British journalist Andrew Gilligan visited Tawergha in September 2011 and found it virtually emptied of its inhabitants, who numbered around 30,000 before the war.
On 13 August, Gaddafi's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim stated that the rebel assault on Tawergha had failed, saying tribesmen from Bani Walid had rallied to the fight the previous evening and pushed rebel forces all the way back to Misrata.
Following the Battle of Misrata in mid-May 2011, rebel forces retook the large parts of the city, which had been under pro-Gaddafi control, and established a defence line on Misrata's western outskirts at the small town of Dafniya, 35 kilometers from the centre of the city, and on the southwestern outskirts near Tawergha, which was still loyalist-held.