Zliten () It is a city in the Murqub District of Libya, with a predominantly Arab population of around 203,790
Geography
The name Zliten is given to both the city and the whole area. As a city, Zliten is situated east of the capital, Tripoli, and about east of the ancient Roman city of
Leptis Magna. It is about west of the city of
Misrata and east of Khoms. It is spread over an area of about . The former district of Zliten is widespread and covers an area of . It is surrounded by the Mediterranean in the north, Misrata in the east, Bani Walid in the south and Khoms in the west.
Climate
Name
The name is derived from the name of the Isliten tribe, an old branch of the Nafzawa Berbers. Members of this tribe used to live in Libya and Tunisia, but are also known to have lived as far west as Morocco. They are mentioned by
Leo Africanus in the 16th century as living in western Libya.
[ Description of Africa]
Education
Zliten is home to one of Libya's most renowned
Islamic universities,
Al-Jamiaa Al-Asmariya Al-Islamiya (Arabic: الجامعة الأسمرية الإسلامية i.e. Al-Asmariya Islamic University). It includes a number of faculties; Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Sciences, Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry and Mouth Surgery, and Faculty of Education. There is also a higher vocational training center covering various engineering fields.
Economy
Zliten has several modern banking institutions, a major shopping center and the Zliten Hotel, the city's top accommodation for tourists. In 2001, the Libyan Government proposed a number of state company projects for which
joint ventures would be considered. These included an expansion of Arab Cement Company’s (ACC)
cement plant in Zliten valued at $169 million.
[P. Mobbs 2001 p. 19.1] In February 2005, the initial public offering of shares in the formerly state-owned ACC resulted in the sale of 60% of the company. ACC proposed to build a second 1-Mt/yr-capacity cement production line at its Zliten plant.
[P. Mobbs 2005 p.25.1] Arab Union Contracting Co. (AUCC) commissioned a 1.2-Mt/yr-capacity cement clinker plant near Zliten in December 2004; commercial production began in September 2005. AUCC began a feasibility study for the construction of a second clinker production line at its production facility.
[ Tripoli focuses on lack of cement supply: (2005) Middle East Economic Digest, v. 49, no. 26, p. 25] In 2004, construction began on extending a seawater
desalination plant in Zliten with a total capacity of per day using the multi-stage flash distillation process.
[M. Ashour (2004) p.216]
History and culture
There are many ancient
Ancient Rome sites in Zliten, such as the coastal Villa of Omira ('Darbuk Omira' ) where several impressive mosaics were discovered, and the Castle in Al-Jumaa. The town also contains the
Mausoleum and
Mosque of Abd As-Salam Al-Asmar, Mosque of Abu-Minjal, Mosque of Albaza and many other mosques. There is some fine Arabic
calligraphy in
sandstone on top of the outer pillars of the building saying
al-mulk-'illah ("Everything to
Allah").
[A. Ham p.148] The town is famous for its olives, palm trees and citrus fruits along beautiful coastal shores. The Slat Abn Shaif Synagogue () in Zliten was a historic
synagogue and Lag Ba'omer pilgrimage site for
Libyan Jews. It was over 900 years old and was destroyed in the 1980s by Gaddafi and replaced by apartments.
On Friday, 24 August 2012 the shrine of Sidi Abdul-Salam Al-Asmar Al-Fituri suffered extensive damage at the hands of violent Salafists. Muhammad al-Madkhali, a cleric of the Madkhalism movement,[Mansoor Jassem Alshamsi, Islam and Political Reform in Saudi Arabia: The Quest for Political Change and Reform, pg. 111. London: Routledge, 2010. ] praised his loyalists who'd carried out the act and encouraged other Salafists to engage in similar attacks.[Enas Saddoh, Extremists demolish Libya’s shrines using bulldozers, explosives. France 24, 29/08/2012.] This action was condemned by the Grand Mufti of Libya, Abdelrahman al-Gharyani, and 22 organisations in Libya, including Lawyers for Justice in Libya (LFJL) and Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), as well as the UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova.[Mohamed, Essam (27 August 2012) Libyan salafists destroy Sufi shrines magharebia.com][Fornaji, Hadi (28 August 2012) Widespread condemnation of mosque attacks and demands for government action libyaherald.com]
Recent work on the region (dating between 2003 and 2017) using Google Earth imagery has identified 278 certain or potential archaeological sites within Zliten. The majority of these sites were determined as structures or enclosures, and their purpose, for most, interpreted as related to agricultural activities which the primary land use today. These 278 sites recorded in the EAMENA(Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa) database of the Zliten area. In this database, 170 sites were marked as in good condition, 50 in fair condition, 24 sites in poor condition, 15 in very bad and 16 recorded as completely destroyed, (with 3 in unknown conditions). Although this work was undertaken as recently as 2017, the developments in Libya, the political and economic situation affect both the management and very survival of Libya's ancient sites. Archaeological sites, as in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan do not comply to militant revolutionaries' aims, they are thus expendable and can/or in some cases 'must'
The EAMENA aim to track these sites and their condition while the ( Society of Libyan Studies) publish reports aiming to promote Libyan archaeology, history and environment.
Rubb
Zliten has a proliferation of
that yield what is considered by many to be the best
rubb (date juice) in Libya.
Tarbuni is often served with the most famous local dish
asida, made from flour, boiled with salt, and eaten with olive and date juice.
Asida is usually served as a quick meal for cold nights in winter. It is usually reserved to commemorate important religious occasions such as the birth of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad.
[ Mawlid al-Nabi, the birth of Muhammad, is celebrated on the twelfth day of Rabi al-Awwal. ] Asida is also the celebratory dish of choice for
families when a child is born.
[A. Ham p.147]
Zliten during the First Libyan Civil War (2011)
During the First Libyan Civil War, Zliten was contested between forces loyal to Gaddafi, and opposition fighters who were trying to seize the strategically located city to allow them to advance to the capital, Tripoli. In mid-June 2011, the
Zliten uprising by rebel fighters against the military garrison in the city was crushed.
The town was on the front line by July as rebels from
Misrata continued their attempts to take control of the town from the loyalists based there, during the Battle of the Misrata frontline.
In mid-July 2011, Zliten was the site of a massive pro-Gaddafi rally when thousands of Gaddafi supporters gathered on the main square in the city to show their support to the Libyan leader.
On 5 August, the Libyan government claimed that NATO airstrikes killed 85 people, including 33 children, 32 women and 20 men, attacking a children's hospital near Zliten.
On 19 August 2011, the rebels made a major push and drove loyalist forces out of the city.
Zliten during the Second Libyan Civil War (2014-2020)
On January 7, 2016, during the Second Civil War, a truck bomb killed more than 60 police officers and wounded over 200 at a police training camp in the town. Wilayat al-Barqa, an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Libya claimed responsibility for the attack.
See also
Bibliography
External links
