| abstract | - The Libyan civil war began on 17 February 2011 as a civil protest and later evolved into a widespread uprising. By mid-August, anti-Gaddafi forces effectively supported by a NATO-led international coalition were ascendant in Tripolitania, breaking out of the restive Nafusa Mountains in the south to mount an offensive toward the coast and advancing from Misrata on loyalist-held cities and villages from the north and east. This period of the war was its endgame, with Muammar Gaddafi's defensive perimeter around Greater Tripoli collapsing and his government ultimately being routed from Tripoli. A number of members of the Gaddafi government were arrested or killed in action, including Gaddafi's youngest son Khamis, and a string of its last outposts teetered and eventually fell under the assault of the (effectively) NATO-backed revolutionaries. By the end of September, the National Transitional Council had won recognition from the United Nations, the Arab League, and the African Union as the legitimate governing authority of Libya, asserting control over the vast majority of the country. As the war entered its momentous final days, the last remaining stronghold of government loyalists was the city of Sirte, which Gaddafi declared to be the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya's new capital after the fall of Tripoli. On 20 October, NTC forces that had been arrayed around the ever-shrinking positions occupied by loyalist holdouts made a decisive push and took control of the city, capturing Gaddafi as he attempted to flee. Gaddafi, who had been seriously wounded prior to his arrest, died in custody less than an hour later.
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