Sinan Pasha (Ottoman admiral) in the context of Hurrem Sultan

The siege of Tripoli was a successful Ottoman siege of the North African city of Tripoli, then held by the Knights Hospitaller, in August 1551. The attack, which was led by Sinan Pasha and Dragut, appears to have been launched in retaliation for the capture of Mahdia by the Spanish and Hospitallers the previous year.

The siege followed a brief Ottoman attack on the Kingdom of Sicily and Hospitaller Malta, during which the island of Gozo was invaded and sacked and some 5,000 to 7,000 inhabitants were taken as slaves. The Ottoman forces then sailed to North Africa, where local forces bolstered them from Tajura led by Murad Agha. Tripoli was besieged, and the city's governor Gaspard de Vallier capitulated after six days of bombardment.

The invasion of Gozo, also known as the siege of Gozo (Maltese: L-Assedju t'Għawdex), was an Ottoman invasion of the island of Gozo, then part of Hospitaller Malta, in July 1551. The attack, which was led by Sinan Pasha, Dragut, Kambil Bey and Salah Rais, appears to have been launched in retaliation for the capture of Mahdia by the Spanish and Hospitallers the previous year.

The Ottoman force briefly attacked Sicily before landing on the main island of Malta on 18 July, where the city of Mdina was briefly besieged and some villages were plundered. They then abandoned Malta and landed on nearby Gozo, where the Castello was bombarded for two days before its garrison capitulated on 26 July. The fortress was sacked and between 5,000 and 7,000 people – the majority of the island's population – were enslaved and taken to North Africa or Constantinople. The same Ottoman force went on to capture Tripoli from the Hospitallers on 14 August 1551.

Rüstem Pasha (Turkish pronunciation: [ɾysˈtæm pa.ʃa]; Ottoman Turkish: رستم پاشا; c. 1505 – 10 July 1561) was an Ottoman statesman who served as Grand Vizier to Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. He is also known as Damat Rüstem Pasha (the epithet damat meaning 'son-in-law') as a result of his marriage to the sultan's daughter, Mihrimah Sultan, in 1539. He is regarded as one of the most influential and successful grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire.

Rüstem Pasha was taken as a child to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), where he built a military and bureaucratic career under the protection of Hürrem Sultan, Süleyman's favorite and legal wife and Mihrimah's mother. His brother Sinan Pasha was an Ottoman grand admiral.