Battle of Tawergha The Battle of Tawergha was a military engagement of the Libyan civil war that began on 11 August 2011 when anti - Gaddafi forces based out of Misrata advanced along the southeast road toward Sirte in the early morning and attacked Libyan Army positions in the city of Tawergha . It ended on 13 August when rebel troops , after capturing the town , cleared it of snipers and artillery positions threatening Misrata . Battle . On 11 August , rebel forces , including 3 - 6 tanks , advanced on Taworgha from the south and east . Al Jazeera described the offensive as " a heavily co - ordinated operation with NATO " , which reportedly carried out air strikes against loyalist forces in support of the rebels . After nearly two full days of fighting , the rebels claimed victory late on 12 August . One fighter reported that although the battle had been very intense initially , many loyalist soldiers eventually fled . On 13 August , low - level fighting reportedly continued in Tawergha ' s old quarter as opposition troops attempted to flush out loyalist sniper s and other holdouts . According to an Al Jazeera reporter who witnessed the events , one rebel commander was shot dead while trying to negotiate the holdouts ' surrender . Ali Ahmed al Sheh , a rebel commander , claimed that Gaddafi - loyal soldiers used civilians as human shield s , preventing his forces from using heavy machine guns and slowing the offensive down . On 13 August , Gaddafi ' s Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim stated that the rebel assault on Tawergha had failed , saying tribesmen from Bani Walid had rallied to the fight the previous evening and pushed rebel forces all the way back to Misrata . This claim was not independently verified . The rebels themselves claimed that they were closing in on the last sniper and pro - Gaddafi artillery positions in the town . By the end of the day , a spokesperson for the National Transitional Council said Tawergha had been secured . Twelve anti - Gaddafi fighters were killed during the operation , Commander Ibrahim Halbus told BBC News . Aftermath . Rebels reportedly advanced to positions beyond the town , taking a bridge on the highway linking it to Sirte . The city of Misrata was reportedly relieved of the heavy missile bombardment which had been directed against its population . On 17 August , rebels stated that they had advanced further and reached the outskirts of Al Hayshah , north of a major crossroads . On 18 August , rebels claimed to have found a mass grave consisting of 150 civilians executed by Gaddafis forces near Tawergha . On 19 August , three rebels were killed in light fighting around Tawergha . A report published in " The Sunday Telegraph " on 11 September claimed that the town had been the target of ethnic cleansing on the part of the Misrata Brigade , with virtually the entire population of the town forced to leave after its takeover by anti - Gaddafi forces and a number of refugee camp s crowded with Tawergha ' s former residents being subjected to raids and arbitrary arrests by opposition fighters . Ibrahim Halbus , one of the original commanders of the brigade during the battle , was quoted by reporter Andrew Gilligan as saying , " Tawergha no longer exists . "