First Battle of Brega

First Battle of Brega
Part of Libyan Civil War
Anti-Gaddafi rebels in Brega
Date 2 March 2011 Location Brega, Libya Result Anti-Gaddafi victory Pro-Gaddafi forces fail to recapture Brega
Belligerents
Anti-Gaddafi forces National Liberation Army	Armed forces of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Commanders and leaders
Bashir Abdel-Qader Khaled Kowati	Unknown
Strength
300-350 combatants One tank Dozens of technicals	200-400 combatants Two fighter jets 50 technicals 120mm artillery
Casualties and losses
14 killed 12 captured 28 wounded	2-10 killed 4 captured 1 F1 shot down

Anti-Gaddafi victory

Anti-Gaddafi forces

The First Battle of Brega was fought during the Libyan Civil War. It began when pro-Gaddafi government troops attacked the city, held by the National Transitional Council, in the early hours of 2 March 2011.

In the early hours of 2 March, well-armed government pro-Gaddafi forces arrived at Brega in over 100 vehicles. They succeeded in wresting control of the oil refinery, port, terminal and industry airport, as well as the town university. Coming within 2-3 kilometers (1-2 mi) from the town center, pro-Gaddafi forces managed to pin down rebel forces. According to a number of news sources, rebels were rushed to mobilization and hid in the sand for camouflage. Most were volunteers from the rebel-controlled cities of Ajdabiya and Benghazi.

As the attack was underway, Libyan Air Force pilots loyal to Gaddafi bombed a munitions depot at Ajdabiya. However, after a few hours, rebel reinforcements from Ajdabiya arrived in Brega and pushed back pro-Gaddafi fighters to the university campus where they came under siege. Moving along the coast, rebel fighters charged over the sand dunes on the beach up the hill to the university building, while under constant mortar fire. At one moment, a warplane attacked the dunes in an attempt to disperse the rebels, but it caused no casualties, and the siege continued. According to the rebels, the pro-Gaddafi forces at the university used civilians as human shields. Government troops eventually withdrew from the university and out of the city some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) to the west. A senior rebel officer stated pro-Gaddafi troops might have run out of ammunition and as such were forced to withdraw.

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