Az Zawiyah

Az Zawiyah (also known as Ez or Al Zawiyah or Zawiya or Zawia or Zavia or Zauia), (, transliteration: Az Zāwiyah), (variants: Az Zawiyah Al Gharbiyah, , Ḩārat az Zāwiyah, Al Ḩārah, El-Hára and Haraf Az Zāwīyah), is a city in northwestern Libya, situated on the Libyan coastline of the Mediterranean Sea about west of Tripoli, in the historic region of Tripolitania. Az Zawiyah is the capital of the Az Zawiyah District.

In the Libyan censuses of 1973 and 1984, the city counted about 100,000 inhabitants; it was then – and possibly continues to be today – the fourth-largest city in Libya by population (after Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata). In 2006, the Az Zawiyah District was estimated to have a population of about 291,000 people, most of whom were concentrated in the city. Az Zawiyah has a university named the Seventh of April University, founded in 1988. There is also an oil field near the city and Az Zawiyah has one of the two most important oil refineries in Libya.

2011 Libyan uprising

During the 2011 Libyan civil war, severe fighting between the Libyan opposition and the government of Muammar al-Gaddafi has taken place in and around the city.BBC News (24 February 2011)....
Read More