March–August 2011
For three months, Gaddafi's forces besieged Misrata — Libya's third city and a rebel stronghold — in the most ferocious urban combat of the war. Snipers picked off civilians on main streets, cluster munitions were fired into residential areas, and the city's port became its only lifeline. NATO warships and aircraft struck regime positions while rebels defended every block. The city held, becoming a symbol of resistance, and the militias that emerged from the siege would become some of the most powerful armed factions in post-Gaddafi Libya.
Commanders