The events regarding the military intervention on 19 March can be tracked in the related articles: Timeline of the 2011 Libyan Civil War before military intervention Timeline of the 2011 Libyan Civil War and military intervention (19 March–May) Timeline of the 2011 Libyan Civil War and military intervention (16 August – 23 October)
The 2011 Libyan Civil War began on 17 February 2011 as a civil protest and later evolved into a widespread uprising. After a military intervention led by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States (and later NATO) on 19 March turned the tide of the conflict at the Second Battle of Benghazi, anti-Gaddafi forces regrouped and established control over Misrata and most of the Nafusa Mountains in Tripolitania and much of the eastern region of Cyrenaica. In mid-May, they finally broke an extended siege of Misrata.
This phase of the war saw an extended stalemate on the eastern front, with little movement between Ajdabiya and Brega. However, in the west, anti-Gaddafi fighters advanced from Misrata to seize control of surrounding areas, sacking the rival town of Tawergha as retribution for its support to the Libyan Army and allied mercenary fighters that had committed atrocities against their port city. Fighters in the Nafusa Mountains also became better organized, with Qatari military advisers and increased involvement by the National Transitional Council based in Benghazi helping to train disparate militiamen from Arab and Amazigh villages into something resembling a cohesive fighting force.
The NTC gained critical international recognition from the United States and other states during this period and began to open embassies and diplomatic offices in foreign capitals. But the opposition council was dealt a jarring setback by the murder of top military commander General Abdul Fatah Younis under mysterious circumstances in late July. Despite the muddled situation in the east, by mid-August, anti-Gaddafi units based in the Nafusa Mountains were mounting a bold offensive north toward the Mediterranean Basin.
Stalemate (1–14 June)
1 June NATO extended its mission to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 for an additional ninety days. The UN Human Rights Council declared that its fact-finding mission found Gaddafi guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ghanem defected from the Gaddafi administration due to "unbearable violence". Despite uncertainty at first over joining the opposition, he later declared his support to the NTC in a Roman news conference. Rebel forces reported that Shakshuk, near the city of Jadu and well within Gaddafi territory, was captured. Four car explosions triggered by a hand grenade damaged the Tibesti Hotel in Benghazi, a hotel used by the NTC and residence of many foreign journalists. Despite damage to the hotel, there were no injuries or casualties.
2 June Cooling international concern, the Libyan opposition has downplayed concerns of oil contract re-negotiation as they meet with the leaders in Libya's oil industry. NATO air attacks destroyed ammunition and vehicles depots, a SAM launcher, and a radar installation in the capital.
3 June Two RAF Apache helicopters attacked a radar site and an armed checkpoint near Brega, the next logical waypoint in the opposition's campaign westward. French Gazelles were reported to have simultaneously been out on mission, marking the first time the helicopters were used by NATO. Opposition fighters reportedly liberated the western towns, Qasr el-Haj, Shakshuk, and Bir Ayyad of loyalist forces.
4–5 June Army Air Corps Apache gunships, launched from , destroyed several targets near the Brega-Ajdabiya front line including ammunition bunkers and radar installations while the French Gazelles also hit numerous targets around Brega in preparation for the perceived upcoming rebel offensive on the ground. Libyan state media was under attack today because they told foreign reporters that a child who was injured in a NATO airstrike sustained her injuries in an unrelated car crash. This information was apparently passed to the foreign reporters in a note, at the hospital where she was situated. The Netherlands and Denmark denied recognition of the NTC as the authority of Libya after rebels claimed such.
6 June The mountain town of Yafran, roughly southwest of Tripoli, was reported to be under opposition control. Nalut and Zintan were reported to be "relatively quiet" by the opposition, though independent verification of this had not yet been made possible. Additionally, NATO airstrikes leveled the offices of Libyan State TV and Gaddafi's military intelligence in Tripoli, though Libyan state authorities claimed only the latter was destroyed. Areas under opposition control reported disruption of state TV broadcasts. In order to be knowledgeable of the terrain ahead, opposition forces in Misrata have been training men smuggled out of Zliten while coordinating their efforts with the city's tribal chiefs prior to launching any offensive westward.
7 June Gaddafi appeared live and vowed to stay in Libya "dead or alive" as NATO launched some of its most destructive airstrikes yet, targeting key loyalist military installations of the Libyan secret police, Revolutionary Guard and Popular Guard. Libyan Labour Minister, Al-Amin Manfur, defected and joined the opposition at a meeting of the International Labour Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. There are some reports that one of Gaddafi's sons, Mutassim Gaddafi, was killed in an airstrike that was conducted by NATO. It was reported on 7 June that Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr was executed by Gaddafi for refusing to carry out orders to kill protesters. It might be true since Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr had not appeared on national Libyan television, and there had been no outside communication with him.
