The Zawiya skirmish began on 11 June 2012, when the National Liberation Army launched an attack into the coastal city of Zawiya in an attempt to recapture it from army units and militiamen loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. The attack was quickly crushed by the numerically-superior and better-equipped loyalist forces, who had taken the city earlier in the Libyan Civil War after defeating rebel forces in a major battle that lasted from February to March 2011.