CASUALTY RECORD // February 15, 2011
First Battle of Benghazi
Estimated casualties — killed, wounded, captured, and missing — by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Casualties by side
2 sides catalogued · combined 495–568 estimated
Rebelles libyens
332
Medium-confidence figure
Jamahiriya arabe libyenne
163–236
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The First Battle of Benghazi opened the armed phase of the 2011 Libyan Civil War in Libya's second-largest city, setting the contest between Gaddafi's forces and anti-Gaddafi fighters over control of the country's eastern heartland. The fighting spread across Benghazi and extended to the nearby Cyrenaican cities of Bayda and Derna, signaling that resistance was not confined to a single urban center but had taken root across the region. With casualties recorded on both sides, the battle demonstrated that anti-Gaddafi forces could mount sustained armed opposition, establishing Benghazi as the principal base of the rebellion that would define the conflict's trajectory.
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