Al-'Uqayla

El Agheila lies at the southern end of the Gulf of Sirte, where the coastal plain gives way to the desert. A narrow belt of dunes borders lagoons and salt marshes along the gulf, while farther inland flat ground rises gradually toward the escarpment. Sandy soil and scattered vegetation distinguish this strip from the more barren gravel plains beyond. The coast here forms a natural passage between Tripolitania and Cyrenaica.