page_title: Battle of Tripoli (2011)
section_title: 26 August
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Tripoli (2011) / Timeline of the battle / 26 August
caption_attribution_description: English: A rebel checkpoint in Tripoli, Libya.
context_page_description: The Battle of Tripoli was a military confrontation in Tripoli, Libya, between loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi, the longtime leader of Libya, and the National Transitional Council, which was attempting to overthrow Gaddafi and take control of the capital. The battle began on 20 August 2011, six months after the Libyan Civil War started, with an uprising within the city; rebel forces outside the city planned an offensive to link up with elements within Tripoli, and eventually take control of the nation's capital.
  The rebels codenamed the assault "Operation Mermaid Dawn". Tripoli's nickname is "The Mermaid".
context_section_description: At Khilit al-Ferjan and Qasr bin Ghashir, two loyalist camps in the Tripoli area, loyalists killed "numerous detainees", according to eyewitnesses. Grenades and gunfire were used on a large group of prisoners after about 160 escaped from a metal hangar.
  At this time, Muammar Gaddafi held a meeting with his son Khamis and daughter Ayesha at a military compound in the city, following which they all left Tripoli in two heavily guarded convoys towards Sabha. Ayesha later continued to the Algerian border along with her mother and two brothers. Khamis was reported, by the rebels, to had been killed in a NATO air-strike on 29 August, while traveling to Bani Walid, but there was no independent confirmation of this and NATO stated they had no information on his fate.
caption: Libyan rebel checkpoint in Tripoli, 26 August 2011.
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