The strategic importance of Al-Wattia air base

Many conflicts are taking place in the Libyan territories during the current period, between the Libyan army forces led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, and the militias of the Turkish-backed Al-Wefaq government led by Fayez al-Sarraj, and the latter announced Saturday, April 18, 2020, the launch of a military operation on the city of Tarhuna, south of the capital Tripoli, in addition to its bombing of the Al-Watiyah base South of the country.

The Al-Wefaq government militia places the Al-Wataya military base at the top of the areas it wants to control during its current conflict with the Libyan army, and is working hard to get the forces of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar out of them, but what is the importance of this base in Libya?

Built by the Americans in 1942, following the tripartite international trusteeship between Britain, France and the United States over Libya, the “former Italian colony”, and was formerly called the base of Uqba bin Nafi

The base is located in the south of the city of Al-Ajailat, west of Libya, and it follows the Al-Jameel region administratively, and it has an important strategic location, especially as it covers the entire western region, and it can carry out air combat operations against military targets not only in the Tripoli area, but also within the surrounding countries if the need arises.

What increases “patriotism” is important, as it is the only military base in Libya that is not related to civil aviation, as most of the other bases such as “Benina, Tobruk, Al-Abraq, Maitika, and Sabha” are used as a civilian airport.

The Al-Wattia air base is the largest military infrastructure, especially as it can accommodate and accommodate 7,000 military personnel, and was built on the basis of the fortifications surrounding the “geographical terrain” as is the case with all bases in Libya, in addition to having the largest external fortifications.

What confirms the strength of the infrastructure of the base, that it was subjected to intense bombing by NATO aircraft in 2011, but did not affect it, and most of the damage was done to the planes inside it, ammunition depots and observation and air defense centers.

Also, before February 2011, it was the operational center of the Mirage fighter fleet.

At al-Wattayah base, there is currently an operations room of the General Command of the Army since 2014, always ready to carry out its tasks against terrorist groups and armed militias, which justifies the Al-Wefaq government’s insistence to bomb and attack it, which was confirmed by Mustafa al-Majma’i, a spokesman for the so-called “Burkan Anger Forces”. , Affiliated to Fayez Al-Sarraj.

According to Al-Majma’i, al-Qaeda has been used to carry out military strikes against the wrath of Berkane’s forces, over the past days, stressing in statements to the Russian Sputnik, Friday, April 17, 2020, that their forces are working to control the “brigade” for use in military operations against Marshal’s forces Hifter’s successor.