on the rebel side with 31 wounded , and two to 25 loyalists ground troops were reportedly killed in addition to two loyalist pilots . One Libyan Air Force jet bomber was reported to had been shot down outside Ra ' s Lanuf on 5 March , by anti - Gaddafi rebels . Second phase . On 6 March , as the rebels were advancing from Ra ' s Lanuf toward Sirte , they were ambushed by Gaddafi ' s troops at Bin Jawad and suffered heavy losses . After that , they made a hasty retreat toward Ra ' s Lanuf where they were bombarded for four days . During the next three days of constant air , tank and naval bombardment of the frontlines at Ra ' s Lanuf , 20 rebels were killed and at least 65 wounded . On 10 March , the BBC reported that troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi had cleared rebels from Ra ' s Lanuf . A rebel fighter told AFP news agency , " We ' ve been defeated . They are shelling and we are running away . That means that they ' re taking Ra ' s Lanuf . " Gaddafi attacked the city with tanks and artillery from the west and the south , ships fired upon the city from the north , while airplanes bombed the town . Rebel reinforcements from the east tried to enter the city , but were immediately attacked and a rebel commander reported dozens of his fighters were killed and many others missing . Later that evening , most rebel forces had retreated from the town and were trying to set up a line of defense east of the city , while some hard - core opposition fighters were continuing to put up resistance in Ra ' s Lanuf . Four opposition fighters were confirmed killed during the fighting , 36 were wounded and 65 were missing . By the evening of 10 March , all major news media were reporting that the town had fallen with large numbers of rebel fighters killed or captured , despite a denial from the rebel - led council in Benghazi . The government claimed that an estimated 1 , 500 rebel fighters had been captured . After the battle anti - Gaddafi fighters advised civilians to leave the area around Brega in expectation of continuing advances by government forces . On the morning of 11 March , the first loyalist ground troops entered the town with 150 soldiers , backed up by three tanks , and managed to get to the city center . At the same time , four transport boats came in from the sea and unloaded 40 - 50 soldiers each on the beach near the Fadeel hotel . They were engaged by hard - core rebel remnants , who had not retreated from Ra ' s Lanuf the previous day . Government troops captured the residential area , but the rebels continued to hold out in the oil port facilities for a few hours before they too retreated from Ra ' s Lanuf east of the city . The town had fallen . However , in the afternoon , the rebels regrouped , mounted a counteroffensive and managed to expel the loyalist forces from the eastern part of the town . Government soldiers still held the western part of the city and a stalemate soon developed . On 12 March , rebels fighting in Ra ' s Lanuf retreated in the afternoon to the town of Uqayla west of Brega and rebel leaders confirmed that pro - Gaddafi forces had driven them 20 km out of the town and captured the oil refinery . Later during the day , the government took foreign journalists to the city for confirmation of the town ' s fall . Aftermath . After the battle the town was firmly in loyalist hands and government troops advanced further east taking the towns of Brega and Ajdabiya and arriving to Benghazi . However , on 19 March , a military intervention by the UN started . The air strikes by Coalition aircraft pushed back government troops which allowed the rebels to retake a string of towns . On 27 March , pro - Gaddafi forces in Ra ' s Lanuf were observed retreating towards Sirte . This allowed the anti - Gaddafi forces to retake control of the city . However , this would not last and once again , just three days later , government troops routed the rebels during a counter - attack from Ra ' s Lanuf on 30 March , taking back the town . Anti - Gaddafi forces recaptured the city in August , but then on 12 September at least 15 oil refinery guards were killed and two wounded by pro - Gaddafi fighters .