8 June Loyalist forces took advantage of a break in heavy airstrikes to launch a large attack on Misrata as well as Zintan, but did not make any gains. Spain announced its designation of the NTC as the sole legitimate government of Libya. As International Criminal Court judges debated issuing arrest warrants for Gaddafi and his confederates, the organization's chief prosecutor announced that it had received reliable reports that the Gaddafi administration was buying large quantities of "Viagra-type drugs" in order to encourage soldiers to rape supporters of the opposition.
9 June Nations supporting the opposition agreed to finance the NTC with over US$1.1 billion as the rebel finance minister announced plans to gradually restore oil exports in the west. The US and Australia recognized the NTC as the legitimate interlocutor of Libya, one step below formal diplomatic recognition. Opposition forces claimed that over a dozen of Gaddafi's high-ranking military officials defected while rebels in the key mountain city of Zintan attempted to establish control.
10 June The African Union chairperson participated as Invitee in the third meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya. The African Union called for Gaddafi to step down as Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the leader of the AU Libya mediation team announced that Gaddafi "can no longer lead Libya." Misrata continued to be bombarded by loyalist forces while clashes between Gaddafi's forces and rebel fighters erupted in the neighboring Zliten. Ghadames, an oasis town bordering Tunisia, was shelled by loyalist forces for the first time. The leader of a UN inquiry into human rights violations in Libya expressed his skepticism over any official rape policy by the Gaddafi administration. He cited that alleged statistical evidence was never received by officials and that the allegations were a result of "mass hysteria". The allegations were based on surveys supposedly delivered through the postal system, but it was inoperable during the period it was claimed to have been used. Both loyalist and opposition parties accuse one another of committing war crimes according to the investigation. However, a senior U.N. official defended the validity of the claim, citing "consistent reports from people, from organisations, from UN entities and others on the ground."
11 June Rebels in Zawiya, a city just from Tripoli, won control of some sections, marking the first significant clashes between loyalist and opposition forces since it was recaptured by Gaddafi's troops in March. Due to the ongoing fighting, loyalist forces closed down a highway that crosses the town, a key expressway for Gaddafi's war effort. A spokesman for the NTC explained that many of the rebels that fled Zawiya during its fall to Gaddafi in March had been training in the mountains in preparation. Rebels reported that two of Gaddafi's sons were in command of the loyalist offensive at Zliten–Misrata front. One of these is Khamis Gaddafi, commander of the Khamis Brigade, a special forces brigade loyal exclusively to Gaddafi and reportedly one of the few loyalist brigades still intact. A day earlier he had been quoted telling his troops, "Take Misurata or I will kill you myself. If you don't take Misrata, we are finished."
12 June A government spokesman alleged that the rebels were defeated in Zawiya after hours of fighting. A group of foreign reporters were taken from Tripoli to Zawiya for confirmation of the loyalist victory. The reporters confirmed that fighting had ceased throughout the areas they toured though they did not enter the western portion. Only hours earlier, rebels claimed to have surrounded loyalists in the west at three sides. The government further alleged that opposition forces had been pushed out of the city and surrounded on the edge of Zawiya. Reporters were unable to independently verify this, however. This was potentially confirmed when a reporter heard several gunshots west of the city center and a rebel fighter in the town stating that fighting was still taking place. A force of 130 rebels attempted to advance on Brega but were repelled and pulled back to Ajdabiya. At least 25 of the opposition fighters were killed and 65 wounded during the offensive, with a rebel commander later claiming many casualties were suffered when loyalist troops feigned a surrender under a white flag, then fired on rebel soldiers as they approached. Loyalist forces shelled Zintan from a distance as it remained under rebel control. The United Arab Emirates announced its full diplomatic recognition of the NTC as the legitimate government of Libya.
13 June German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle announced that the NTC was "the legitimate representative of the Libyan people," but it was not a full diplomatic recognition. Contact with the rebel spokesman in Zawiya, who was updating journalists on the fighting there, had ceased and the highway running through Zawiya toward the Tunisian border was re-opened, indicating that the fighting had stopped and the earlier reports of a rebel defeat were true. Foreign journalists were taken on a tour along the highway, confirming that traffic wasn't being re-routed anymore around Zawiya, as was done at the beginning of the battle. Libyan rebel forces advanced from Misrata to within ten kilometers of the neighboring city of Zliten, east of Tripoli. Loyalist troops launched six missile attacks on an oil refinery in Misrata, though the oil storing facilities were reported to not have been damaged.
Rebel push towards Tripoli (14 June – 15 August)
14 June Loyalist forces fired several Grad rockets which landed within the Tunisian border. No injuries or damage were reported, and it was not immediately clear why this occurred.