2012 Photo Contest, General News, 1st prize

Battle for Libya

Photographer

Rémi Ochlik

IP3 Press

24 October, 2011

Libyans in Misrata, which had been besieged for months by Gaddafi forces, celebrate the liberation of the country, on 24 October.

About the photographer

Rémi Ochlik

After graduating from high school, he went to Paris to study photography at Icart photo school and began working for the photography agency Wostok. In 2004, at the age of 20, Oc...

Background story

Misrata, Libya

Libyans in Misrata, which had been besieged for months by Gaddafi forces, celebrate the liberation of the country, on 24 October. After security forces fired live rounds on demonstrators outside a police station in Libya’s second city of Benghazi, in mid-February, anti-government protests escalated. Over the next few months, opposition to the rule of long-time dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi became a full-scale national revolt. Intense fighting broke out between largely untrained, ad hoc rebel militia and the Libyan military, together with other pro-Gaddafi forces.

On 17 March, the UN Security Council voted to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and called for international military action to protect civilians. Within hours of the UN resolution, NATO planes, with logistic support from several Arab countries, began a bombing campaign that severely impeded the progress of Gaddafi’s forces. By the end of August, the opposition had effectively taken control of the country, though pockets of Gaddafi supporters fought on. Parts of the capital, Tripoli, together with a number of west-Libyan towns, held out longest against the uprising. It was not until 23 October and the capture of Gaddafi, together with the taking of his hometown Sirte after a long siege, that the liberation of Libya was finally declared.

Technical information

Shutter Speed
1/160 sec
Focal length
24 mm
F-Stop
f/2.0
ISO
1600
Camera
Nikon D3S

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